Islam is the majority religion in Libya and about 96.6% of the Libyan population practices the Islamic faith¹. The majority of the followers of Islam in Libya belong to the dominant Sunni sect. However, within the Sunni sect, exist factions, including Ibadis, Bahais, Quranists and Sanusis.

From 661 CE to 750 CE the Umayyad Caliphate, whose home was in Damascus, ruled the Islamic Empire including Cyrenaica and Tripolitania. The Umayyads had a theocratic system of rule in which the Caliph was considered a representative of God, whose duty it was to protect and guard the Sharia and Quran which is the guiding principle from which Islamic law was derived².

There are different perspectives on the conversions and the spread of Islam in the African continent. It is often claimed, that the spread of Islam throughout the African continent was due to the efforts of the local Berber merchants and traders, who converted to Islam first, following contact with the Islamic conquerors along the Mediterranan coast, and introduced it to their fellow Berber traders and consumers. Questions arise as to how the initial conversions happened and there is no firm answer to this. Historians pose that Berber tribes may have either been forced into conversion, persuaded into accepting Islam, or tempted by the material benefits of the trading advantages and status which conversion to Islam may have brought. During the following centuries, comingling with existing Berber beliefs resulted in variants of Islam which blended the local beliefs of the Berbers and Islam, with the Quran as its guiding text. This tolerance of local customs by the conquering Arabs created a relaxation of practices which further encouraged Berbers to convert to Islam, whilst continuing to practice their traditional beliefs³.

As noted above, as Islam spread through North Africa, it comingled with the native Berber beliefs resulting in a traditional pracitices of Islam layered upon local rituals and mythology. For example, common pre-Islamic North African beliefs in the evil eye, baraka (the idea that a person can be gifted with spiritual powers) and stories of jinn spirits, were adopted by practitioners of Islam across North Africa, particularly in rural areas, while the educated elite of the metropolises often adhered to the more orthodox practices of Islam.

Over time, Libya developed various popular movements or ‘brotherhoods’. In contrast to orthodox Islam, which did not accord any special powers to individuals outside of the prophets, Sufism upholds the belief that certain individuals may be gifted with baraka, a spiritual force which can inhabit these gifted individuals and can transfer to others who may connect with them. Accordingly, different Sufi sects venerate various ‘saints’, individuals whose Baraka manifested in certain miraculous acts.

In Libya, the most popular of these Sufi movements was the Senussi (Sanusi) Movement, which, prior to the 1930s, was Libya’s dominant movement. Whilst Sufi lodges were established in Fezzan Tripolitania, the majority were found in Cyrenaica, where the Senussi movement was strongest.

The Sanusi movement, or ‘Sanusiyah’ is a Muslim sufi order established by Muhammad Ibn Ali as Sanusi in 1837 in Mecca. Given the division and disunity among Muslims, the Sanusi order sought to bring Islam to its purest and austere form. The Sanusiya was primarily a reformist movement aiming at reforming Islamic practices in the region, namely eschewing fanaticism and blind adherence to the four main schools of Islamic thought, instead encouraging individuals to perform ijtihad, the interpretation of Islamic principles in the application of the law, themselves⁴.

The order built its strong roots in Cyrenaica: founded in Bayda, northern Cyrenaica, by Muhammad ibn Ali as-Sanussi in the mid 19th cetury, the center of the Senussi order was later moved to the desert oasis of Jaghbub in 1856, where an Islamic university was built by the order. Muhammad’s son, Sayyid Muhammad Al Mahdi bin Sayyid Muhammad as Senussi, continued the growth of the Senussi order after his father’s death in 1859 until 1902. Future king Idris Senussi was born in Jaghbub. Here the Senussi order gained many Berber converts, and established numerous lodges throughout Libya (although predominantly in Cyrenaica). These lodges performed numerous functions; social, educational and religious and this helped the Sanusiyah integrate into many communities. During the resistance to both French colonialist expansion and Italian colonialism, the Sanusiya order played a dominant role⁵.

Ibadism is a variant of Islam dominant primarily in Oman, but quite a significant numbers of followers of Ibadi Islam live in Algeria, Tunisia and the Nafusa mountains of Libya. Ibadis form between five and ten percent of the total population of Libya and are primarily Amazigh/Berber in ethnicity. According to the Amazigh congress, an organization of native residents, there are 300,000 to 400,000 Ibadis living in the Nafusa mountains and Zuwara region⁶.

Ibadis refer to themselves as the ‘Muslims or the People of Straightness’. Unlike Sunnis, Ibadis believe it is a sin to conform one’s understanding of Islam to that of Muslim scholars (‘Taqlid’, ro copying) and ask that members undertake their own interpretation. Similarly, Ibadis do not believe that Islamic communities must forcibly branch out and dominate others, but rather, individual Muslim communities are qualified to rule themselves. Imams of the Ibadis are not required to be descendants of the Quraysh tribe (of the prophet) but will elect an Imam for their virtuosity and learnedness in Islamic jurisprudence⁷.

Persecuted for their beliefs during the time of Gaddafi, many Ibadis fled Libya and participated in opposition initiatives. In post revolution Libya, they have faced persecution at the hands of Isis and require protection to ensure the continuity of their faith and customs.