The Lion of the Desert - Unframed Artwork (A3)

Shaykh Omar al-Mukhṭār Muḥammad bin Farḥāṭ al-Manifī, called The Lion of the Desert, known among the colonial Italians as Matari of the Mnifa, was the leader of native resistance in Cyrenaica, currently Eastern Libya under the Senussids, against the Italian colonization of Libya. A Sufi teacher-turned-general, Omar was also a prominent figure of the Senussi movement, and he is considered the national hero of Libya and a symbol of resistance in the Arab and Islamic worlds. Beginning in 1911, he organised and, for nearly twenty years, led the Libyan resistance movement against the colonial Italians during the Pacification of Libya. After many attempts, the Italian Armed Forces managed to capture Al-Mukhtar near Solonta and hanged him in 1931. Omar al-Mukhṭār also fought against the French colonization of Chad and the British occupation of Egypt.

May Allāhﷻ allow the Shaykh to drink from the Basin of His Prophet ﷺ, that he may never thirst thereafter, and may He enter him into the highest gardens of Paradise!

آمِيْن بِجَاهِ النَبِىٍ الاَمِيْن ﷺ