Some 20 adherents of Sufism went missing in eastern Libya in August. The daily Al-Wasat reported in September that the missing were victims of kidnapping.
The latest attack on Sufis, which took place on Nov. 28, occurred the day before a feast to celebrate the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. In that episode, unidentified attackers torched the Zawiyat Sheikha Radiya Mosque in Tripoli. No casualties were reported.
Sufism is a religious practice, tradition, or approach to Islam that varies by region, as opposed to being a branch or sect with universal practices.
“Over the decades, Sunnis in the Maghreb region never even noticed that Sufism was seen as separate [from mainstream Islam],” Jalel Harchaoui, a doctoral candidate in geopolitics at Paris 8 University and a frequent commentator on Libyan affairs, told Al-Monitor. “The distinction came into view recently, mostly as a result of the spread of Salafi groups."
He added, “The latter being ultra-conservative and eager to judge other Muslims, see the stylistic tradition of Sufism as a perversion of ‘true’ Islam. The [Sufis'] celebration of Prophet Muhammad’s birth, for instance, has long been a perfectly innocuous holiday across the Maghreb. However, Salafists — whether they are of the rigorist or jihadi kind — designate the tradition as a sinful departure from ‘true’ monotheism.”
Libya’s minorities came under increasing threat from Salafists in recent years, as Libya became a hub for jihadists seeking to join the Islamic State (IS) in 2015 after the extremist group faced numerous military defeats in Syria and Iraq. That year, IS took over the city of Sirte. A bombing campaign by the US-led coalition eventually pushed its fighters out of the city in December 2016. They have since moved to desert valleys and inland hills to the southeast of Tripoli.