Senussi dynasty

Country	Cyrenaica Tripolitania Libya
Titles	Emir of Cyrenaica Emir of Tripolitania King of Libya
Founder	Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi
Final sovereign	Idris I
Current head	Mohammed El Senussi; Idris bin Abdullah al-Senussi (rival claimant)
Deposition	1 September 1969

The traditional Senussi banner, later used as the flag of Cyrenaica and eventually incorporated into the flag of Libya

The Senussi or Sanussi refers to a Muslim political-religious order in Libya and the Sudan region founded in Mecca in 1837 by the Grand Senussi, Sayyid Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi. Senussi was concerned with both the decline of Islamic thought and spirituality and the weakening of Muslim political integrity. From 1902 to 1913 the Senussi fought French expansion in the Sahara, and the Italian colonisation of Libya beginning in 1911. In World War I, the Senussi fought against the British in Egypt and Sudan. The Grand Senussi's grandson became King Idris of Libya in 1951. In 1969, King Idris I was overthrown by a military coup led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. A third of the population in Libya continue to be affiliated with the Senussi movement.^{[citation needed]}

Beginnings 1787–1859[link]

The Senussi order has been historically closed to Europeans and outsiders, leading reports of their beliefs and practices to vary immensely. Though it is possible to gain some insight from the lives of the Senussi sheikhs further details are difficult to obtain.

Sayyid Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi (1787–1859), the founder of the order,was born in Algeria near Mostaganem 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 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 then moved to Cairo to study at Al-Azhar University. The pious scholar was forceful in his criticism of the Egyptian ulema for what he perceived as their timid compliance with the Ottoman authorities and their spiritual conservatism. He also argued that learned Muslims should not blindly follow the four classical schools of Islamic law but instead engage in ijtihad themselves. Not surprisingly, he was opposed by the ulema as unorthodox and they issued a fatwa against him.

Senussi went to Mecca, where he joined Ahmad Ibn Idris al-Fasi, the head of the Khadirites, a religious fraternity of Moroccan origin. On the death of Al-Fasi, Senussi became head of one of the two branches into which the Khadirites divided, and in 1835 he founded his first monastery or zawia, at Abu Kobeis near Mecca. Due to Wahhabi pressure Senussi left Mecca and settled in Cyrenaica, Libya in 1843, where in the mountains near Sidi Rafaa' (Bayda) he built the Zawia Baida ("White Monastery"). There he was supported by the local tribes and the Sultan of Wadai and his connections extended across the Maghreb.

The Grand Senussi did not tolerate fanaticism and forbade the use of stimulants as well as voluntary poverty. Lodge members were to eat and dress within the limits of Islamic law and, instead of depending on charity, were required to earn their living through work. He accepted neither the wholly intuitive ways described by some Sufi mystics nor the rationality of some the orthodox ulema; rather, he attempted to achieve a middle path. The Bedouin tribes had shown no interest in the ecstatic practices of the Sufis that were gaining adherents in the towns, but they were attracted in great numbers to the Senussis. The relative austerity of the Senussi message was particularly suited to the character of the Cyrenaican Bedouins, whose way of life had not changed much in the centuries since the Arabs had first accepted the Prophet Mohammad's teachings.^[1]

In 1855 Senussi moved farther from direct Ottoman surveillance to Jaghbub, a small oasis some 30 miles northwest of Siwa. He died in 1860, leaving two sons, Mahommed Sherif (1844–95) and Mohammed al-Mahdi, who succeeded him.

Developments since 1859[link]

Sayyid Muhammad al-Mahdi bin Sayyid Muhammad as-Senussi (1845 – 30 May 1902) was fourteen when his father died, after which he was placed under the care of his father's friends.

The successors to the Sultan of Wadai, Sultan Ali (1858–74) and the Sultan Yusef (1874–98) continued to support the Senussi. Under al-Mahdi the zawias of the order extended to Fez, Damascus, Constantinople and India. In the Hejaz members of the order were numerous. In most of these countries the Senussites wielded no more political power than other Muslim fraternities, but in the eastern Sahara and central Sudan things were different. Mohammed al-Mahdi had the authority of a sovereign in a vast but almost empty desert. The string of oases leading from Siwa to Kufra, and Borku were cultivated by the Senussites and trade with Tripoli and Benghazi was encouraged.

Although named Al Mahdi by his father, Mohammed never claimed to be the Mahdi (the Promised One), although he was regarded as such by some of his followers. When Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself al-Mahdi al-Muntazar or 'the Expected Saviour' in 1881 Mohammed al-Mahdi decided to have nothing to do with him. Although Muhammad Ahmed wrote twice asking him to become one of his four great khalifs, he received no reply. In 1890 Mahdists advancing from Darfur were stopped on the frontier of Wadai, the sultan Yusef proving firm in his adherence to the Senussi teachings.

