ABSTRACT
The career of the Tripolitanian resistance leader and Ibadi author, Sulayman al-Baruni, took place during a critical period in the evolutionary process of modern political thought in the Arab world. Al-Baruni was raised in a traditional and heavily religious atmosphere, yet during his lifetime he displayed a strong commitment to secular politics and acquired military experience as a guerrilla commander in Tripolitania against the Italians. As a politician or statesman, al-Baruni would seem to fit in the category of an idealist. The subsequent development of an indigenous secular Arab nationalism over the twentieth century follows rather directly from the example of secular nationalism in Europe. The development of a clearly observable schism between pan-Islamism and pan-Arabism occurred first in the Arab East. Al-Baruni’s lifelong interest in pan-Arab affairs and expectations of playing a role in the liberation of Tripolitania continued unabated during his residence in Muscat in the years immediately prior to the Second World War.
