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Senusiyya

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Senussi
السنوسية
Coat of arms of Libya (1952–1969).svg
Country
Place of originLibya
FounderMuhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi
Current head
Final rulerIdris of Libya
Titles
Deposition1969: Overthrown by Muammar Gaddafi's 1 September Coup d'état

The Senusiyya, Senussi or Sanusi (Arabic: السنوسية as-Sanūssiyya) are a Muslim political-religious tariqa (Sufi order) and clan in colonial Libya and the Sudan region founded in Mecca in 1837 by the Grand Senussi (Arabic: السنوسي الكبير as-Sanūssiyy al-Kabīr), the Algerian Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi. Senussi was concerned with what he saw as both the decline of Islamic thought and spirituality and the weakening of Muslim political integrity.

The movement promoted strict adherence to Qur'an and Sunna, without partisanship to the traditional legal schools of thought. It also sought a reformation of Sufism, condemning various practices such as seeking help from the dead, sacrificing for them and other rituals which they considered to be superstitions and innovations.

From 1902 to 1913, the Senussi fought French colonial expansion in the Sahara and the Kingdom of Italy's colonisation of Libya beginning in 1911. In World War I, they fought the Senussi Campaign against the British in Egypt and Sudan. In 1923, indigenous rebels associated with the Senussi Order organized the Libyan resistance movement against Italian settlement in Libya. During World War II, the Senussis provided vital support to the British Eighth Army in North Africa against Nazi German and Fascist Italian forces. The Grand Senussi's grandson became King Idris of Libya in 1951. In 1969, Idris I was overthrown by a military coup led by Muammar Gaddafi. The movement remained active in spite of sustained persecution by Gaddafi's government. The Senussi spirit and legacy continue to be prominent in today's Libya, mostly in the east of the country.

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Islam

Islam

Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centered around the Quran and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam, called Muslims, number approximately 1.9 billion globally and are the world's second-largest religious population after Christians.

Mecca

Mecca

Mecca is the holiest city in Islam and the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia. It is 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its last recorded population was 1,578,722 in 2015. Its estimated metro population in 2020 is 2.042 million, making it the third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah. Pilgrims more than triple this number every year during the Ḥajj pilgrimage, observed in the twelfth Hijri month of Dhūl-Ḥijjah.

French West Africa

French West Africa

French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan, French Guinea, Ivory Coast, Upper Volta, Dahomey and Niger. The federation existed from 1895 until 1958. Its capital was Saint-Louis, Senegal until 1902, and then Dakar until the federation's collapse in 1960.

Kingdom of Italy

Kingdom of Italy

The Kingdom of Italy was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and form the modern Italian Republic. The state resulted from a decades-long process, the Risorgimento, of consolidating the different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single state. That process was influenced by the Savoy-led Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered Italy's legal predecessor state.

Italian invasion of Libya

Italian invasion of Libya

The Italian invasion of Libya occurred in 1911, when Italian troops invaded the Turkish province of Libya and started the Italo-Turkish War. As result, Italian Tripolitania and Italian Cyrenaica were established, later unified in the colony of Italian Libya.

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt in the Sudans region of northern Africa between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day South Sudan and the Sudan. Legally, sovereignty and administration were shared between both Egypt and the United Kingdom, but in practice the structure of the condominium ensured effective British control over Sudan, with Egypt having limited, local power influence in reality. In the meantime, Egypt itself fell under increasing British influence. Following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, Egypt pushed for an end to the condominium, and the independence of Sudan. By agreement between Egypt and the United Kingdom in 1953, Sudan was granted independence as the Republic of the Sudan on 1 January 1956. In 2011, the south of Sudan itself became independent as the Republic of South Sudan.

Libyan resistance movement

Libyan resistance movement

The Libyan resistance movement was the rebel force opposing the Italian Empire during its Pacification of Libya between 1923 and 1932.

Eighth Army (United Kingdom)

Eighth Army (United Kingdom)

The Eighth Army was a field army of the British Army during the Second World War. It was initially formed as the Western Army on 10 September 1941, in Egypt, before being renamed the Army of the Nile, and finally the Eighth Army on 26 September. It was created to better control the growing Allied forces based in Egypt and to direct their efforts to lift the siege of Tobruk via Operation Crusader.

Kingdom of Libya

Kingdom of Libya

The Kingdom of Libya, known as the United Kingdom of Libya from 1951 to 1963, was a constitutional monarchy in North Africa which came into existence upon independence on 24 December 1951 and lasted until a coup d'état on 1 September 1969. The coup, led by Muammar Gaddafi, overthrew King Idris and established the Libyan Arab Republic.

Idris of Libya

Idris of Libya

Muhammad Idris bin Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi was a Libyan political and religious leader who was King of Libya from 24 December 1951 until his overthrow on 1 September 1969. He ruled over the United Kingdom of Libya from 1951 to 1963, after which the country became known as simply the Kingdom of Libya. Idris had served as Emir of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania from the 1920s until 1951. He was the chief of the Senussi Muslim order.

1969 Libyan coup d'état

1969 Libyan coup d'état

The 1969 Libyan coup d'état, also known as the al-Fateh Revolution or the 1 September Revolution, was carried out by the Free Unionist Officers Movement, a group of military officers led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, which led to the overthrow of King Idris I.

Cyrenaica

Cyrenaica

Cyrenaica or Kyrenaika, is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, was part of the Roman province of Crete and Cyrenaica, later divided into Libya Pentapolis and Libya Sicca. During the Islamic period, the area came to be known as Barqa, after the city of Barca.

Beginnings: 1787–1859

The traditional Senussi banner, later used as inspiration of the flag of Cyrenaica and eventually incorporated into the flag of Libya
The traditional Senussi banner, later used as inspiration of the flag of Cyrenaica and eventually incorporated into the flag of Libya

The Senussi order has been historically closed to Europeans and outsiders, leading reports of their beliefs and practices to vary immensely. Though it is possible to gain some insight from the lives of the Senussi sheikhs[1] further details are difficult to obtain.

