Abstract
Three later reform movements led to the founding of embryo states of different duration. (i) Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab preached his message of strict Islamic observance in eighteenth-century Arabia, a message accepted by a local ruler Muhammad Ibn Sa’ud which led over time to the foundation of the contemporary Saudi state based on Wahhabi principles. (ii) In northern Nigeria another inspired leader Uthman Dan Fodio preached a stirring message of renewal among local tribesmen who for a time followed him into an Islamic state. (iii) We come to Libya again where several members of the Sanusi family worked among the tribespeople of Cyrenaica to found their Sanusi state. This lasted until the early twentieth century when they were forced into facing the Italian colonization of their country.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Wahhabism is the commonly used term in everyday parlance but its adherents refer to themselves as ‘muwahhidun’ —Unitarians.
- 2.
Reverence for holy figures still exists elsewhere today, for example the tomb of Sayyida Zainab in Cairo where messages for help are left for the saint.
- 3.
There are various stories of him wandering through Persia and elsewhere during this period but it is difficult to verify them.
- 4.
This is in accordance with a tradition of the Prophet which states that ‘at the beginning of every hundred years Allah will send a renewer for my community’.
- 5.
Ibn Ghannam, Rawdat al-afkar (Cairo, 1949), vol. 1, p. 32.
- 6.
‘Uthman Ibn Bishr, ‘Unwan al-majd fi ta’rikh Najd (Beirut, n.d.), p. 18.
- 7.
H. St J. Philby Saudi Arabia (London, 1955), p. 39.
- 8.
Ibid., p. 36.
- 9.
Imamate is the term given to the doctrine of leadership in Islam.
- 10.
Ibn Ghannam, op.cit., vol. 1, p. 3.
- 11.
Ibn Bishr, p. 83.
- 12.
Jihad is a struggle both against oneself and against unbelievers. ‘The holy war ( jihad ) has ten parts; one is fighting the enemy of Islam, nine are fighting oneself.’ The greater jihad is that which involves every member of the Islamic community struggling against any kind of infidelity to Islam. The lesser involves armed struggle against those who slander Islam or refuse to accept it.
- 13.
Ibid., p. 82.
- 14.
Philby , op.cit., p. 39.
- 15.
The well-known Islamic concept of ‘al-amr bil-ma’ruf wal-nahy ‘an al-munkar’.
- 16.
Much of the information here is taken from the excellent book by M. Hiskett, The Sword of Truth; the life and times of the Shehu Usuman dan Fodio, (N.Y., 1973).
- 17.
Hiskett, p. 33.
- 18.
Ibid., p. 51.
- 19.
Hiskett, p. 65.
- 20.
Ibid., p. 68.
- 21.
Ibid., p. 122.
- 22.
In Tripoli in 1957 on holidays and occasions when King Idris visited the city, groups of Sanusis would ride ostentatiously through the streets on their decorated horses. It was probably a pale imitation of real desert horsemanship and of the time when the Sanusiya were a valiant force fighting against the Italians.
- 23.
Quoted by N. Ziadeh in Sanusiyah (Leiden, 1958).
- 24.
While he was influenced by Tijani it is not certain that they actually met. One source, however, quotes al-Sanusi as saying: ‘I received instruction from him (al-Tijani ) and recited the Koran under his direction.’ Ziadeh, p. 37, f.n. 11.
- 25.
The four schools of law: Maliki, Hanbali, Hanafi and Shafi’i.
- 26.
Ziadeh, pp. 40–44.
- 27.
Hourani , A History of the Arab Peoples (London, 1991), p. 69.
- 28.
Ziadeh, p. 43.
- 29.
The historian al-Jabarti (1753–1825) reported that town dwellers called the Bedouin ‘Arabs’ and that they were considered to be uncivilized and fond of plundering desert caravans.
- 30.
Ziadeh, p. 45.
- 31.
In the 1950s the new state of Libya had twin capitals in Benghazi and Tripoli. King Idris wanted a new third capital and he decided to build one in al-Baida in the cool isolation of the Jabal Akhdar (Green Mountain) in Cyrenaica, much to the inconvenience of ambassadors and government officials who had to sometimes commute hundreds of miles.
- 32.
Ziadeh, p. 96.
- 33.
There is disagreement by the two main authors on the Sanusi . Ziadeh writes that they were active in preaching jihad , and Vikor that ‘the contention of a jihadi stance is not supported’ in the writing of al-Sanusi . Probably the disagreement lies in the fact the Sanusis started their jihad against the Italians long after Muhammad ibn ‘Ali’s death.
- 34.
K. Vikor, Sufi and Scholar on the desert edge; Muhammad b. ‘Ali al-Sanusi and his brotherhood (London, 1995) p. 155.
- 35.
Vikor, p. 157
- 36.
Ziadeh, p. 65.
- 37.
Mustafa Kemal, the future general in the Gallipoli campaign and as Kemal Ataturk the president of the Turkish Republic and Enver the future leader of the Committee of Union and Progress.
- 38.
See R. McGuirk, The Sanusi’s Little War (London, 2007).
- 39.
Evans-Pritchard , op.cit., p. 177.
- 40.
Even notoriously dropping prisoners from aircraft.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hopwood, D. (2018). Leaders and State Formation. In: Islam's Renewal. St Antony's Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75202-0_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75202-0_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75201-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75202-0
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)