Sulayman al-Baruni (''; c''. 1870 – 1 May 1940) was a
Berber Ibadi
The Ibadi movement or Ibadism ( ar, الإباضية, al-Ibāḍiyyah) is a school of Islam. The followers of Ibadism are known as the Ibadis.
Ibadism emerged around 60 years after the Islamic prophet Muhammad's death in 632 AD as a moderate sc ...
scholar, poet, statesman and a prominent figure in the
history of Libya
Libya's history covers its rich mix of ethnic groups added to the indigenous Berbers/Amazigh people. Amazigh have been present throughout the entire history of the country. For most of its history, Libya has been subjected to varying degrees of s ...
.
Early life and studies
Al-Baruni was born in the
Jabal Nafusa in what was then the
''vilayet'' of Tripolitania, part of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, around 1870. He was born to an influential Berber family that belonged to the
Ibadi
The Ibadi movement or Ibadism ( ar, الإباضية, al-Ibāḍiyyah) is a school of Islam. The followers of Ibadism are known as the Ibadis.
Ibadism emerged around 60 years after the Islamic prophet Muhammad's death in 632 AD as a moderate sc ...
sect of Islam. His father, Abd Allah al-Baruni, was a jurist, poet and theologian.
In 1887, he started his studies at the
University of Ez-Zitouna
Ez-Zitouna University ( ar, جامعة الزيتونة, french: Université Ez-Zitouna) is a public ancient university in Tunis, Tunisia. The university originates in the Al-Zaytuna Mosque, founded at the end of the 7th century or in the early 8 ...
in Tunisia, where among his teachers were the reformists, and Uthman al-makki. Al-Nakhli, a critic of colonialism and sufism, had the great influence on the young Sulayman. In 1893, after six years of studies, he entered the
Al-Azhar University, where he studied for three years. He was getting exposed to more anti-colonial movements while in his stay in Egypt. He also became familiar with
Mustafa Kamil's ideas and held him in high regard. After ending his studies in the al-Azhar, he went to the
M'zab
The M'zab or Mzab ( Mozabite: ''Aghlan'', ar, مزاب) is a natural region of the northern Sahara Desert in Ghardaïa Province, Algeria. It is located south of Algiers and there are approximately 360,000 inhabitants (2005 estimate).
Geolog ...
valley to study under the prominent
Mozabite Ibadi scholar
Muhammad ibn Yusuf Atfayyash, who taught him Arabic studies, theology, and traditional Ibadi literature.
Career
In
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
he founded a newspaper and later a printing press. During the reign of
Abdul Hamid II, he was arrested several times by the Ottoman authorities on the accusation that he was planning to re-establish an Ibadi imamate or emirate in the Jabal Nefusa. In the
general election of 1908, following the
Young Turk Revolution
The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore the Ottoman Consti ...
, al-Baruni was elected to the
Chamber of Deputies as the member for the
Jabal Gharbi.
[Anna Baldinetti, "Italian Colonial Rule and the Muslim Elites in Libya: A Relationship of Antagonism and Collaboration", in Meir Hatina (ed.), ''Guardians of Faith in Modern Times: ʻUlamaʼ in the Middle East'' (Leiden: Brill, 2009), pp. 91–108, at 96–102.]
Following the outbreak of the
Italo-Turkish War
The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result o ...
in 1911, al-Baruni immediately began recruiting Berbers to resist the invasion. He played a leading role at the
Congress of Aziziyya, a meeting of important Tripolitanian leaders, in late October 1912, following the
Ottoman capitulation. He eventually sought an understanding with the Italians in the hopes of creating an autonomous Ibadi principality centred on the Jabal Nefusa and
Marsa Zuaga. At minimum he hoped the Berbers would receive special privileges in the new
Italian Libya
Libya ( it, Libia; ar, ليبيا, Lībyā al-Īṭālīya) was a colony of the Fascist Italy located in North Africa, in what is now modern Libya, between 1934 and 1943. It was formed from the unification of the colonies of Italian Cyrenaica ...