The fortresses and army of religious brotherhood of Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi, 1883
The fortresses and army of religious brotherhood of Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi, 1883

Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi (1787–1859), the founder of the order[1] and a proponent of Sufism, was born in Algeria near Mostaganem and was named al-Senussi after a venerated Muslim teacher.[1] He was a member of the Walad Sidi Abdalla tribe, and was a sharif. In addition to Islamic sciences, Al-Senussi was taught science and chivalry in his upbringing. He studied at the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, then traveled in the Sahara preaching a purifying reform of the faith in Tunisia and Tripoli, gaining many adherents, and then moved to Cairo[1] to study at Al-Azhar University in 1824. Al-Senussi was critical of the government of Muhammad Ali Pasha. The pious scholar was forceful in his criticism of the Egyptian ulama for what he perceived as their timid compliance with the Ottoman authorities and their spiritual conservatism. He also argued that learned Muslims should not blindly follow the four classical madhhabs (schools of law) but instead engage in ijtihad themselves. Not surprisingly, he was opposed by the ulama[1] as unorthodox and they issued a fatwa against him. He left Egypt for Mecca, where he spent 15 years as a student and teacher until 1843.[2]

Senussi went to Mecca, where he joined Ahmad ibn Idris al-Fasi, the head of the Qadiriyya, a renowned religious fraternity. Senussi furthermore acquired several of his ideas while under his education from 1825-1827/28.[3]On the death of al-Fasi, Senussi became head of one of the two branches into which the Qadiriyya divided, and in 1835 he founded his first monastery or zawiya, at Abu Qubays near Mecca. [1] After being forced to leave by the Wahhabis,[4] he returned to Libya in 1843 where in the mountains near Sidi Rafaa' (Bayda) he built the Zawiya Bayda ("White Monastery").[1] There he was supported by the local tribes and the Sultan of Wadai and his connections extended across the Maghreb.

The Grand Senussi did not tolerate fanaticism and forbade the use of stimulants as well as voluntary poverty. Lodge members were to eat and dress within the limits of Islamic law and, instead of depending on charity, were required to earn their living through work. He accepted neither the wholly intuitive ways described by some Sufi mystics nor the rationality of some of the orthodox ulama; rather, he attempted to achieve a middle path. The Bedouin tribes had shown no interest in the ecstatic practices of the Sufis that were gaining adherents in the towns, but they were attracted in great numbers to the Senussis. The relative austerity of the Senussi message was particularly suited to the character of the Cyrenaican Bedouins, whose way of life had not changed much in the centuries since the Arabs had first accepted the Islamic prophet Mohammad's teachings.[5]

In 1855 Senussi moved farther from direct Ottoman surveillance to Jaghbub, a small oasis some 30 miles northwest of Siwa.[1] He died in 1860, leaving two sons, Mahommed Sherif (1844–95) and Mohammed al-Mahdi, who succeeded him.

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Cyrenaica

Cyrenaica

Cyrenaica or Kyrenaika, is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, was part of the Roman province of Crete and Cyrenaica, later divided into Libya Pentapolis and Libya Sicca. During the Islamic period, the area came to be known as Barqa, after the city of Barca.

Flag of Libya

Flag of Libya

The national flag of Libya was originally introduced in 1951, following the creation of the Kingdom of Libya. It was designed by Omar Faiek Shennib and approved by King Idris Al Senussi who comprised the UN delegation representing the three regions of Cyrenaica, Fezzan, and Tripolitania at UN unification discussions.

Mostaganem

Mostaganem

Mostaganem is a port city in and capital of Mostaganem province, in the northwest of Algeria. The city, founded in the 11th century lies on the Gulf of Arzew, Mediterranean Sea and is 72 km ENE of Oran. It is considered as the second-largest city in the country's northwest, after Oran, and as Algeria's fourth-largest port city with its 457,986 inhabitants as of the 2018 census.

Fez, Morocco

Fez, Morocco

Fez or Fes is a city in northern inland Morocco and the capital of the Fès-Meknès administrative region. It is the second largest city in Morocco, with a population of 1.11 million according to the 2014 census. Located to the north west of the Atlas Mountains, Fez is linked to several important cities of different regions; it is 206 km (128 mi) from Tangier to the northwest, 246 km (153 mi) from Casablanca, 189 km (117 mi) from Rabat to the west, and 387 km (240 mi) from Marrakesh to the southwest. It is surrounded by hills and the old city is centered around the Fez River flowing from west to east.

Al-Azhar University

Al-Azhar University

The Al-Azhar University is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is renowned as the most prestigious university for Islamic learning. In addition to higher education, Al-Azhar oversees a national network of schools with approximately two million students. As of 1996, over 4,000 teaching institutes in Egypt were affiliated with the university.

Madhhab

Madhhab

A Madhhab is a school of thought within fiqh.

Ijtihad

Ijtihad

Ijtihad is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a legal question. It is contrasted with taqlid. According to classical Sunni theory, ijtihad requires expertise in the Arabic language, theology, revealed texts, and principles of jurisprudence, and is not employed where authentic and authoritative texts are considered unambiguous with regard to the question, or where there is an existing scholarly consensus (ijma). Ijtihad is considered to be a religious duty for those qualified to perform it. An Islamic scholar who is qualified to perform ijtihad is called as a "mujtahid".

Fatwa

Fatwa

A fatwā is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Faqih in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a mufti, and the act of issuing fatwas is called iftāʾ. Fatwas have played an important role throughout Islamic history, taking on new forms in the modern era.

