In full Sayyid Muhammad Idris Al-Mahdi Al-Sanusi
b. March 13, 1890 Jaghbub Oasis, Cyrenaica, Libya
The first king of Libya when that country gained its independence in 1951.
In 1902, Idris succeeded his father as head of the Sanusiyah, an Islamic religious order centred in Cyrenaica. Because he was a minor, active leadership passed to his cousin, Sayyid Ahmad al-Sharif. Ruling in his own right after 1916, Idris' first problem was to deal with the Italians, who in 1911 had invaded Libya in an effort to create a North African empire but were unable to extend their authority much beyond the coast (see Italo-Turkish War). By the Accord of Akrama (signed in April 1917), Idris secured a cease-fire and, in effect, confirmation of his own authority in inland Cyrenaica. A further agreement, the Accord of Al-Rajma in 1919 established a Cyrenaician parliament and a financial grant to Idris and his followers. When Idris proved unwilling to disarm his tribal supporters as Italy demanded, however, the Italians invaded the Tripolitanian hinterland in the spring of 1922.Tripolitanian tribesmen offered to submit to Idris' authority in the hope of securing greater unity and more effective resistance. The Italian offensive forced Idris into exile in Egypt, where he remained until British forces occupied Libya in 1942 during World War II.
Idris continued to direct his followers from Egypt, not returning to Libya permanently until 1947, when he could head an official government. The issue was finally determined by the United Nations in November 1949, when the General Assembly resolved that the future of Cyrenaica, Fezzan, and Tripolitania should be decided upon by representatives of the three areas meeting in a national assembly. This assembly established a constitutional monarchy and offered the throne to Idris. Libya declared its independence in December 1951.
In September 1969, while King Idris was at a Turkish spa for medical treatment, elements of the Libyan Armed Forces, led by a junior officer Muammar al-Qaddafi, mounted a successful coup d’etat. He went first to Greece and then was given political asylum in Egypt where he remained until his death in May 1983.
Portrait of King Idris Al-Sanusi (courtesy of Modern Libya)
by Majid Khadduri published by The Johns Hopkins University Press in
1963