Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi

Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi (1873 – 10 March 1933) was the supreme leader of the Senussi order from 1902, although his leadership in the years 1917–1933 could be considered nominal.¹ He led the Senussi resistance against the French in Chad, the Italians in Libya and the British in Egypt, ceded effective leadership to his cousin Idris in 1916, and died in Medina, where he was buried in Al-Baqi Cemetery.^{1 2}

He was the grandson of Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi, who founded the Senussi religious order in Cyrenaica in the middle of the nineteenth century.¹ The Arabic article, citing his own book, gives his birth at the Jaghbub oasis on Wednesday 27 Shawwal 1290 AH, corresponding to 18 December 1873.² In 1895 he accompanied his father, Muhammad al-Sharif, and his uncle Muhammad al-Mahdi, then leader of the order, on their journey from Jaghbub to Kufra, where they remained until 1899 and where his father died in 1896.¹ In 1899 al-Mahdi and Ahmed Sharif moved from Kufra towards Chad, aiming to check the French advance there.¹

In 1900, as French forces approached Kanem, Muhammad al-Mahdi assigned his nephew Ahmed Sharif to lead the struggle, alongside fighters including Omar al-Mukhtar, the future resistance leader in Libya.¹ Al-Mahdi died on 1 June 1902, and because his son Muhammad Idris was only twelve years old, he had named his nephew Ahmed Sharif as his successor.¹ Ahmed Sharif continued the struggle against the French in Chad, which ended in failure when French forces took Wadai in 1909.¹ The Arabic article dates his leadership of the movement from 1902 to 1916, when he ceded it to his cousin Muhammad Idris.²

When the Italians invaded Libya in October 1911, opening the Italo-Turkish War, Ahmed Sharif suspended the struggle against the French in Chad and concentrated his efforts against the Italians, uniting the tribes of Cyrenaica and forming three battalions of the Senussi.¹ The Arabic article says he had reorganised the movement through its zawiyas, turned them into camps for preparing a military force, and worked with Turkish officers against the Italians.^{2 1} After the Treaty of Ouchy the Senussis continued the struggle, and in 1913 Sultan Mehmed V sent him cash, a jewelled sword, a watch and a prayer rug.¹

Ahmed Sharif was one of the first to answer the Ottoman call to jihad against the Allied powers on 14 November 1914, and in November 1915 the Senussi horsemen under him invaded Egypt and took Sallum, the British withdrawing to Mersa Matruh.¹ The British counterattacked in February 1916 and retook Sallum on 14 March.¹ Weakened by this defeat, he conceded the leadership of the order to his 26-year-old cousin Muhammad Idris, who conducted the negotiations with the British and Italians, though Ahmed Sharif and some tribes did not recognise the agreement and continued the raids.¹

In August 1918 he was taken from Libya by a German submarine to the Austrian port of Pola and then to Istanbul, where Sultan Mehmed VI girded him with a sword and he was given the rank of vizier and pasha.^{1 2} He spent time in Bursa, Konya and Ankara, supported the Turkish national struggle, and met Mustafa Kemal; before the abolition of the caliphate, Kemal reportedly offered him the caliphate on condition he reside outside Turkey, and he declined and confirmed his support for Abdulmejid II.¹ He left Turkey on 30 October 1924, stayed for a time in Damascus, and was pressed by the French to leave Syria; he then settled in the Hejaz, where he lived under the favour of Abdulaziz Ibn Saud and continued to support the Libyan resistance from exile.^{1 2}

He died in Medina on 10 March 1933, and was buried in Al-Baqi Cemetery there.^{1 2} His daughter Fatimah el-Sharif became the queen consort of King Idris of Libya.¹

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