The Sanusi plan for Pan-Islamic unity

خطة السنوسية للجامعة الإسلامية

Arslan describes what he presents as the Sanusi order's programme in North Africa: prepare religious and moral reform first, then open the African lands, then the wider Muslim world, aiming at a single Muslim state under one caliph. He says the Sanusi leader held that spiritual renewal and moral discipline had to precede political liberation. He also notes Ottoman unease in Tripoli that led the order to move to Jaghbub, and that the Sanusi declined to back the Mahdist revolt in Sudan. This is the plan as Arslan reports it; the wording was not checked here and should not be taken as settled Sanusi doctrine.

Overview

In the chapter on the Islamic union, Shakib Arslan presents a plan he attributes to the Sanusi order in North Africa. This is what the author reports; it has not been checked here against its text, and the plan is not established in the sources of the Sanusiyya. ¹

The stages of the plan as presented

Preparing the means for religious and moral reform; then opening the African lands; then the rest of the Muslim lands; and making the Islamic world one kingdom under one caliph. He notes that al-Sanusi held that political liberation from Western domination must be preceded by spiritual renewal and the refinement of the followers' morals. ¹

He mentions that the Ottoman government in Tripoli feared the influence of the order, so the sheikh moved it to Jaghbub. He mentions that the Sanusis' stance toward the Mahdist revolt in Sudan was refusal. ¹

A further source is needed: the writings of the Sanusiyya and studies of the order, and the report of the refusal to support the Mahdiyya rests on a single account.

The Sanusi plan for Pan-Islamic unity

At a glance

Overview

The stages of the plan as presented

Sources

Ideas