Sufi Order and the Senussi tribe in North Africa. Idris's family claimed descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his daughter, Fatimah. The Senussi were a revivalist Sunni Islamic sect who were based largely in Cyrenaica, a region in present-day eastern Libya. The Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II sent his aide-de-camp Azmzade Sadik El Mueyyed to Jaghbub in 1886 and to Kufra in 1895 to cultivate positive relations with the Senussi and to counter the West European scramble for Africa. By the end of the nineteenth century the Senussi Order had established a government in Cyrenaica, unifying its tribes, controlling its pilgrimage and trade routes, and collecting taxes. In 1916, Idris became chief of the Senussi order, following the abdication of his cousin Sayyid Ahmed Sharif es Senussi. He was recognized by the British under the new title "emir" of the territory of Cyrenaica, a position also confirmed by the Italians in 1920. He was also installed as Emir of Tripolitania on 28 July 1922. Head of the Senussi Order: 1916–22 After the Regio Esercito (the Italian Royal Army) invaded Cyrenaica in 1913 as part of their wider invasion of Libya, the Senussi Order fought back against them. When the Order's leader, Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi, abdicated his position, he was replaced by Idris, who was his cousin. Pressured to do so by the Ottoman Empire, Ahmed had pursued armed attacks against British military forces stationed in the neighbouring Sultanate of Egypt (formerly known, until December 1914, as the Khedivate of Egypt). On taking power, Idris put a stop to these attacks. Instead he established a tacit alliance with the British Empire, which would last for half a century and accord his Order de facto diplomatic status. Using the British as intermediaries, Idris led the Order into negotiations with the Italians in July 1916. These resulted in two agreements, at al-Zuwaytina in April 1916 and at Akrama in April 1917. The latter of these treaties left most of inland Cyrenaica under the control of the Senussi Order. Relations between the Senussi Order and the newly established Tripolitanian Republic were acrimonious. The Senussi attempted to militarily extend their power into eastern Tripolitania, resulting in a pitched battle at Bani Walid in which the Senussi were forced to withdraw back into Cyrenaica. At the end of the First World War, the Ottoman Empire ceded their claims over Libya to the Kingdom of Italy.