Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi

He was born in the town of Bayda in northern Cyrenaica, present day northeastern Libya,[2] He succeeded his father after his death as leader in 1859.

Ottoman interference had forced the Senussi to leave coastal Bayda for the desert village of Jaghbub in 1856, where they built an Islamic university, mosque and palace.

[3] In 1895 following interference by the Ottomans Al-Mahdi moved again, much further south to the Kufra oasis in the Libyan Desert subregion of the Sahara.

In Kufra Al-Mahdi founded the village of El Tag (English – "crown"), on a rise above the oasis with a Zaouia and mosque.

The traders and their caravans took Senussi Islam to remote areas, such as the Darfur and Kanem regions, beyond Saharan North Africa.