Articles [Special Issue: Religion and Religious Studies during the Interwar Period]
The Sanusi Order
The Libyan Sufi Order That Led the Anticolonial Movement
2023 Volume 97 Issue 2 Pages 153-173
Details
2023 Volume 97 Issue 2 Pages 153-173
Since 1911, before World War I, Libya suffered from the harsh colonial rule by Italy. The Sanusi's activities aiming for a new mystic order with social participation, under such circumstances, were regarded as part of neo-Sufism under armed conflicts.
Their movement developed with the aim of achieving the unity of the nomads of the desert. Commanding armed groups with the claim of Jihad, they finally got rid of the European great power invading Libya.
After several zāwiya were established in Libya by The Founder Grand Sanusi, Muhammad Ali al-Sanusi, the people of the desert had come to engage in fighting against foreign powers in Egypt and Sudan as well as in Libya, particularly under the Third Leader of the Sanusi's Order.
The guerrilla fighters of this order were often defeated. However, they joined the Allied Forces and took part in attacking together with them. Consequently, they achieved the independence of the United Kingdom of Libya in December 1951.
The Sanusi Order gave religious meaning to the political action of resistance to the colonial policies by the Western powers.
