While the Majabras are the great traders of the Libyan Desert, the Zwayas have also their claims to prominence. The rivalry between the two tribes is always present under the surface, and occasionally it flashes forth into the light.
There is some envy of the Zwayas by all the other tribes of Cyrenaica because the man second in importance to Sayed Idris among the Senussis is Ali Pasha El Abdia, who is a Zwayi. Abdia is a splendid soldier, a powerful support to Sayed Idris and a man much trusted by the Senussi leader.
One evening after dinner at Jalo some expression of this rivalry was given by Sidi Saleh, who belonged to no tribe in Cyrenaica and was in fact a sherif or descendant of the Prophet, in an argument with Moghaib and Zerwali, who were both Zwayas. Moghaib launched into a little history of the achievements of the Zwayas. Sidi Saleh listened to the Zwayi’s eulogy of his tribe, shook his head, and remarked, “Their history may be as glorious as Sidi Moghaib tells you, but they do not fear God.”
At this Moghaib burst forth: “By God, Sidi Saleh, they may not fear God, but neither do they fear man. Woe to him who dares molest their caravan or attack their camp.”
Then he came quickly over to me and continued, “We have the blessing of El Mahdi upon us, for it was to our headquarters in Kufra that Sidi El Mahdi came and from which he disappeared.”
The Senussis will never say that El Mahdi died, but always that he “disappeared” or some equivalent expression. In fact there is a legend among them that he is not dead but wandering over the earth until such time as he shall come again to his desert people. To the Zwayas El Mahdi is the most beloved of the Senussi leaders because it was he who moved the center of activity of the brotherhood to Kufra, their headquarters. The kubba of the mosque that he built is the glory of Kufra.
In my own experience the Zwayas at times showed hostility and made it clear that, although I was a Moslem, the son of a religious man, and a confidant of Sayed Idris, they did not want me in Kufra. Some of them even expressed the hope that they would have seen the last of me when I left Kufra. In spite of this scarcely veiled antagonism to me, however, I never expect to find better men for a desert journey than the Zwayas who formed part of my caravan. Zerwali in particular, a typical Zwayi Bedouin, was the best of companions and the most reliable of associates.
SAYED MOHAMMED EL ABID
Ruler of Kufra and cousin of the head of the Senussi sect