Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi

For other people named Muhammad Ali, see Muhammad Ali (disambiguation).

Sayyid Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi (1787–1859) was the founder of the Senussi order. The order was founded in 1837.

Al-Senussi was born in al-Wasita near Mostaganem, Algeria,[1] and was named al-Senussi after a venerated Muslim teacher. He was a member of the Walad Sidi Abdalla tribe, and was a sharif tracing his descent from Fatimah, the daughter of Mohammed. He took his last name from one of his teachers, who hailed from the Beni Snous Berbers of the Tlemcen region. He studied at a madrassa in Fez, then traveled in the Sahara preaching a purifying reform of the faith in Tunisia and Tripoli, gaining many adherents, and thence moved to Cairo to study at Al-Azhar University. Unable to cross Algeria because of the French occupation, the beginning, the centre of Imam Mohammed Ali El Senussi’s call was Jebel Akhdar and he built a mosque in Bayda of Cyrenaica and named it after himself, then he moved to Jaghbub in Cyrenaica from where the mosques spread to the remaining cities of Barqa and Tripoli.[2] He built a great mosque and a university which came to rival Al-Azhar, but which was shut down on the orders of Muammar al-Gaddafi in 1984; at the same time, the graves and remains of the Senussi family were desecrated. After the death of Muhammad as-Sanussi his son Sayyid Muhammad al-Mahdi bin Sayyid Muhammad as-Senussi (1859–1902) became the new leader of the Senussi order, and moved it south from Jaghbub to Kufra.[1] His grandson through Muhammad became King Idris, the only King of Libya.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Muhammad
ibn Ali
as-Senussi
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Muhammad
as-Sharif
as-Senussi
 
 
Muhammad al-Mahdi
bin Muhammad
as-Senussi
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ahmed
as-Sharif
as-Senussi
 
 
 
Muhammad
al-Abid
as-Senussi
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Muhammad
ar-Reda
 
Idris I
of Libya
 
Queen Fatima
as-Sharif
 
az-Zubayr
bin Ahmad
as-Sharif
 
Abdullah bin
Muhammad al-
Abid as-Senussi
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hasan
as-Senussi
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ahmed
as-Senussi

(member
of NTC)
 
Idris bin
Abdullah
as-Senussi

(claimant)
 
 
 
Mohammed
as-Senussi

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Shillington, Kevin (2005) "Libya: Muhammad Al-Sanusi (c.1787–1859) and the Sanusiyya" Encyclopedia of African History Fitzroy Dearborn, New York, p. 830-831, ISBN 1-57958-245-1
  2. The Senussi Family Retrieved 1 October 2011.
Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi
Senussi dynasty
Born: 1787
Religious titles
Preceded by
None
Chief of the Senussi order
1843-1859
Succeeded by
Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi