SANUSSI
(Religious order)

Muslim religious order founded in the 19th century whose purposes were a return to the sources of the Coran and to the unity of Islam on the one hand and to resist the European occupation of the Arab world, and more specifically North Africa, on the other hand .

It's founder, Muhammad Bin Ali As-Sanusi, was born Algeria in 1780. After his studies in Fez, Medina and Mekka this ascetic brought together his first disciples, preaching in the countries he traveled through. In 1843, unable to go back to Algeria which was occupied by the French, he settled down in Cyrenaica, in present Libya, where he founded the Zawiya al-Beida (the white monastery), the first religious "lodge" of the brotherhood.

The sect dispensing education, asylum and religious guidance was quickly successful among the tribes in Cyrenaica. When its founder died in 1859 the sect's doctrine had spread throughout Libya, Egypt, Sudan and Tchad, essentially thanks to its members' proselytism and the efficacy of its organization in small cells along commercial roads, near wells, cult places or markets. In 1880s the brotherhood reached its peak. Under pressure by the French and British troops - the sect having become a focus of resistance against colonization - it witnessed a throw-back of its missionary work at the end of the century.

Gradually, the community fell back to Cyrenaica where the Ottoman administration deleguated officering functions to it in order to control the tribes which were traditionally hostile to any form of central power. From 1911 on, along with the Turkish army, the Sanusiya fought the Italian forces in Cyrenaica and during World War I also their British allies. Following the defeat of the Sanussi troops against the latter, their leader, As-Sayyid Ahmed As-Sharif As-Sanusi, left the country. The Italians and the British recognized his successor, Muhammad Idris Al-Mahdi As-Sanusi, as Amir of Cyrenaica after he signed the treaty of Az-Zawiatna and renounced to attack the coastal towns in Egypt. In 1922 he accepted the title of Amir of Tripolitania, offered by the nationalists there. The Sanussi then again took up the arms against the Italians, who managed to weaken the sect by cutting them off the southern oases. Muhammad Idris went into exile to Cairo the same year.

During World War II, the Senusiya fought with the allied troops against the Italian forces. After the defeat of the latter the British acknowledged Muhammad Idris as Amir of Cyrenaica. He was crowned as King of Libya on 24 December 1951. He led a very conservative policy and strifes between Cyrenaica and Tripolitania were frequent during his reign, a recurrent problem in the country's history.

King Idris was overthrown on 1 September 1969, by a group of officers led by Muammar Al-Qaddhafi, born to a family adhering to the Sanussi sect. Thus, it is not surprising that the ideology of the regime shares some viewpoints with the doctrine of the order (inter alia its anti-western attitude and the wish for a return to "arabism").

(January 1998)