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Sulayman al-Baruni played a particularly important role during the first decade of the colonial occupation in Libya: from the landing of the troops in Tripoli till the end of the First World War, he was one of the main animators of the resistance against the Italian intervention. A muslim of Ibadi confession, he belonged to one of the most important families of the Adrar n Infusen (the Berber mountain) region and was elected deputy of the Ottoman parliament after the seizure of power by the Union and Progress Committee in 1908. Closely related to Enver Pasha, one of the most prominent figures in Ottoman politics of that period, in 1913 he was appointed senator in Istanbul. During the First World War he was charged with promoting the intervention of the Libyan forces alongside the central Empires against Italy and its allies. The interpretations of his thought and political activity have made him one of the followers of the Berber principality dream, one of the protagonists of the pan-Islamist action in North Africa and, finally, one of the “lions” of Tripolitanian proto-nationalism as a leading member of the ephemeral Jumhuriyya al-Tarabulusiyya of 1918. This paper aims at analyzing the position of Sulayman al-Baruni towards the new politics of colonial Italy after the First World War, trying to understand it through some archival documents concerning his stays in Italy in 1919 and 1920.

This paper explores the usages of four concepts – sunna, sīra, āthār, and nasab – mainly in early Ibāḍī epistles, but also in other types of Ibāḍī literature, to examine how early Ibāḍīs understood the legacy of the Prophet Muḥammad, and their relation to that legacy. It argues that before the sixth/twelfth century a notion of communal pedigree occupied pride of place in early Ibāḍī conceptualizations of legality and legitimacy. Thus, Ibāḍī sunna was “communal sunna”. The accumulated weight of Ibāḍī tradition – what is known as āthār in Ibāḍī literature – operated authoritatively as a counterpart to sunna; and the Ibāḍī siyar tradition did not focus on the Prophet exclusively, but rather described the scholarly community as an imagined whole. Moreover, Ibāḍīs explicitly articulated their communal pedigree in “teacher lines” (called nasab al-dīn or nasab al-islām) in Omani literature, and through the structure of their ṭabaqāt/siyar works in North Africa. Appreciating the importance of this communal pedigree, and the nexus of concepts through which it was articulated, helps us to understand the relative lack of emphasis placed on collecting and documenting ḥadīth (Ibāḍīs employ ḥadīth, but they did not use isnāds, nor did they appear to have a ḥadīth collection until the sixth/twelfth century), as well as the general absence of Prophetic biography among them (which also does not appear until the sixth/twelfth century).

Ce livre est une invitation à un voyage à travers l´Histoire de Djerba et l´origine de ses rites religieux mais également un essai d´analyse et de compréhension de l´Architecture de ses innombrables et emblématiques lieux cultuels traditionnels. Des mosquées-citadelles, défenderesses et protectrices, à celles littorales, de guet et d´o

La question des minorités linguistique et religieuse demeure un sujet quasi tabou en Algérie. La mise sous silence des langues berbères et la marginalisation des religions minoritaires sont remarquables par leur durée et leur constance. Cet article analyse certaines réponses des acteurs minoritaires de la Kabylie et du Mzab face aux politiques restrictives des gouvernements algériens successifs. L’analyse s’intéresse aux modes d’inclusion/ exclusion de ces minorités dans la nation et des formes de demandes de reconnaissance. En particulier, le processus de patrimonialisation focalise des enjeux politiques et symboliques autour desquels l’État et les minorités s’affrontent.

Objectives Tunisia has been a crossroads for people from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East since prehistoric times. At present, it is inhabited by two main ethnic groups, Arabs and Berbers, and several minorities. This study aims to advance knowledge regarding their genetic structure using new population samplings and a genome-wide approach. Materials and Methods We investigated genomic variation, estimated ancestry components and dated admixture events in three Berber and two Arab populations from Southern Tunisia, mining a dataset including Middle Eastern, sub-Saharan, and European populations. Results Differences in the proportion of North African, Arabian, and European ancestries and the varying impact of admixture and isolation determined significant heterogeneity in the genetic structure of Southern Tunisian populations. Admixture time estimates show a multilayer pattern of admixture events, involving both ethno-linguistic groups, which started around the mid XI century and lasted for nearly five centuries. Discussion Our study provides evidence that the relationships between genetic and cultural diversity of old and new inhabitants of North Africa in southern Tunisia follow different patterns. The Berbers seem to have preserved a significant part of their common genomic heritage despite Islamization, Arab cultural influence, and linguistic diversity. Compared to Morocco and Algeria, southern Tunisian Arabs have retained a higher level of Arabian ancestry. This is more evident in the semi-nomad R'Baya, who have kept their original Bedouin lifestyle, than in the population from Douz, who have undergone multiple events of stratification and admixture.

The Nabhānī State first appeared in Oman in the 6th/12th century and lasted till the 11th/17th century. During this period the fall of Baghdad, which occurred in 656/1258, led to a number of radical political and cultural changes in the Gulf region, and the aim of the present study is to re-evaluate the conclusions of the (2002) study against a wider background. In doing so it will firstly re-evaluate the original and modern sources dealing with that period. Secondly, it will take a broader look at the political and regional situation at that time and its impact on the course of Oman’s historical development – in other words, it will consider Omani history within a regional context. Thirdly, it will look for the roots of that state and relate it more accurately to Oman’s historical chronology and regional context.

"O[ma]n Ibadism and Modernity" published on 27 May 2020 by Brill.

Not Sunnis and not Shi’is, the Ibāḍī Muslims of Oman and some areas of North Africa form a “third branch” of Islam, with their own version of the Sharīʿa law. The development of this law displays many interconnections with the political history of the Ibāḍīs, which spanned from an independent sultanate in Oman, through minority status under Sunni rule in Tunisia and Libya, to isolated desert communities in Algerian Sahara. This article gives an overview over such interconnections between the political (state authority) and the legal, through history and in contemporary North Africa, with some examples of legal discussions from the “Ibāḍī renaissance” (nahḍa) in the twentieth-century Saharan oasis of Mzab.

Deposed royal who fled to UK after 1964 revolution finally reunited with family in Oman