Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi
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Sayyid Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi (1787 - 1859), the founder of the Senussi order in 1837, was born near Mostaganem, Algeria, 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 Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed. He studied at a madrassa in Fez, then travelled 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, he established his capital at at Jaghbub, in Cyrenaica. He built a great mosque an a university which came to rival Al-Azhar, but which was shut down on the orders of Khadafy in 1984, the graves and remains of the Sanussi family being desecrated at the same time. After the death of Muhmmad as-Sanussi his son Muhammad al-Mahdi (1859-1902) became the new leader of the Senussi order.