. What remained of Berber resistance in Tripolitania was crushed at the
battle of al-Asabʿa
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
on 23 March 1913. Al-Baruni and several other leaders who had been connected with the Ottomans, went into voluntary exile in
French Tunisia
The French protectorate of Tunisia (french: Protectorat français de Tunisie; ar, الحماية الفرنسية في تونس '), commonly referred to as simply French Tunisia, was established in 1881, during the French colonial Empire era, ...
. Italy sent Count
Carlo Sforza
Count Carlo Sforza (24 January 1872 – 4 September 1952) was an Italian diplomat and anti-fascist politician.
Life and career
Sforza was born at Lucca, the second son of Count Giovanni Sforza (1846-1922), an archivist and noted historia ...
to Tunisia to persuade the exiles to return. Al-Baruni was the first to be convinced, suggesting to the other that they should return to Tripolitania in exchange for an agreement from Italy that they could retain the position in Tripolitanian society and that their past resistance would not be held against them. Al-Baruni seems even to have been promised Berber autonomy. The Italians also asked him to write a monograph on the Jabal Gharbi.
[
Al-Baruni did not return until October 1916, when he was appointed ]governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
(Arabic ''wāli'', Turkish ''vali'') of Tripolitania, Tunisia and Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
by the Ottoman sultan in the midst of the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. None of these territories were under actual Ottoman control at the time, but the Ottomans were actively working to organise the war against Italy in Tripolitania. In November 1918, al-Baruni was one of four local notables elected to represent the Tripolitanian Republic
Tripolitanian Republic (Arabic: , ''al-Jumhuriyat at-Trabulsiya''), was an Arabs, Arab republic that declared the independence of Tripolitania from Italian Libya after World War I.
Background
Tripolitania had been an Ottoman possession since the ...
that was proclaimed in the aftermath of the Ottoman surrender.[ With the promulgation of the '' Legge Fondamentale'' (Fundamental Law) in June 1919, al-Baruni made his peace with Italy.][ Ronald Bruce St. John (ed.), "Baruni, Suleiman", ''Historical Dictionary of Libya'', 5th edn. (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014), pp. 56–57.]
By September 1921, as a result of the Italian policy of divide and conquer, there was a civil war in Libya between the Berbers, who increasingly looked to Italy for protection, and the Arabs. Among the Berbers, al-Baruni was widely blamed for this state of affairs. He went into his final exile in November 1921. He traveled to France, Egypt, Turkey and Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
before settling in Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...
. There he was appointed finance minister
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
.[
He died on 1 May 1940 while visiting ]Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
in the company of the Sultan of Oman, Said bin Taimur
Said bin Taimur ( ar, سعيد بن تيمور; 13 August 1910 – 19 October 1972) was the 13th Sultan of Muscat and Oman from 10 February 1932 until he was deposed on 23 July 1970 by his son Qaboos bin Said.
He was a member of the House of A ...
. After his death, his daughter, Za'ima bint Sulayman, gathered some of his papers and published them at Tripoli in 1964 under the title ''Safahat khalida min al-jihad li'l-mujahid al-Libi Sulayman al-Baruni''.
In popular culture
* The Libyan television series, El Zaiman, starring the Moroccan actor Rabie Kati as Sulayman al-Baruni and the Libyan actor Saleh El Qarad as Bashir Saadawi
Bashir Saadawi ( ar, بشير السعداوي, ; 1884 – 17 January 1957) was a Libyan politician and the founder and leader of the Libyan National Congress Party.الدكتور المفتي: السعداوى والمؤتمر بين التمجي ...
, aired on Salam TV in Ramadan
, type = islam
, longtype = Religious
, image = Ramadan montage.jpg
, caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...
2020.
References
Further reading
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*
*
*
*
External links
A novel by al-Baruni
''(in Arabic)''
''(in Arabic)''
''(in Arabic)''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baruni, Sulaiman al-
History of Tripolitania
1870s births
1940 deaths
Libyan resistance leaders
Libyan revolutionaries
Libyan journalists
Libyan novelists
Arabic-language novelists
Libyan poets
Libyan Ibadi Muslims
Italo-Turkish War
Ottoman people of World War I
Berber poets
Berber Muslims
20th-century Libyan writers