Mohammed al-Mahdi's growing fame made the Ottoman regime uneasy and drew unwelcome attention. In most of Tripoli and Benghazi his authority was greater than that of the Ottoman governors. In 1889 the sheik was visited at Jaghbub by the pasha of Benghazi accompanied by Ottoman troops. This event showed the sheik the possibility of danger and led him to move his headquarters to Jof in the oases of Kufra in 1894, a place sufficiently remote to secure him from a sudden attack.

By this time a new danger to Senussi territories had arisen from the colonial French, who were advancing from the Congo towards the western and southern borders of Wadai. The Senussi kept them from advancing north of Chad.

In 1902, Mohammed al-Mahdi died and was succeeded by his nephew Ahmed Sharif es Senussi, but his adherents in the deserts bordering Egypt maintained for years that he was not dead. The new head of the Senussites maintained the friendly relations of his predecessors with Wadai, governing the order as regent for his young cousin, Mohammed Idris (the future King Idris of Libya), who signed the Acroma treaty^[2] with the Italians in 1917, and was later recognized by them as Emir of Cyrenaica^[3] on October 25, 1920.

The Senussi, encouraged by the German Empire and Ottoman Empire, played a minor part in the First World War, fighting a guerrilla war against the Italians in Libya and the British in Egypt from November 1915 until February 1917, led by Sayyid Ahmed and in the Sudan from March to December 1916, led by Ali Dinar, the Sultan of Darfur.^[4][5] In 1916, the British sent an expeditionary force against them, led by Major General William Peyton.^[6] According to Wavell and McGuirk, Western Force was first led by General Wallace and later by General Hodgson.^[7][8]

Italy took Libya from the Ottomans in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911. In 1922, Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini launched his infamous "Riconquista" of Libya — the Roman Empire having done the original conquering 2000 years before. The Senussi led the resistance and Italians closed Senussi lodges, arrested sheikhs, and confiscated mosque land. Libyans fought the Italians until 1943, with between 250 000 and 300 000 of them dying in the process.^[9]

Chiefs of the Senussi Order[link]

Sidi Muhammad Idris al-Mahdi al-Senussi, King of Libya

The royal standard of King Idris of Libya

• Sayyid Muhammad bin 'Ali as-Senussi (1843–1859)
• Sayyid Muhammad al-Mahdi bin Sayyid Muhammad as-Senussi (1859–1902)
• Sayyid Ahmed Sharif es Senussi (1902–1916; died 1933)
• Sidi Muhammad Idris al-Mahdi al-Senussi (1916–1969; died 1983)
• Sayyid Hasan ar-Rida al-Mahdi as-Sanussi (1969–1992)
• Sayyid Muhammad bin Sayyid Hasan ar-Rida al-Mahdi as-Sanussi (1992–present)

Senussi family tree[link]

Genealogical Trees[link]

Genealogoical chart of the descent from the Prophet of the Idrisid dynasty, rulers of Fez and Morocco, Kings of Tunis, and the Senussi dynasty, founders and heads of the Libyan Senussi Order and Kings of Libya are also descended from the other brother Hasan ibn Ali through Al Hassan Addakhil:

Genealogical tree of the Idrisid and Senussi family showing their descent Muhammad the Prophet. ^[10]

See also[link]

• Senussi Campaign in World War I
• Ahmad ibn Idris al-Fasi
• Idris bin Abdullah al-Senussi
• Ahmed al-Senussi
• Abdullah Senussi
• Omar Mukhtar
• Charles de Foucauld

Sources[link]

