Sufi mosque in Libya offers education and accommodation - in pictures
Muslims pray at a Sufi mosque in Libya’s coastal city of Zliten. Despite Sufism's long history across North Africa, Libya's conflict has given a free hand to militias that include extremists deeply hostile to Sufi ‘heretics’. All photos: AFP
The Sufi mosque in Zliten, 150 kilometres east of the Libyan capital, is also a zawiya, an Arabic term for a Sufi institute offering religious education and free accommodation to travellers.
The Sufi mosque also includes a boarding school and a university. Followers of the Muslim mystical tradition are working to renovate and preserve their heritage.
Historian Fathi Salem Muhammad Al Zarkhani stands near old manuscripts at the Sufi mosque in Zliten.
A student reads at the Sufi mosque in Zliten. Libya's plunge into chaos after dictator Muammar Qaddafi was ousted in 2011 gave a free hand to militias, some of whom are hostile to Sufi 'heretics'.
Some extremists are deeply hostile to Sufi 'heretics' and their mystical nighttime ceremonies aimed at moving closer to the divine.
Followers of the Sufi mystical tradition in Libya are working to preserve their heritage.
The Sufi mosque in Libya's coastal city of Zliten offers religious education and free accommodation to travellers.