Ahmad ibn Idris al-Fasi

Ahmad ibn Idris al-Fasi

Abu al-Abbās Ahmad Ibn Idris al-Araishi al-Alami al-Idrisi al-Hasani (1760–1837) was a Moroccan Sunni Islamic scholar, jurist and Sufi, active in Morocco, the Hejaz, Egypt, and Yemen. His main concern was the revivification of the sunnah or practice of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. For this reason, his students, such as the great hadith scholar Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi, gave him the title Muhyi 's-Sunnah "The Reviver of the Sunnah". His followers founded a number of important Sufi tariqas which spread his teachings across the Muslim world.

Qadiriyya

Qadiriyya

The Qadiriyya are members of the Sunni Qadiri tariqa. The tariqa got its name from Abdul Qadir Gilani, who was a Hanbali scholar from Gilan, Iran. The order relies strongly upon adherence to the fundamentals of Sunni Islamic law.

Mecca

Mecca

Mecca is the holiest city in Islam and the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia. It is 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its last recorded population was 1,578,722 in 2015. Its estimated metro population in 2020 is 2.042 million, making it the third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah. Pilgrims more than triple this number every year during the Ḥajj pilgrimage, observed in the twelfth Hijri month of Dhūl-Ḥijjah.

Bayda, Libya

Bayda, Libya

Bayda, or Elbeida ( or ; Arabic: البيضاء al-Bayḍāʾ listen  ), is a commercial and industrial city in eastern Libya. It is located in northern Cyrenaica. With a population of 250,000 people, Bayda is the 4th-largest city in Libya. It is the capital city of the Jabal al Akhdar district.

Developments since 1859

Sayyid Muhammad al-Mahdi bin Sayyid Muhammad as-Senussi (1845 – 30 May 1902) was fourteen when his father died, after which he was placed under the care of his father's friends Amran, Reefi, and others.[1] At age 18 he left their care and moved to Fez to further his knowledge of the Qur'an and Sufism.[6]

The successors to the sultan of the Abu Qubays, Sultan Ali (1858–74) and Sultan Yusef (1874–98), continued to support the Senussi. Under al-Mahdi, the zawiyas of the order extended to Fez, Damascus, Constantinople, and India.[1] In the Hejaz members of the order were numerous. In most of these countries, the Senussi wielded no more political power than other Muslim fraternities, but in the eastern Sahara and central Sudan, things were different.[1] Mohammed al-Mahdi had the authority of a sovereign in a vast but almost empty desert. The string of oases leading from Siwa to Kufra, and Borkou were cultivated by the Senussis, and trade with Tripoli and Benghazi was encouraged.[1]

Senussi going to fight the British in Egypt (c.1915)
Senussi going to fight the British in Egypt (c.1915)

Although named "al-Mahdi" by his father, Muhammad never claimed to be the actual Mahdi (Saviour). However, he was regarded as such by some of his followers.[1] When Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself the actual Mahdi in 1881, Muhammad Idris decided to have nothing to do with him.[1] Although Muhammad Ahmed wrote twice asking him to become one of his four great caliphs (leaders), he received no reply.[1] In 1890, the Ansar (forces of Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi) advancing from Darfur were stopped on the frontier of the Wadai Empire, Sultan Yusuf proving firm in his adherence to the Senussi teachings.[1]

Muhammed al-Mahdi's growing fame made the Ottoman regime uneasy and drew unwelcome attention. In most of Tripoli and Benghazi his authority was greater than that of the Ottoman governors.[1] In 1889 the sheik was visited at Jaghbub by the pasha of Benghazi accompanied by Ottoman troops.[1] This event showed the sheik the possibility of danger and led him to move his headquarters to Jof in the oases of Kufra in 1894, a place sufficiently remote to secure him from a sudden attack.[1] However, the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II clearly wanted to maintain positive relations because he sent his aide-de-camp Azmzade Sadik El Mueyyed to meet Sheikh Mohammed al-Mahdi al Senussi twice, once to Jaghbub in 1886 and once to Kufra in 1895. Azmzade Sadik El Mueyyed published his journals on these visits in his book titled Journey in the Grand Sahara of Africa in 1897.

The Senussi had Somali contacts in Berbera and consistently tried to rally Somalis to join their movement alongside their rivals, the Mahdists. Sultan Nur Ahmed Aman of the Habr Yunis himself a learned Sheikh regularly received Senussi emissaries and housed them. Sultan Nur would go on to play a critical role in the subsequent Somali Dervish Movement starting in 1899.[7]

By this time a new danger to Senussi territories had arisen from the French colonial empire, who were advancing from the French Congo towards the western and southern borders the Wadai Empire.[1] The Senussi kept them from advancing north of Chad.

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Abu Qubays, Syria

Abu Qubays, Syria

Abu Qubays is a former medieval castle and currently an inhabited village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northwest of Hama. It is situated in the al-Ghab plain, west of the Orontes River. Nearby localities include Daliyah 21 kilometers to the west, al-Laqbah to the south, Deir Shamil to the southeast, Tell Salhab to the northeast and Nahr al-Bared further northeast. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Abu Qubays had a population of 758 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Alawites.

Hejaz

Hejaz

The Hejaz is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia, which includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Baljurashi. It is thus known as the "Western Province", and is bordered in the west by the Red Sea, in the north by Jordan, in the east by the Najd, and in the south by the Region of 'Asir. It is the most cosmopolitan region in the Arabian Peninsula. Its largest city is Jeddah, which is the second largest city in Saudi Arabia, with Mecca and Medina respectively being the fourth and fifth largest cities in the country.

Kufra

Kufra

Kufra is a basin and oasis group in the Kufra District of southeastern Cyrenaica in Libya. At the end of nineteenth century Kufra became the centre and holy place of the Senussi order. It also played a minor role in the Western Desert Campaign of World War II.

