Sanusiyya

Al-Muqtar soon proved a formidable adversary, highly skilled in guerrilla warfare, particularly lightning-style hit-and-run raids on Italian outposts, troop columns, and supply lines.

Despite having no more than 1,000 or 2,000 men under his command at any given time, Al-Muqtar was able to confine the Italians largely to a string of cities on the coastline, with most of the interior controlled by the Senussis.

Graziani knew that to beat the rebels, he needed to understand them and the tactics they used.

Instead of large numbers of slow infantry formations, he formed a mobile flying column of 480 men which engaged in the same hit-and-run raids that Al Mokhtar's forces specialized in.

Knowing that the Senussis would expect him to maneuver at night when temperatures in the desert were much cooler, Graziani instead marched in the middle of the day when his enemy least expected him to.

Graziani went native, imagining himself as the Italian version of Lawrence of Arabia, riding into battle on the back of a camel and dressed in a tower egg cape.

In fact, he would tell his subordinates to study Lawrence's The Revolt in the Desert in order to understand the mind of the Arab.

With Omar al-Muqtad now deprived of his domestic support, Graziani and Badoglio sought to prevent shipments of supplies, including food and weapons, from being brought over the Egyptian border.

The men could scarcely conceal their excitement.

To be met by the great head of the Sanusis himself at the beginning of our journey was the most auspicious of omens.

The rest of the message was indicative of the etiquette of the desert.

He asked the Bey to camp so that he may come to him.

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Chapter 6.

The Sanusis.

Any story of the Libyan desert would not be complete without some consideration of the Sanusis, the most important influence in that region.

Perhaps the best short description of the Senusies would be as a religious order whose leadership is hereditary and which exerts a predominating influence in the lives of the people of the Libyan desert.

The history of the Brotherhood may be roughly divided into four periods.

In each, it took its color from the personality of the leader.

These were, respectively, Sayyid Ibn Ali al-Senusi, the founder, Sayyid al-Mahdi, his son, Sayyid Ahmad, the nephew of the latter, and Sayyid Idris, the son of al-Mahdi, the present head of the Brotherhood.

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In chorus, they would shout a question, "Wadi Zaza, Wadi Zaza, shall we keep Ramadan or no?" The echo, of course, threw back the last words of the question, "No, no, no." Those who had appealed thus to the oracle would then go home, justified in their own minds in the desire to forego the keeping of the fast.

There were also prevalent among the Bedouins remnants of old barbaric customs, such as the killing of female children to save them from the evils which life might bring, which stood between them and their development into worthy exponents of Islam.