become their natural leaders. In summary, here is their ascent:

in 1840, with the founding of az-Zāwiya al-Bayḑā’ (the White Monastery), in the Ottoman Cyrenaica, they give life to an embryonic structure of government, which collects taxes, controls the pilgrimage routes to Mecca and keeps peace among tribes; and then spread in the Saharan oases of the south-eastern Cyrenaica (from Jaghbūb to Jof and Kufra), of Tchad, Darfur, Sudan, and even in Nigeria, Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula;

with the onset of anti-colonial struggles countering French and Italians, they stand out, inspired by pan-Islamist ideals, through the insurgent exploits of Sayyid Aḥmad ash-SharīfPasha, Moḥammed el-Barrani and Sīdī ‘Umar al-Mukhtār;

in 1913, by declaring a jihād against Italy (which the year before had stated that land its Protectorate), they proclaim the independentState of Cyrenaica, which will fall three years later;

in 1917 Italy assigns to Sayyid Muḥammad Idrīs, later to become King of Libya, the administration of the inland areas (with the title of Amīr of Kufra, Jaghbūb, Jalo, Aujila and Ajdabiya oases) and the right to keep armed forces;

in 1948, following the Italian defeat in the WWII, Sayyid Idrīs resettles in the palace of the former Italian Governor and forms a government in Benghazi, where March 1st, 1949 proclaims the Emirate of Cyrenaica;

October 7th, 1951 the Libyan National Assembly approves the Federal Constitution, laying down the independence of the United Kingdom of Libya from Great Britain and France, former occupying powers under UN auspices;

next December 24th the Amīr Idrīs, under the name of Idrīs I, becomes Sovereign of the