Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi
Muhammad al- Sanusi (Arabic محمد بن علي السنوسي, DMG Muḥammad ʿ Alī b as- Sanusi, . * 1787 al - Wâsitâ, Algeria, † 1859 in al - Jaghbub, Libya ) was the founder of Sanusiya Order.
Muhammad ibn Ali al - Sanusi was born in 1787 in al - Wâsitâ at Mostaganem in Algeria today. The name al- Sanusi, he received a local Koran scholars. As Sheikh of the tribe of Walad Sidi Abdalla he believed his descent down to Fatima, to be able to derive the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed.
As- Sanusi studied at a madrasa in Fes in Morocco. Then he traveled as an itinerant preacher through North Africa, where he managed to find many supporters for his ideas of a renewal of Islam. He continued his studies at al- Azhar University in Cairo continue, but broke the pilgrimage to Mecca.
In Mecca he founded in 1837 the Sanusiya Order, which later became known in Europe, especially under the name Senussi brotherhood. The Sufi order originated as a Puritan religious reform movement in high inspired by the Arab Wahabism. Similar to this, he aspired to the renewal of Islam and the return to the pure teachings of the Qur'an and Sunnah. Served this purpose not only the intense study of the scriptures, but also meditation and ecstasy various techniques along the lines of the dervishes. In contrast to these, the Sanusi seek the unio mystica but not with God, but with the Spirit of the Prophet Mohammed. The Founder himself was said to be able at any time to enter into direct communication with the Prophet. Therefore, the Sanusi are his interpretations of the Koran and the Sunna as binding.
1843 shifted as- Sennussi the center of his Order in the north- eastern Libya. The local Cyrenaica at that time was a remote and backward province of the Ottoman Empire with relatively little political control. The region appeared as- Sennussi therefore particularly well suited to follow the model of the Sufi mystic Sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris al - Fasi, in the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula, led a small economically, legally and militarily self-sufficient community since 1835.
The first religious house was built in al - Bayda in the Jabal Akhdar. In addition to prayer and mystical contemplation, the monks practiced there also weapons technology and agriculture. They should earn their own living, and they operated for this purpose agriculture, trade and crafts. Similar to the Christian religious communities, the Sanusi offices they also had their own schools.
Through the hard work and the tight organization of the friars, the community developed very successfully in the following years. From the mother convent in al - Bayda from 80 other religious houses, especially in Cyrenaica but also in other regions of Libya now emerged. But the flourishing monastic state provoked reactions soon the Ottoman administration. After attacks by the Ottoman governor in Libya as- Sennussi had to move into about 500 km south-east idyllic oasis al - Jaghbub, where he died in 1859 the center of the Brotherhood in 1856 by al - Bayda. His son Muhammad al -Mahdi as- Senussi (1859-1902) took over the leadership of the Brotherhood.
Muhammad al- Sanusi was originally buried in the Great Mosque of al - Jaghbub. Since the grave even after the ban of Sanusiya the Order under the Islamisierungskampagne Gaddafi in the Libyan People's Republic remained a place of pilgrimage for Islamic- Orthodox opposition, his remains were reburied end of the seventies to an unknown location.