Imam of Zawiyat al-Qusour

In the preceding article we followed the Senussi undertaking of Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ in Wadai in the years between 1894 and 1899, and we described how in these years he earned the honorary title “Lion of the Desert”, how the gradual French colonial expansion in Chad began to affect the general Senussi presence, and how in 1899 or 1900 he returned to Cyrenaica for a new Senussi assignment. This article follows him in his appointment as imam of the Zawiyat al-Qusour in the Jebel Akhdar region of Cyrenaica from 1902 onward, and in his work there until the outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War in 1911.

The Zawiyat al-Qusour

Zawiyat al-Qusour, situated in the central Jebel Akhdar region of Cyrenaica near the present-day town of al-Bayda, had been founded personally by Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sanusi ﵀ in 1862 and thus belonged to the older Senussi zawiyas in the region, and it occupied a distinctly central place within the Cyrenaican network of zawiyas. The site had been chosen for its favourable geographical position in the mountain valley of the Jebel Akhdar, with extensive grazing lands and water reserves in the immediate surroundings, and over the course of four decades it had grown into a sizeable community with several hundred permanent inhabitants, with adjoining agricultural lands, and with a central prayer hall that on Fridays received a large audience from the neighbouring Bedouin tribes.

For Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀, his appointment as imam of this zawiya in the spring of 1902 meant a comprehensive spiritual and administrative responsibility in his native Cyrenaican territory. He was forty-four years old in these years, shaped by his education in Jaghbub and in Kufra and by his Wadai years, and he received the appointment with a combination of spiritual earnestness and thorough practical preparation for the work that awaited him in the zawiya.

The transition of the supreme leadership

Simultaneously with his appointment, a transition of the supreme leadership took place within the Senussi brotherhood, with the death of Muhammad al-Mahdi al-Sanusi ﵀ in 1902 and with the assumption of the general leadership by his nephew Sayyid Ahmad al-Sharif al-Sanusi ﵀. The transition unfolded gradually and in continuity, for Sayyid Ahmad al-Sharif ﵀ had already been closely bound to the administrative leadership of the brotherhood in the preceding years, and in his new position he carried the existing Senussi strategy forward in its entirety.

For Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀, this transition meant that in his new position as imam in Cyrenaica he came to stand in a direct connection with the new supreme leadership, and in the years that followed he would maintain extensive administrative and spiritual exchanges with Sayyid Ahmad al-Sharif ﵀. The understanding between the two men, which had already been formed in the preceding Wadai years, developed in these years into a close working relationship in which the supreme leader recognized in Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ one of his most reliable supporters.

The daily work

The morning sessions in the mosque

The ordinary mornings in the Zawiyat al-Qusour began with Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ taking up his teaching duties for the local students after the fajr prayer. The students, some dozens of Cyrenaican Bedouin boys from the neighbouring tribal families, jointly received their morning lessons in Quran recitation, in first Arabic letters, and in the ordinary Senussi discipline. For Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀, these mornings formed the most spiritually fulfilling part of his day, for in this teaching he felt the gradual transmission of the Senussi tradition to the coming generation, carried by a shared devotion.

In his teaching he followed a method of personal attention in which each student received an individual hearing. He developed a thorough knowledge of each individual student, he adapted his teaching method to the particular nature of each student, and he thereby gave a common direction to the general Senussi formation in which the coming Senussi generation would be placed.

The juridical adjudication

Alongside his teaching duties, Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ in his position as imam conducted an extensive juridical adjudication in disputes between the local Cyrenaican Bedouin families. Parties from the neighbouring tribal communities brought their cases to his zawiya, where in their disputes they received an application of Maliki fiqh, and he conducted the adjudication according to the ordinary Senussi conventions, in which the fiqh was combined with a sensitivity to the local Bedouin traditions.

For the ordinary Cyrenaican Bedouin families, the juridical availability of Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ contributed to the gradual acceptance of his general authority, for in his adjudication they received a just outcome that placed the general Muslim community within a shared discipline. In the course of the years before 1911 he became the judicial authority for an extensive area around the Zawiyat al-Qusour, and his adjudication was received by the local Bedouin population with general acceptance.

In his daily work as imam of Zawiyat al-Qusour, Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ combined spiritual leadership, juridical adjudication, administrative organization and scholarly instruction. The morning programme was devoted to the communal prayers in the central mosque and to the instruction of the young students who received their education in the zawiya. The afternoon was used for the juridical adjudication of disputes between the Bedouin families of the neighbouring tribes, for the administration of the zawiya economy, and for the gradual expansion of the Senussi presence in the wider Cyrenaican region.

In his Friday sermons in the central mosque, which were attended by a large audience from the neighbouring villages, Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ gave a spiritual guidance in which he presented the general Senussi discipline to his listeners in a combination of practical learning and spiritual earnestness. In his preaching he spoke of the responsibility of the Muslim community for the preservation of its spiritual character under the coming threats of European colonial expansion, and thus he prepared his community step by step for what awaited it in the coming decades.

