Senoussiya
| Senussi dynasty السنوسية (in Arabic) |
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|---|---|
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| Country |
 Cyrenaica Tripolitania Fezzan Kingdom of Libya
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| Founder | Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi |
| Final ruler | Idris of Libya |
| Deposition | 1969: Overthrown by Muammar Gaddafi's 1 September Coup d'état |
| Current head |
Mohammed El Senussi; Idris bin Abdullah al-Senussi (rival claimant) |
| Titles | |
The Senussi or Sanussi (Arabic: السنوسية) 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), the Algerian Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi. Senussi was concerned with what it saw as both the decline of Islamic thought and spirituality and the weakening of Muslim political integrity. 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. During World War II, the Senussi tribe 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 the sustained prosecution perpetrated by Gaddafi’s regime. The Senussi spirit and legacy continue to be prominent in today’s 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 further details are difficult to obtain.
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Wikipedia