Borkou

Borkou

Borku or Borgu is a region of Central Africa, mostly in Northern Chad, forming part of the transitional zone between the arid wastes of the Sahara and the fertile lands of the central Sudan. It is bounded N. by the Tibesti Mountains, and is in great measure occupied by lesser elevations belonging to the same system. These hills to the south and east merge into the plains of Ouaddaï and Darfur. South-west, in the direction of Lake Chad, is the Bodele basin. The drainage of the country is to the lake, but the numerous khors with which its surface is scored are mostly dry or contain water for brief periods only. A considerable part of the soil is light sand drifted about by the wind. The irrigated and fertile portions consist mainly of a number of valleys separated from each other by low and irregular limestone rocks. They furnish excellent dates. Barley is also cultivated. The northern valleys are inhabited by a settled population of Gouran stock, known as the Daza; the others are mainly visited by nomadic Berber and Arab tribes. The inhabitants own large numbers of goats and asses.

Mahdi

Mahdi

The Mahdi is a messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad who will appear shortly before the prophet ʿĪsā (Jesus) and lead Muslims to rule the world.

Ansar (Sudan)

Ansar (Sudan)

The Ansar is a Sufi religious movement in the Sudan whose followers are disciples of Muhammad Ahmad, a Sudanese religious leader based on Aba Island, proclaimed himself Mahdi on 29 June 1881. His followers won a series of victories against the Egyptians culminating in the capture of Khartoum in January 1885.

Darfur

Darfur

Darfur is a region of western Sudan. Dār is an Arabic word meaning "home [of]" – the region was named Dardaju while ruled by the Daju, who migrated from Meroë c. 350 AD, and it was renamed Dartunjur when the Tunjur ruled the area. Darfur was an independent sultanate for several hundred years until it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. As an administrative region, Darfur is divided into five federal states: Central Darfur, East Darfur, North Darfur, South Darfur and West Darfur. Because of the War in Darfur between Sudanese government forces and the indigenous population, the region has been in a state of humanitarian emergency and genocide since 2003. The factors include religious and ethnic rivalry, and the rivalry between farmers and herders.

Benghazi

Benghazi

Benghazi is the second-most populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 1,207,250 in 2020. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean, Benghazi is also a major seaport.

Berbera

Berbera

Berbera is the capital of the Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of the British Somaliland protectorate before Hargeisa. It also served as a major port of the Ifat, Adal and Isaaq sultanates from the 13th to 19th centuries.

Dervish movement (Somali)

Dervish movement (Somali)

The Dervish Movement was a popular movement between 1899 and 1920, which was led by the Salihiyya Sufi Muslim poet and militant leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, also known as Sayyid Mohamed, who called for independence from the British and Italian colonies and the defeat of Ethiopian forces. The Dervish movement aimed to remove the British and Italian influence from the region and restore the "Islamic system of government with Islamic education as its foundation", according to Mohamed-Rahis Hasan and Salada Robleh.

French colonial empire

French colonial empire

The French colonial empire comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that existed until 1814, by which time most of it had been lost or sold, and the "Second French Colonial Empire", which began with the conquest of Algiers in 1830. At its apex between the two world wars, the second French colonial empire was the second-largest colonial empire in the world behind the British Empire.

French Congo

French Congo

The French Congo or Middle Congo was a French colony which at one time comprised the present-day area of the Republic of the Congo and parts of Gabon, and the Central African Republic. In 1910, it was made part of the larger French Equatorial Africa.

Leadership of Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi

Omar Mukhtar became the most trusted chief Under Sayyid Ahmad Sharif
Omar Mukhtar became the most trusted chief Under Sayyid Ahmad Sharif
Idris of Libya (Sidi Muhammad Idris al-Mahdi al-Senussi), king 1951–1969
Idris of Libya (Sidi Muhammad Idris al-Mahdi al-Senussi), king 1951–1969

In 1902, Muhammad Idris died and was succeeded by his nephew, Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi, but his adherents in the deserts bordering Egypt maintained for years that Muhammad was not actually dead.[1] The new head of the Senussi maintained the friendly relations of his predecessors with the Dud Murra of Wadai Sultan of the Wadai Empire,[1] governing the order as regent for his young cousin, Muhammad Idris II (the future king Idris of Libya), who signed the 1917 Treaty of Acroma that ceded control of Libya from the Kingdom of Italy[8] and was later recognized by them as Emir of Cyrenaica[9] on October 25, 1920.

The Senussi, encouraged by the German and Ottoman Empires, played a minor part in the World War I, during the Senussi uprising, utilising guerrilla warfare against the Italian colonials in Libya and the British in Egypt from November 1915 until February 1917, led by Sayyid Ahmad, and in the Sudan from March to December 1916, led by Ali Dinar, the Sultan of Darfur.[10][11] In 1916, the British sent an expeditionary force against them known as the Senussi Campaign led by Major General William Peyton.[12] According to Wavell and McGuirk, Western Force was first led by General Wallace and later by General Hodgson.[13][14]

Italy took Libya from the Ottomans in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911. In 1922, Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini launched his infamous Riconquista of Libya — the Roman Empire having done the original conquering 2000 years before. The Senussi led the resistance and Italians closed Senussi khanqahs, arrested sheikhs, and confiscated mosques and their land. The Senussi resistance was led by Omar Muktar who used his knowledge of desert warfare and guerrilla tactics to resist Italian colonization. After his death the Senussi resistance faded, and they were forced to renounce their land for compensation. [15] Overall, Libyans fought the Italians until 1943, with 250,000–300,000 of them dying in the process.[16]

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Idris of Libya

Idris of Libya

Muhammad Idris bin Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi was a Libyan political and religious leader who was King of Libya from 24 December 1951 until his overthrow on 1 September 1969. He ruled over the United Kingdom of Libya from 1951 to 1963, after which the country became known as simply the Kingdom of Libya. Idris had served as Emir of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania from the 1920s until 1951. He was the chief of the Senussi Muslim order.

Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi

Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi

Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi was the supreme leader of the Senussi order (1902–1933), although his leadership in the years 1917–1933 could be considered nominal. His daughter, Fatimah el-Sharif was the Queen consort of King Idris I of Libya.

Dud Murra of Wadai

Dud Murra of Wadai

Muhammad Salih bin Yusuf, known as Dud Murra or Dudmurrah, was the last independent ruler, or kolak, of the Wadai Empire. He allied with the Sanusi, powerful traders of the eastern Sahara, and with the Sultan of Darfur to resist French aggression in the eastern Sahel, but was defeated. His sultanate was incorporated in the French military territory of Chad.

Kingdom of Italy

Kingdom of Italy

The Kingdom of Italy was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and form the modern Italian Republic. The state resulted from a decades-long process, the Risorgimento, of consolidating the different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single state. That process was influenced by the Savoy-led Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered Italy's legal predecessor state.

Emir

Emir

Emir, sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or ceremonial authority. The title has a long history of use in the Arab World, East Africa, West Africa, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. In the modern era, when used as a formal monarchical title, it is roughly synonymous with "prince", applicable both to a son of a hereditary monarch, and to a reigning monarch of a sovereign principality, namely an emirate. The feminine form is emira, a cognate for "princess". Prior to its use as a monarchical title, the term "emir" was historically used to denote a "commander", "general", or "leader". In contemporary usage, "emir" is also sometimes used as either an honorary or formal title for the head of an Islamic, or Arab organisation or movement.

Cyrenaica

Cyrenaica

Cyrenaica or Kyrenaika, is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, was part of the Roman province of Crete and Cyrenaica, later divided into Libya Pentapolis and Libya Sicca. During the Islamic period, the area came to be known as Barqa, after the city of Barca.

German Empire

German Empire

The German Empire, also referred to as Imperial Germany, the Second Reich, or simply Germany, was the period of the German Reich from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the November Revolution in 1918, when the German Reich changed its form of government from a monarchy to a republic.

Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire, historically and colloquially the Turkish Empire, was an empire that controlled much of Southeast Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa between the 14th and early 20th centuries. It was founded at the end of the 13th century in northwestern Anatolia in the town of Söğüt by the Turkoman tribal leader Osman I. After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe and, with the conquest of the Balkans, the Ottoman beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed the Conqueror.

Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and mobility, to fight a larger and less-mobile traditional military.

Italian colonization of Libya

Italian colonization of Libya

The Italian colonization of Libya began in 1911 and it lasted until 1943. The country, which was previously an Ottoman possession, was occupied by Italy in 1911 after the Italo-Turkish War, which resulted in the establishment of two colonies: Italian Tripolitania and Italian Cyrenaica. In 1934, the two colonies were merged into one colony which was named the colony of Italian Libya. In 1937, this colony was divided into four provinces, and in 1939, the coastal provinces became a part of metropolitan Italy. The colonization lasted until Libya's occupation by Allied forces in 1943, but it was not until the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty that Italy officially renounced all of its claims to Libya's territory.

Italo-Turkish War

Italo-Turkish War

The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result of this conflict, Italy captured the Ottoman Tripolitania Vilayet, of which the main sub-provinces were Fezzan, Cyrenaica, and Tripoli itself. These territories became the colonies of Italian Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, which would later merge into Italian Libya.

Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian dictator and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party (PNF). He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 1943, as well as "Duce" of Italian fascism from the establishment of the Italian Fasces of Combat in 1919 until his summary execution in 1945 by Italian partisans. As dictator of Italy and principal founder of fascism, Mussolini inspired and supported the international spread of fascist movements during the inter-war period.

Idris of Libya

From 1917 to his death, in 1933, Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi's leadership was mostly nominal. Idris of Libya, a grandson of Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sanusi, the Grand Senussi, replaced Ahmed as effective leader of the Order in 1917 and went on to play a key role as the Senussi leader who brought the Libyan tribes together into a unified Libyan nation.[17]

Idris established a tacit alliance with the British, which led to two agreements with the Italian rulers, one of which brought most of inland Cyrenaica under the de facto control of the Senussis.[18] The resulting Accord of al-Rajma, consolidated through further negotiations with the Italians, earned Idris the title of Emir of Cyrenaica, albeit new tensions which compromised that delicate balance emerged shortly after.[19]

Soon Cyrenaica became the stronghold of the Libyan and Senussi resistance to the Italian rulers. In 1922, Idris went into exile in Egypt, as the Italian response to the Libyan resistance grew increasingly violent.[19]

In 1931 Idris married his first cousin Fatimah el-Sharif, a daughter of his predecessor Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi.

During the Second World War, Senussi groups led by Idris formally allied themselves with the British Eighth Army in North Africa against the German and Italian forces. Ultimately, the Senussis proved decisive in the British defeat of both Italy and Germany in North Africa in 1943.[20] As the Senussi were leading the resistance, the Italians closed Senussi khanqahs, arrested sheikhs, and confiscated mosques and their land. The Libyans fought the Italians until 1943, with some 250,000 of them dying in the process.