The personal spiritual discipline

In his personal spiritual discipline, Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ maintained the Senussi wird in its full scope in these years. He habitually rose for the fajr and, alongside the communal prayer, performed an extended personal dhikr session in which the Senussi formulas were carried out. In the evening hours, after the isha prayer, he held an additional session of Quran recitation and personal reflection in which he entrusted the whole of his work to Allah ﷻ.

In his fasting he performed regular voluntary fasts alongside the ordinary fasting of Ramadan, as an additional personal spiritual exercise that granted him a spiritual steadfastness. For his physical condition, moreover, this discipline provided an endurance that would sustain him in his coming years as an elderly military leader.

The gradual military preparation

In his role as imam, Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ also undertook a gradual military preparation of the neighbouring Cyrenaican Bedouin tribes for the coming Italian colonial invasion. He organized regular meetings with the local tribal shaykhs in which the general strategic significance of the approaching threat was discussed, and he undertook steady purchases of weapons through the ordinary Senussi networks, in a preparation by which the local Bedouin tribes were readied step by step for the coming defence.

The military preparation proceeded without full openness, for Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ did not wish his work to draw the attention of the Ottoman authorities or of the Italian informants before the coming confrontation would actually begin. In a combination of careful secrecy and thorough practical preparation, he built up in the years between 1902 and 1911 an extensive network of militarily trained Bedouin fighters, which in the coming resistance would form the bedding upon which the Cyrenaican resistance could be waged in its full scope.

The collective shape of the Senussi leadership

In the years after his appointment as imam in the Zawiyat al-Qusour, Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ developed a close connection with the wider Senussi leadership, which placed him in a central position within the general structure of the brotherhood. He met the supreme leadership under Sayyid Ahmad al-Sharif al-Sanusi ﵀ in regular gatherings in Kufra, he conducted an extensive correspondence with the local ikhwan leaders in other Cyrenaican zawiyas, and he undertook extensive journeys through the wider Senussi region for general strategic consultations and spiritual exchanges.

For Sayyid Ahmad al-Sharif al-Sanusi ﵀ in his position of supreme leadership, Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ formed one of the most trusted local leaders, and in his allotment of duties he received some of the most sensitive responsibilities in the general Cyrenaican Senussi organization. He was charged with the leadership of the coming military preparation in his region, with the organization of the arms supply through the Egyptian intermediaries, and with the diplomatic exchange with the local Ottoman authorities in Benghazi for the coming common defence.

The local tribal shaykhs

A central part of his work in these years was the building of connections with the neighbouring Cyrenaican tribal shaykhs among the Awaqir, the Bara’asa, the Magharba and the other Saʿadi tribes who in the coming armed struggle would have to form a common leadership. In these years he repeatedly undertook journeys through the local tribal territories for extended consultation meetings with the local shaykhs, he conducted extensive discussions on the coming common strategy, and he gave a common form to the general design of the coming defensive organization.

For the local tribal shaykhs, Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ formed a central spiritual authority who transcended the ordinary tribal rivalries. For the coming armed struggle, this organizational preparation meant in its outcome that the Cyrenaican Bedouin tribes would resist the Italian colonial expansion together, under a Senussi coordination that would resolve the ordinary tribal fragmentation into a common cohesion.

The Italo-Turkish War in its preparation

In the years between 1908 and 1911, a steady colonial preparation for the coming invasion of Libya unfolded within the Italian state, which would find its outcome in its full scope in September 1911 in the Italo-Turkish War. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti, Italy carried out a diplomatic preparation in these years, with extensive negotiations with France, Great Britain and Germany over the coming Italian colonial presence in Libya. The Italian army undertook a substantial military preparation in these years, with the assembly of an expeditionary force of several tens of thousands of men and with the steady purchase of modern weapons for the coming operation.

The Senussi brotherhood in Cyrenaica followed these developments with attention through the ordinary Senussi informants in the port cities and through the wider international connections of the brotherhood. Sayyid Ahmad al-Sharif al-Sanusi ﵀ conducted extensive discussions with the local ikhwan in these years on the coming Senussi response, and in these same years he undertook the direct organizational preparations for the coming war.

The Italian Banco di Roma

One element of the Italian colonial preparation that affected the local economy of Libya was the establishment of the Banco di Roma in Tripolitania and in Cyrenaica. The bank, an Italian trading and credit institution, established offices in Tripoli, in Benghazi and in Derna in the years between 1907 and 1911, in a development that placed the local trade in a growing Italian dependency. The bank extended broad credit to local merchants in a manner that in its outcome established an Italian economic influence in the ordinary Libyan economy.

For the Senussi brotherhood, this Italian economic penetration meant a strategic development that in its outcome prepared the coming Italian colonial invasion. Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ in his position as imam followed the rise of the Banco di Roma with considerable attention through the local Senussi informants in the port cities, and he undertook countermeasures by urging the local Bedouin merchants to accept no credit from the Italian bank and to maintain their trading connections through the ordinary Senussi networks.

