For the next one hundred and forty years, Jaghbub was the birthplace of some of the most powerful and revered kings of Africa. The Sanusi dynasty became the lords of northern Africa and the ghosts of vengeance of the Sahara. They ruled the oases with an iron fist, tempered with justice through the laws of Islam. Travelers and pilgrims from any nation were welcome and treated with extraordinary kindness and generosity; anyone who preyed on a traveler or pilgrim was dealt with equally extraordinary swiftness and cruelty, usually by being buried up to the chin in the sand outside an oasis where insects and vultures could pick at the robber’s head for a day or two.

They were never conquered. Despite invasions from the French, British, Turks, Italians, Germans, and Americans, the Sanusi dynasty survived and prospered. On December 24, 1951, Sayyid al-Hasan ibn ‘Abdullah as-Sanusi, the fourth Grand Sanusi and the first to be chosen amir of each of the three kingdoms of Libya, proclaimed the independence of Libya from post-World War II British rule and himself ruler of the United Kingdom of Libya. The Sanusi family moved the capital of their new kingdom to Tripoli, keeping the family stronghold at Jaghbub as a retreat and family mosque; soon, Jaghbub became a destination for Muslim pilgrims from all over the world who visited and prayed at the tombs of the great nomadic kings of early Libya.

The newly independent kingdom survived mostly by borrowing money from its Arab neighbors and the United Nations, until British geologists discovered oil in the desert southeast of Tripoli in 1958. Virtually overnight, Libya became one of the richest and most strategically vital countries in the world, almost on a par with Egypt and its famous Suez Canal. First the British, and then the Americans, built some of their largest and most important overseas military bases in Libya, all to ensure the delivery of the seemingly endless supply of oil being pumped from its deserts. With its newfound wealth, the king of Libya improved the cities, built large and modem ports and rail lines, improved education and health care, and made Libya an attractive destination for people and investors from all over the world. Once again, travelers and pilgrims were welcomed and protected by the as-Sanusi family.

All that changed in September of 1969, when a group of young army officers led by Muammar Qadhafi staged a bloodless coup against the monarchy. The king himself was out of the country, recovering from eye surgery in Turkey. He abdicated and named his second son Muhammad heir to the throne; the rest of the family fled the palace. The family retreated to Jaghbub, thinking that even Qadhafi would never dare violate a sacred mosque or try to destroy the Muslim university.