Editing Islam in Libya (section)

==Saints and brotherhoods==

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[[File:Quran studying board.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|Quran studying board shot in Almayyit Mosque Tripoli. Writing on wooden boards is the traditional method for memorizing Quran]]
Islam as practiced in [[North Africa]] is interlaced with indigenous Berber beliefs. Although the Sufi orthodoxy preached the unique and inimitable [[majesty]] and [[Sanctity]] of [[God]] and the [[social equality|equality]] of God's [[religious belief|Believers]], an important element of Islam for centuries has been a belief in the coalescence of special spiritual power given by God to particular living human beings. The power is known as [[Barakah]], a transferable quality of personal blessedness and spiritual force said to lodge in certain individuals. Those whose claim to possess Barakah can be substantiated&mdash;through performance of apparent [[Miracle]]s, exemplary human insight, or [[genealogy|genealogical]] connection with a recognized possessor&mdash;are viewed as saints. These persons are known in the West as marabouts, a [[French language|French]] transliteration of al murabitun (those who have made a religious retreat), and the benefits of their Baraka are believed to accrue to those ordinary people who come in contact with them.

The true Islamic way of saints became widespread in rural areas; in urban localities, Islam in its Sunni form prevail. Saints were present in [[Tripolitania]], but they were particularly numerous in [[Cyrenaica]]. Their Baraka continued to reside in their tombs after their deaths. The number of venerated tombs varied from tribe to tribe, although there tended to be fewer among the camel herders of the desert than among the sedentary and nomadic tribes of the [[plateau]] area. In one village, a visitor in the late 1960s counted sixteen still-venerated tombs.

Coteries of [[wikt:disciple|disciples]] frequently clustered around particular saints, especially those who preached an original tariqa (devotional "way"). Brotherhoods of the followers of such mystical teachers appeared in North Africa at least as early as the eleventh century and in some cases became mass movements. The founder ruled an order of followers, who were organized under the frequently absolute authority of a leader, or sheikh. The brotherhood was centered on a zawiya.

Sufi adherents gathered into brotherhoods, and Sufi orders became extremely popular, particularly in rural areas. Sufi brotherhoods exercised great influence and ultimately played an important part in the religious revival that swept through North Africa during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In Libya, when the [[Ottoman Empire]] proved unable to mount effective resistance to the encroachment of [[Christian missionary|Christian missionaries]], the work was taken over by Sufi-inspired [[revivalist movement]]s. Among these, the most forceful and effective was that of the [[Senussi]], which extended into numerous parts of North Africa.

===Senusiyya===
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The [[Senusiyya]], or Senussi movement, was a [[sufism|sufi]] religious revival adapted to desert life. Its [[zawiya (institution)|zawiyas]] could be found in [[Tripolitania]] and [[Fezzan]], but its influence was strongest in [[Cyrenaica]]. The Senusiyya's first theocracy was in the city of [[Bayda, Libya|Bayda]], Cyrenaica and that was their center in 1841. After the Italian occupation, the focus turned from government to seminary education and then to the creation of an Islamic University which became in 1960 the University of Mohammed bin Ali al-Sanusi. The arrival of Gaddafi's rule changed the course of the university. It is now known as the [[Omar Al-Mukhtar University]]. 

The Senussis formed a nucleus of resistance to the [[Italian colonization of Libya]]. As [[Libyan nationalism]] fostered by unified resistance to the Italians gained adherents, however, the religious fervor of devotion to the movement began to wane, particularly after the Italians destroyed Senussi religious and educational centers during the 1930s. Nonetheless, [[Idris of Libya]] was the grandson of the founder of the Senussi movement, and his status as a Senussi gave him the unique ability to command respect from the disparate parts of the [[Kingdom of Libya]].

Despite its momentary political prominence, the Senussi movement never regained its strength as a religious force after its zawiyas were destroyed. A promised restoration never fully took place, and the Idrisid regime used the Senussi heritage as a means of legitimizing political authority rather than to provide religious leadership.

After unseating Idris in 1969, the revolutionary government placed restrictions on the operation of the remaining zawiyas, appointed a supervisor for Senussi properties, and merged the Senussi-sponsored Islamic University with the [[University of Libya]]. The movement was virtually banned, but in the 1980s occasional evidence of Senussi activity was nonetheless reported. Senussi-inspired activists were instrumental in freeing Cyrenaica from Gaddafi's control during the [[2011 Libyan Civil War]].