The Ottoman policy

The Ottoman policy toward the approaching Italian threat consisted in these years of a gradual military strengthening of the Libyan positions. The Ottoman authorities in Tripoli and Benghazi strengthened their military presence step by step in these years, with the supply of new troops from Anatolia and with an extensive exchange with the Senussi brotherhood on a possible common defensive strategy. The Senussi brotherhood accepted the necessity of a joint action with the Ottoman authorities despite the preceding tensions, and in 1910 and early 1911 it conducted extensive discussions with the Ottoman wali in Benghazi on the coming common defence.

For Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ in his Zawiyat al-Qusour position, this Ottoman-Senussi exchange meant that he became increasingly involved in the specific preparations for the coming war. In these years he conducted extensive discussions with Ottoman military officers who stayed in his zawiya, with extended exchanges on the local geography and on the design of the common defence, and in these discussions he acquired a thorough knowledge of modern military planning that would prove indispensable in his coming role as leader of the resistance.

The general shape of Cyrenaica in these years

In the years between 1902 and 1911, the local Bedouin-Senussi society of Cyrenaica underwent several considerable adjustments. The Ottoman authorities in Benghazi carried out a considerable expansion of their administrative presence in these years, with the construction of modern roads between the port cities and the mountain valleys of the Jebel Akhdar, with the establishment of an extensive Ottoman school system that placed the local aristocratic families in an Ottoman educational environment, and with the construction of a first telegraph network that accelerated the general communication between Cyrenaica and the Ottoman metropolitan centre.

For the Senussi brotherhood, these Ottoman modernizations meant a strategic development in which the expansion of the Ottoman presence had to be received in a combination of acceptance and spiritual caution. On the one hand, the Ottoman administrative improvements offered a practical modern infrastructure that supported the general local economy. On the other hand, they also brought with them an extensive Ottoman political control that could erode local autonomy in the coming years.

The local economic effect

In the local Cyrenaican economy, several changes unfolded in these years that would sustain the coming armed struggle. The ordinary herding of sheep, goats and camels was continued in its ordinary form, but it was supplemented by a steady expansion of the local agrarian economy in the mountain valleys, where the planting of olive groves, barley fields and smaller fruit gardens was continued. The general economy of the local Bedouin-Senussi communities thereby came to stand in a broader self-sufficiency, which would sustain the coming prolonged armed exchanges.

For the Senussi brotherhood, steady arms purchases through the ordinary Egyptian and Tunisian intermediaries also took place in these years. The military preparation brought with it an extensive storehouse organization in the local zawiyas, and it thereby gave the coming armed struggle a practical logistical readiness.

The spiritual shape of the community

In his Friday sermons in these years, Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ gave a spiritual interpretation of what awaited his community. He spoke of the general Muslim responsibility for the preservation of its spiritual autonomy under the coming European colonial expansion, he gave explanations of the developments of the Mahdiyya movement in Sudan and of the Cyrenaican Senussi perspective on those developments, and thus he gave the local community a gradual spiritual preparation for the developments that were to come.

The ordinary Bedouin population, which took part in these Friday sermons, gradually developed within them a spiritual preparation for the developments that would come. For the coming Italian colonial confrontation, this spiritual preparation meant that the Cyrenaican Muslim community would not be caught unawares, but stood prepared within a bedding of Senussi discipline.

Toward the Italian invasion

In the summer of 1911, as the Italian colonial preparation became visible in its full scope, Umar al-Mukhtar ﵀ in his Zawiyat al-Qusour position intensified the extensive preparations for the coming war. He repeatedly undertook journeys to the neighbouring Bedouin communities in which he prepared the local tribal shaykhs for the coming common defence, and he carried out the final organizational preparations for the coming Senussi organization of the anti-colonial resistance. To the outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War in September 1911 and to the first phase of the Cyrenaican resistance under his leadership, the next article will devote its attention.

Sources

• E.E. Evans-Pritchard, The Sanusi of Cyrenaica, Clarendon Press (1949), pp. 124–148.
• Ali Abdullatif Ahmida, The Making of Modern Libya, State University of New York Press (2009), pp. 138–168.
• Anna Baldinetti, The Origins of the Libyan Nation, Routledge (2010), pp. 134–168.
• Nicola Labanca, Oltremare: Storia dell’espansione coloniale italiana, il Mulino (2002), pp. 112–168.
• Sergio Romano, La quarta sponda: La guerra di Libia 1911–1912, Bompiani (1977), pp. 14–68.
• Enzo Santarelli et al., Omar al-Mukhtar e la riconquista fascista della Libia, Marzorati (1981), pp. 168–214.
• Knut S. Vikør, Sufi and Scholar on the Desert Edge, Hurst (1995), pp. 376–412.