• E. E. Evans-Pritchard, The Sanusi of Cyrenaica (1949, repr. 1963)
• N. A. Ziadeh, Sanusiyah (1958, repr. 1983).
• Bianci, Steven, ''Libya: Current Issues and Historical Background New York: Nova Science Publishers, INc, 2003
• L. Rinn, Marabouts et Khouan, a good historical account up to the year 1884
• 0. Depont and X. Coppolani, Les Confrèries religieuses musulmanes (Algiers, 1897)
• Si Mohammed el Hechaish, Chez les Senoussia et les Touareg, in "L'Expansion cot. française" for 1900 and the "Revue de Paris" for 1901. These are translations from the Arabic of an educated Mahommedan who visited the chief Senussite centres. An obituary notice of Senussi el Mahdi by the same writer appeared in the Arab journal El Iladira of Tunis, Sept. 2, 1902; a condensation of this article appears in the "Bull. du Corn. de l'Afriue française" for 5902; Les Senoussia, an anonymous contribution to the April supplement of the same volume, is a judicious summary of events, a short bibliography being added; Capt. Julien, in "Le Dar Ouadai" published in the same Bulletin (vol. for 1904), traces the connection between Wadai and the Senussi
• L. G. Binger, in Le Peril de l'Islam in the 1906 volume of the Bulletin, discusses the position and prospects of the Senussite and other Islamic sects in North Africa. Von Grunau, in "Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde" for 1899, gives an account of his visit to Siwa
• M.G.E. Bowman–Manifold, An Outline of the Egyptian and Palestine Campaigns, 1914 to 1918 2nd Edition (Chatham: The Institution of Royal Engineers, W. & J. Mackay & Co Ltd, 1923)
• Russell McGuirk The Sanusi's Little War The Amazing Story of a Forgotten Conflict in the Western Desert, 1915–1917 (London, Arabian Publishing: 2007)
• Field Marshal Earl Wavell, The Palestine Campaigns 3rd Edition thirteenth Printing; Series: A Short History of the British Army 4th Edition by Major E.W. Sheppard (London: Constable & Co., 1968)
• Sir F. R. Wingate, in Mahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan (London, 1891), narrates the efforts made by the Mahdi Mahommed Ahmed to obtain the support of the Senussi
• Sir W. Wallace, in his report to the Colonial Office on Northern Nigeria for 1906-1907, deals with Senussiism in that country.
• H. Duveyrier, La Confrèrie musulmane de Sidi Mohammed ben Au es Senoussi (Paris, 1884), a book containing much exaggeration, and A. Silva White, From Sphinx to Oracle (London, 1898), which, while repeating the extreme views of Duveyrier, contains useful information.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Senussi dynasty

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
Sanusi at the 2011 Time 100 gala
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 June 2009
Preceded by	Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR
Personal details
Born	(1961-07-31) 31 July 1961 (age 50)

Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (born 31 July 1961) was appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria on 3 June 2009.^[1] He is a career banker and ranking Fulani nobleman, and also serves as a respected Islamic scholar.^[2] The renowned global financial intelliegence magazine, The Banker, published by the Financial Times, has conferred on Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi two awards. He has been recognised with the global award for Central Bank Governor of the Year, as well as for Central Bank Governor of the Year for Africa.^[3] The TIME magazine also listed Sanusi in its TIMES 100 list of most influential people of 2011^[4]

Birth and education[link]

Sanusi was born on July 31, 1961. His father was a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 1960s and his grandfather was Emir of Kano and Islamic Scholar, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi. Sanusi graduated from King's College Lagos in 1977 and studied at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria earning a BSc in Economics in 1981. He then taught economics at ABU from 1983 to 1985. He also obtained a degree in Islamic law from International University of Africa, Khartoum.^[1]

Banking career[link]

In 1985 Sanusi joined Icon Limited (Merchant Bankers), a subsidiary of Morgan Guaranty Trust Bank of New York, and Baring Brothers of London. He moved to the United Bank for Africa in 1997 in the Credit and Risk Management Division, rising to the position of a General Manager. In September 2005, he joined the Board of First Bank of Nigeria as an Executive Director in charge of Risk and Management Control, and was appointed Group Managing Director (CEO) in January 2009. He was also the Chairman, Kakawa Discount House and sat on the Board of FBN Bank (UK) Limited.^[1] Sanusi is recognized in the banking industry for his contribution towards developing a Risk Management culture in the Nigerian banking sector.^[5] First Bank is Nigeria's oldest bank and one of the biggest financial institutions in Africa.^[6] Sanusi was the first Northerner to be appointed CEO in First Bank's history of more than a century.^[7]

Governor of the Central Bank[link]

Governor Lamido Sanusi speaking at Warwick Economics Summit

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua nominated Sanusi as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria on 1 June 2009 and his appointment was confirmed by the Senate on 3 June 2009, in the middle of a global financial crisis.^[8] Analysts believed that Sanusi's tempered mien would serve as a counterpoise to the more aloof disposition of his predecessor, Charles Chukwuma Soludo.^[9] Based on his past record it seemed probable that as governor of the central bank he would impose stricter controls.^[10]

In August 2009, the Sanusi led Central Bank of Nigeria bailed out Afribank, Intercontinental Bank, Union Bank, Oceanic Bank and Finbank with 400 billion naira of public money, and dismissed their chief executives. He said "We had to move in to send a strong signal that such recklessness on the part of bank executives will no longer be tolerated." 16 senior bank officials face charges that included fraud, lending to fake companies, giving loans to companies they had a personal interest in and conspiring with stockbrokers to boost share prices.^[11] In September 2009 he said that 15 of the current 24 Nigerian banks might survive reform in the banking sector.^[12]

In a wide-ranging interview with the Financial Times in December 2009, Sanusi defended the extensive reforms that he had initiated since taking office, dubbed by some as the "Sanusi tsunami". He noted that there was no choice but to attack the many powerful and interrelated vested interests who were exploiting the financial system, and expressed his appreciation of support from the Presidency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Finance minister and others.^[13]