As historian Ali Abdullah Ahmida remarked, the Senussi order was able to transcend "ethnic and local tribal identification", and therefore had a unifying influence on the Libyans fighting the Italian occupiers. A well-known hero of the Libyan resistance and an ally of Idris, Omar Mukhtar, was a prominent member of the Senussi order and a Sufi teacher whom the Italians executed in 1931.[21]

After the end of the war in 1945, the Western powers pushed for Idris, still leader of the Senussi order, to be the leader of a new unified Libya. When the country achieved independence under the aegis of the United Nations in 1951, Idris became its king, and Fatimah his Queen consort.[22]

Although it was instrumental in his accession to power, according to the Islamic scholar Mohammed Ayoob, Idris used Islam "as a shield to counter pressures generated by the more progressive circles in North Africa, especially from Egypt."[22]

Resistance towars Idris' rule began to build in 1965 due to a combination of factors: the discovery of oil in the region, government corruption and ineptness, and Arab nationalism.[23] On September 1, 1969, a military coup led by Muammar Gaddafi marked the end of Idris’ reign. The king was toppled while he was receiving medical treatment in Turkey. From there he fled to Greece and then Egypt, where he died in exile in 1983. Meanwhile, a republic was proclaimed, and Idris was sentenced to death in absentia in November 1971 by the Libyan People's Court.[24]

In August 1969, Idris issued a letter of abdication designating his nephew Hassan as-Senussi as his successor. The letter was to be effective on September 2, but the coup preceded Idris’ formal abdication.[25] King Idris’ nephew and Crown Prince Hasan as-Senussi, who had been designated Regent when Idris left Libya to seek medical treatment in 1969, became the successor to the leadership of the Senussi order.[26]

Many Libyans continue to regard Idris with great affection, referring to him as the "Sufi King". In May 2013, Idris and Omar Mukhtar were commemorated for their role as Senussi leaders and key players in Libya's independence in a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the African Union in Addis Ababa.[27]

Discover more about Idris of Libya related topics

Idris of Libya

Idris of Libya

Muhammad Idris bin Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi was a Libyan political and religious leader who was King of Libya from 24 December 1951 until his overthrow on 1 September 1969. He ruled over the United Kingdom of Libya from 1951 to 1963, after which the country became known as simply the Kingdom of Libya. Idris had served as Emir of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania from the 1920s until 1951. He was the chief of the Senussi Muslim order.

Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sanusi

Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sanusi

Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi (1787–1859) was an Algerian Muslim theologian and leader who founded the Senussi mystical order in 1837. His militant mystical movement proved very significant and helped Libya to win its freedom from Italy on 10 February 1947. Omar Mukhtar was one of the most significant leaders of the Senussi military campaign launched by Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi. Al-Sanūsī's grandson Idrīs I ruled as king of Libya from 1951 to 1969.

World War II

World War II

World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries, including all of the great powers, fought as part of two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. Many participants threw their economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind this total war, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and the delivery of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war.

Libyan resistance movement

Libyan resistance movement

The Libyan resistance movement was the rebel force opposing the Italian Empire during its Pacification of Libya between 1923 and 1932.

Developments since 1969

Gaddafi banned the Senussi order, forced the Senussi circles underground, and systematically persecuted prominent Senussi figures, in an effort to remove Sufi symbols and to silence voices of the Senussi tradition from Libya's public life.[28] The remaining Senussi tribes were severely restricted in their actions by the revolutionary government, which also appointed a supervisor for their properties.[29]

Ironically, Omar Mukhtar became one of Gaddafi's most inspiring figures, whose speeches he frequently quoted, and whose image he often exhibited in official occasions.[30] In 1984, Libya's distinguished Senussi University was closed by Gaddafi's order, although international scholars continued to visit the country until the beginning of the civil war to study the Senussi history and legacy.[28][31] In fact, evidence of the Senussi presence and activism was recorded throughout the 1980s.[29] Vocal anti-Gaddafi resistance emerged among the former Senussi tribes in Cyrenaica in the 1990s, which Gaddafi violently suffocated with his troops. In 1992, Crown Prince Hasan as-Senussi died. The leadership of the Senussi order passed to his second son, Mohammed el Senussi, whom Hasan had appointed as his successor to the throne of Libya.[32]

Enduring relevance of the Senussi Order

The Sufi heritage and spirit remains prominent today, and its sentiment and symbols have inspired many during the 2011 revolution. The image of Omar Mukhtar and his popular quote "We win or we die" resonated in Tripoli and in the country as Libyans rose up to oust Gaddafi.[21] In July 2011 The Globe and Mail contributor Graeme Smith reported that one of the anti-Gaddafi brigades took the name of "Omar Mukhtar Brigade".[33]

Stephen Schwarz, executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, reflected on the "Sufi foundation" of Libya's revolution in his August 2011 piece for the Huffington Post.[34] Schwarz observed that Libya continued to stand "as one of the distinguished centers of a Sufism opposed both to unquestioning acceptance of Islamic law and to scriptural absolutism, and dedicated to freedom and progress." He wrote: "With the fall of the dictatorship, it will now be necessary to analyze whether and how Libya's Sufi past can positively influence its future."[34]

In August 2012, hardline Salafi extremists attacked and destroyed the shrine of al-Shaab al-Dahmani, a Sufi saint, in Tripoli.[35] The tombs of Sufi scholars were systematically targeted by extremists as well.

The sustained attacks were consistently denounced by Sufi scholars as well as by the League of Libyan Ulema, a group of leading Libyan religious scholars, calling the population to protect the religious and historical sites "by force" and urging the authorities to intervene in order to avoid further escalations of violence and new attacks by Salafi groups.[36]

Chiefs of the Senussi Order

The royal standard of Idris of Libya
The royal standard of Idris of Libya

Discover more about Chiefs of the Senussi Order related topics

Idris of Libya

Idris of Libya

Muhammad Idris bin Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi was a Libyan political and religious leader who was King of Libya from 24 December 1951 until his overthrow on 1 September 1969. He ruled over the United Kingdom of Libya from 1951 to 1963, after which the country became known as simply the Kingdom of Libya. Idris had served as Emir of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania from the 1920s until 1951. He was the chief of the Senussi Muslim order.

Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi

Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi

Muhammad Al Mahdi bin Sayyid Muhammad es Senussi, also Sayyid Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi Ali al-Sanusi, (1844–1902), was the supreme leader of the Sufi Senussi Order between 1859 and his death in 1902 in Libya.

Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi

Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi

Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi was the supreme leader of the Senussi order (1902–1933), although his leadership in the years 1917–1933 could be considered nominal. His daughter, Fatimah el-Sharif was the Queen consort of King Idris I of Libya.

Hasan as-Senussi

Hasan as-Senussi

Sayyid Hasan ar-Rida al-Mahdi as-Senussi was the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Libya from 26 October 1956 to 1 September 1969, when the monarchy was abolished.

Mohammed El Senussi

Mohammed El Senussi

Mohammed El Senussi is the son of Crown Prince Hasan as-Senussi of Libya, and of Crown Princess Fawzia bint Tahir Bakeer. Born in Tripoli, he is considered by Libyan royalists to be the legitimate heir to the Senussi Crown of Libya.

Senussi family tree

many generations go by
Ali ibn Abi Talib
Hasan ibn Ali
Hasan ibn Hasan
Abdullah bin Hasan
Idris bin Abdullah
Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi
Muhammad
as-Sharif
as-Senussi
Muhammad al-Mahdi
bin Muhammad
as-Senussi
Ahmed
as-Sharif
as-Senussi
Muhammad
al-Abid
as-Senussi
Muhammad
ar-Reda
Idris I
of Libya
Queen Fatima
as-Sharif
az-Zubayr
bin Ahmad
as-Sharif
Abdullah bin
Muhammad al-
Abid as-Senussi
Hasan
as-Senussi
Ahmed
as-Senussi

(member
of NTC)
Idris bin
Abdullah
as-Senussi

(claimant)
Mohammed
as-Senussi
Mohammed
Son Prince Younes

Discover more about Senussi family tree related topics

Hasan ibn Ali

Hasan ibn Ali

Hasan ibn Ali was a prominent early Islamic figure. He was the eldest son of Ali and Fatima and a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He briefly ruled as caliph from January 661 until August 661. He is considered as the second Imam in Shia Islam, succeeding Ali and preceding his brother Husayn. As a grandson of the prophet, he is part of the ahl al-bayt and the ahl al-kisa, also is said to have participated in the event of Mubahala.

Hasan ibn Hasan

Hasan ibn Hasan

Hasan ibn Hasan, also known as Hasan al-Muthanna, was an Islamic scholar and theologian. He was a son of Hasan ibn Ali and Khawla bint Manzur. He was a grandson of the fourth caliph Ali and a great-grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi

Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi

Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi was the supreme leader of the Senussi order (1902–1933), although his leadership in the years 1917–1933 could be considered nominal. His daughter, Fatimah el-Sharif was the Queen consort of King Idris I of Libya.

Hasan as-Senussi

Hasan as-Senussi

Sayyid Hasan ar-Rida al-Mahdi as-Senussi was the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Libya from 26 October 1956 to 1 September 1969, when the monarchy was abolished.

Ahmed al-Senussi

Ahmed al-Senussi

Prince Ahmed Al-Zubair al-Senussi, also known as Zubeir Ahmed El-Sharif, is a Libyan member of the Senussi house and a member of the National Transitional Council representing political prisoners.

National Transitional Council

National Transitional Council

The National Transitional Council (NTC) was a transitional government established in the First Libyan Civil War. The rebel forces overthrew the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya of Muammar Gaddafi. The NTC governed Libya for a period of ten months after the end of the war, holding elections to a General National Congress on 7 July 2012, and handing power to the newly elected assembly on 8 August.

Idris bin Abdullah al-Senussi

Idris bin Abdullah al-Senussi

Prince Idris bin Abdullah al-Senussi is a member of the Libyan Royal family. While Libya's royal family was under house arrest after Muammar Gaddafi overthrew their rule, Prince Idris al-Senussi began working on leading the royal family and uniting Libya, as this role was passed onto him by his late father.

Mohammed El Senussi

Mohammed El Senussi

Mohammed El Senussi is the son of Crown Prince Hasan as-Senussi of Libya, and of Crown Princess Fawzia bint Tahir Bakeer. Born in Tripoli, he is considered by Libyan royalists to be the legitimate heir to the Senussi Crown of Libya.

Source: "Senusiyya", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 17th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senusiyya.

