Senussi

SENUSSI and SENUSSITES, the names respectively of a Muslim family (and especially its chief member) and of the fraternity or sect recognizing the authority of the Senussi.

Seyyid or Sidi (i.e., Lord) Mohammed ben Ali ben Es Senussi el Khettabi el Hassani el Idrissi el Mehajiri, the founder of the order, commonly called the Sheikh es Senussi, was born near Mostaganem, Algeria, and was called es Senussi after a much venerated saint whose tomb is near Tlemsen. The date of his birth is given variously as 1791, 1792, 1796 and 1803. He was a member of the Walad Sidi Abdalla tribe of Arabs and his descent is traced from Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed. As a young man he spent several years at Fez, where he studied theology. When about 3o years old he left Morocco and travelled in the Saharan regions of Algeria, preaching a reform of the faith. From Algeria he went to Tunisia and Tripoli, gaining many adher ents, and thence to Cairo, where he was opposed by the Ulema of El Azhar, who considered him unorthodox. Leaving Egypt Senussi went to Mecca, where he joined Mohammed b. Idris el Fassi, the head of the Khadirites, a fraternity of Moroccan origin. On the death of el Fassi Senussi became head of one of the two branches into which the Khadirites divided, and in 1835 he founded his first monastery at Abu Kobeis, near Mecca. While in Arabia Senussi visited the Wahhabites, and his connection with that body caused him to be looked upon with suspicion by the Ulema of Mecca. It was at Mecca, however, that Senussi gained his most powerful supporter, Mohammed Sherif, a prince of Wadai, who became in 1838 sultan of his native State, then the most power ful Mohammedan kingdom in the central Sudan. Finding the opposition to him at Mecca too powerful Senussi quitted that city in 1843 and settled in Cyrenaica, where in the mountains near Derna he built the Zawia Baida, or White Monastery. There he was in close touch with all the Maghribin, gaining many followers among the Tripolitans and Moroccans. The spread of the Senus sia was, however, not viewed with favour by the Turks, who at that time ruled Cyrenaica. Probably with the desire to avoid pressure from the Turks, Senussi removed in 1855 to Jaghbub, a small oasis some 3om. N.W. of Siwa. Here he died in 1859 or 186o, leaving two sons, one Mohammed Sherif (named after the sultan of Wadai), born in 1844, and the other, el Mandi, born in 1845. To the second son was left the succession. It is related

that as the younger son showed a spirit in all things superior to that of his brother the father decided to put them to the test. Before the whole zawia at Jahgbub he bade both sons climb a tall palm tree and then adjured them by Allah and His Prophet to leap to the ground. The younger lad leapt at once and reached the ground unharmed ; the elder boy refused to spring. To el Mandi, "who feared not to commit himself to the will of God," passed the birthright of Mohammed Sherif. Mohammed appears to have accepted the situation without complaint. He held the chief administrative position in the fraternity under his brother until his death in 1895.

The Second Senussi.

Senussi el Mandi, only 14 when his father died, enjoyed all his father's reputation for holiness and wisdom, attributes consistent with all that is known of his life. Mohammed Sherif, the sultan of Wadai, had died in 1858, but his successors the sultan Ali (who reigned until 1874) and the sultan Yusef (reigned 1874-98) were equally devoted to the Senussia. Under the Senussi el Mandi the zawias of the order extended from Fez to Damascus, to Constantinople and to India. In the Hejaz members of the order were numerous. In most of these countries the Senussites occupied a position in no respect more powerful than that of numbers of other Muslim fraternities. In the Hausa States (i.e., north Nigeria) the Senussia made little headway, the Muslims there acknowledging the headship of the sultan of Sokoto. In the eastern Sahara and in the central Sudan the position was Jifferent. From the western borders of Egypt south to Darfur, Wadai and Bornu, west to Bilma and Murzuk, and north to the coast lands of Tripolitania, Senussi el Mandi became the most powerful sheikh, acquiring the authority of a territorial sovereign. The oases in the Libyan desert were occupied and cultivated by the Senussites, trade with Tripoli and Benghazi was encouraged, law and order were maintained among the sav age Bedouin of the desert. But the eastern Sahara is among the most desolate and thinly populated parts of the world, and of more importance to the order was the influence possessed by the sheikh in the central Sudan.