In January 2010 Sanusi said that banks will only want to give credit to the Nigeria’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) if the government gives adequate attention to the provision of infrastructure.^[14]

In January 2010 Sanusi admitted that since 2005 the Central Bank had not conducted routine examinations of the 14 banks allocated to it under the sharing arrangement with Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).^[15] Abubakar Nagona, president of Integrated Development and Investment Service (IDIS), a venture capital investment company urged Sanusi to "not be cowed and succumb to undue pressure from operators of the same sector he is striving to bring sanity to."^[16] At a February 2010 conference on banking in Nigeria, Sanusi described his blueprint for reforming the Nigerian financial system. He said that it was built around four pillars of enhancing the quality of banks, establishing financial stability, enabling healthy financial sector evolution and ensuring that the financial sector contributes to the real economy.^[17] Talking later that month, Sanusi said that the crash in the capital market was due to high level financial illiteracy on the part of the Nigerian investors.^[18]

The Banker unanimously recognised him as the Central Bank Governor of the Year 2010 citing his radical anti-corruption campaign aimed at saving 24 banks on the brink of collapse and pressing for the managers involved in the most blatant cases of corruption to be charged and, in the case of two senior bankers, imprisoned.^[19]

Governor Sanusi has spoken at many distinguished events, including Warwick Economics Summit in February 2012 where he spoke about Banking Reforms in Nigeria and their impact on the Economy.^[20]

Sharia authority[link]

In parallel to his banking career, Sanusi contributed to the debate over Sharia law. In 1997, Sanusi obtained a degree in Sharia and Islamic Studies from the African International University in Khartoum, Sudan.^[1] Writing in the Weekly Trust in September 2000, he noted the problem of reconciling "belief in the universal and eternal applicability of the Shariah with the need for a wholesale adoption of its historically specific interpretation to meet the requirements of a particular milieu." He further said that "Even a cursory student of Islamic history knows that all the trappings of gender inequality present in the Muslim society have socio-economic and cultural, as opposed to religious roots."^[21]

At a conference in 2000 in Kaduna, Sanusi delivered a lecture on Islamic economics called Institutional Framework of Zakat: Dimension and Implications. He argued that although collection of zakat is the responsibility of the state, it may be the responsibility of the Nigerian government rather than the emirs in Northern Nigeria. In July 2001 at a seminar in Abuja he talked on Basic Needs and Redistributive Justice in Islam – The Panacea to Poverty in Nigeria. He took the mainstream position that zakat is an instrument for redistributing income, but argued in favor of giving the role of redistribution to the government.^[22]

In October 2002 he published a paper on The Hudhood Punishments in Northern Nigeria: A Muslim Criticism. In July 2003 he presented The Shari'a Debate and the Construction of a 'Muslim' Identity in Northern Nigeria: A Critical Perspective at a seminar at the University of Bayreuth. In August 2003 he presented Democracy, Rights and Islam: Theory, Epistemology and the Quest for Synthesis at an international conference on Shari'ah Penal and Family Law in Nigeria and in the Muslim World: A Rights-Based Approach in Abuja.^[23]

There are two underlying themes to Sanusi's position. First, Islam is concerned with delivering justice and should not be a tool for self-seeking political agendas. Second, the Wahhabist rhetoric of fundamentalists is counter to genuine Muslim interests.^[24] He explains that Sharia is not divine but merely religious, and is neither uniform nor unchanging.^[25]

Nigerian Fuel Subsidy removal controversy 1st January 2012[link]

Economists have tended to favor the removal of subsidies.^[26][27] As reasons, he cites the high level of corruption engendered by the practice, the inefficiency of subsidizing consumption instead of production leading to slower economic growth, and the fact that the government borrows money to finance the subsidy, in effect taxing future generations of Nigerians so that current Nigerians can consume more fuel.

Sanusi and other economists and development practitioners^[26] have also cited the fact that subsidy is heavily biased in favor of the small middle- and upper-class who use most of the fuel. Additionally, some people purchase the subsidized gas in Nigeria to resell it in other West African countries.

See also[link]

• Central banks and currencies of Africa
• Nigerian naira

External links[link]

• "Sanusi Lamido Sanusi – CBN governor (Interview re Goodluck Jonathon change)". YouTube. ABN. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN1lqLqjm4Q. Retrieved 2010-02-28. 
• "CNBC Interview with Lamido Sanusi, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (re sacking of 5 bank heads)". YouTube. CNBC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLIQP1w0gr0&feature=related. Retrieved 2010-02-28. 
• "Sanusi Lamido Sanusi – CBN governor (Interview on the use of commission agents and the Australian Federal Reserve / Securency scandal)". Four Corners, ABC1 (TV). Australian Broadcasting Corporation,. http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20100524/money/. Retrieved 2010-05-25. 

References[link]