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See also
Notes
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Cana, Frank Richardson (1911). "Senussi" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 649–651.
  2. ^ "The Sanusi Movement in Libya". Islamweb.net. 16 May 2002. Archived from the original on 19 July 2021.
  3. ^ Triaud, J.L. (2012). Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.). Brill. pp. 22–23.
  4. ^ Moughrabi, Fouad. "Genocide in Libya: Shar, a Hidden Colonial History." Arab Studies Quarterly, vol. 43, no. 4, fall 2021, pp. 371+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A697861284/AONE?u=tall85761&sid=googleScholar&xid=8b3f077a
  5. ^ Metz, Helen Chapin. "The Sanusi Order". Libya: A Country Study. GPO for the Library of Congress. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  6. ^ Encyclopedia Islam
  7. ^ Under the flag: and Somali coast stories by Walsh, Langton Prendergast. pp. 259
  8. ^ A. Del Boca, "Gli Italiani in Libia – Tripoli Bel Suol d'Amore" Mondadori 1993, pp. 334–341
  9. ^ A. Del Boca, "Gli Italiani in Libia – Tripoli Bel Suol d'Amore" Mondadori 1993, p. 415
  10. ^ Field Marshal Earl Wavell, The Palestine Campaigns 3rd Edition thirteenth Printing; Series: A Short History of the British Army 4th Edition by Major E.W. Sheppard (London: Constable & Co., 1968) pp. 35–6
  11. ^ M.G.E. Bowman–Manifold, An Outline of the Egyptian and Palestine Campaigns, 1914 to 1918 2nd Edition (Chatham: The Institution of Royal Engineers, W. & J. Mackay & Co Ltd, 1923), p. 23.
  12. ^ William Eliot Peyton Centre for First World War Studies. Accessed 19 January 2008.
  13. ^ Wavell pp. 37–8.
  14. ^ Russell McGuirk The Sanusi's Little War: The Amazing Story of a Forgotten Conflict in the Western Desert, 1915–1917 (London: Arabian Publishing, 2007) pp. 263–4.
  15. ^ Phillip Naylor, “North Africa, Revised Edition: A History from Antiquity to the Present”, University of Texas Press, p. 177.
  16. ^ John L. Wright, Libya, a Modern History, Johns Hopkins University Press, p. 42.
  17. ^ Bearman, Jonathan (1986). Qadhafi's Libya. London: Zed Books. p. 14.
  18. ^ Vandewalle, Dirk (2006). A History of Modern Libya. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 27.
  19. ^ a b Bearman, Jonathan (1986). Qadhafi's Libya. London: Zed Books. pp. 28–30.
  20. ^ "Libya's Forgotten King". Aljazeera. 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2017-10-05.
  21. ^ a b "Libya's Sufi Character Cannot Be Erased | Baraza". baraza.cdrs.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2017-10-05.
  22. ^ a b Ayoob, Mohammed (2013). The Politics of Islamic Reassertion. New York: Routledge. p. 64.
  23. ^ Collins, O. (2005). Encyclopedia of African History - Chad: Libya, Aozou Strip, Civil War. ISBN 9781579584535.
  24. ^ "1969: Bloodless coup in Libya". BBC. Retrieved 2017-10-05.
  25. ^ Colman, Jeff D. (2013). Petro-Aggression. When Oil Causes War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 128.
  26. ^ "Es Sayed Mohammed Idris bin es Sayed el Mahdi es Senussi". GlobalSecurity.org. GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2022-12-21.
  27. ^ "African Union commemorates King Idris : Libyan Embassy – London". english.libyanembassy.org.
  28. ^ a b "Libya's Forgotten King". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  29. ^ a b Pike, John. "Senussi".
  30. ^ Kawzynski, Daniel (2011). Seeking Gaddafi. Libya, the West, and the Arab Spring. Biteback Publishing.
  31. ^ Schwartz, Stephen (23 August 2011). "The Sufi Foundation of Libya's Revolution". HuffPost.
  32. ^ "Heir to Libyan throne under Brussels spotlight". EURACTIV.com. 21 April 2011.
  33. ^ Smith, Graeme (2011-07-31). "Libyan rebels crack down on rogue militias". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2017-10-05.
  34. ^ a b Schwartz, Stephen (2011-08-23). "The Sufi Foundation of Libya's Revolution". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-10-05.
  35. ^ "Muslim shrines attacked in Libya". BBC News. 2012-08-25. Retrieved 2017-10-05.
  36. ^ Heneghan, Tom (August 29, 2012). "UNESCO urges end to attacks on Libyan Sufi mosques, graves". Chicago Tribune. Reuters. Archived from the original on 2012-09-04.
Sources
  • Azmzade Sadik El Mueyyed, Journey in the Grand Sahara of Africa (1897), republished in Azmzade, Gokkent, Senusi et al. in Journey in the Grand Sahara of Africa and Through Time (2021)
  • E. E. Evans-Pritchard, The Sanusi of Cyrenaica (1949, repr. 1963)
  • N. A. Ziadeh, Sanusiyah (1958, repr. 1983).
  • Bianci, Steven, ''Libya: Current Issues and Historical Background New York: Nova Science Publishers, INc, 2003
  • L. Rinn, Marabouts et Khouan, a good historical account up to the year 1884
  • O. Depont and X. Coppolani, Les Confréries religieuses musulmanes (Algiers, 1897)
  • Si Mohammed el Hechaish, Chez les Senoussia et les Touareg, in "L'Expansion col. française" for 1900 and the "Revue de Paris" for 1901. These are translations from the Arabic of an educated Mahommedan who visited the chief Senussite centres. An obituary notice of Senussi el Mahdi by the same writer appeared in the Arab journal El Hadira of Tunis, Sept. 2, 1902; a condensation of this article appears in the "Bull. du Com. de l'Afriue française" for 1902; "Les Senoussia", an anonymous contribution to the April supplement of the same volume, is a judicious summary of events, a short bibliography being added; Capt. Julien, in "Le Dar Ouadai" published in the same Bulletin (vol. for 1904), traces the connection between Wadai and the Senussi
  • L. G. Binger, in Le Péril de l'Islam in the 1906 volume of the Bulletin, discusses the position and prospects of the Senussite and other Islamic sects in North Africa. Von Grunau, in "Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde" for 1899, gives an account of his visit to Siwa
  • M. G. E. Bowman–Manifold, An Outline of the Egyptian and Palestine Campaigns, 1914 to 1918 2nd Edition (Chatham: The Institution of Royal Engineers, W. & J. Mackay & Co Ltd, 1923)
  • Russell McGuirk The Sanusi's Little War The Amazing Story of a Forgotten Conflict in the Western Desert, 1915–1917 (London, Arabian Publishing: 2007)
  • Field Marshal Earl Wavell, The Palestine Campaigns 3rd Edition thirteenth Printing; Series: A Short History of the British Army 4th Edition by Major E.W. Sheppard (London: Constable & Co., 1968)
  • Sir F. R. Wingate, in Mahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan (London, 1891) narrates the efforts made by the Mahdi Mahommed Ahmed to obtain the support of the Senussi
  • Sir W. Wallace, in his report to the Colonial Office on Northern Nigeria for 1906–1907, deals with Senussiism in that country.
  • H. Duveyrier, La Confrérie musulmane de Sidi Mohammed ben Ali es Senoûssi (Paris, 1884), a book containing much exaggeration.
  • A. Silva White, From Sphinx to Oracle (London, 1898), which, while repeating the extreme views of Duveyrier, contains useful information.
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