Growing up in Tajoura, the eastern district of Tripoli where the Andalusian, Turkish Arab and Amazighi heritage mix I spent my summers going to a Quranic school called "Zawia". It was years later when I realised how deep the Sufi tradition was embedded in our society. I never came close with my roots until after the revolution when Sufi shrines, Zawia and mosques were subjected to several attacks all over the country. What I thought was worse was that was systematically accepted in Libya's society. 600 year old heritage was totally wiped out. I followed some Sufi figures who mostly fled Libya now and covered the Sufi struggle to celebrate and practice their traditions. This is a short story as I'm working on a multi-media story and a follow up covering the Sufi struggle in the Libyan society.
For the first time in decades, Sufis were celebrating Milud - Prophet Mohammad's birthday- with a chance of an attack and because there was no security after the revolution, they decided to take up arms and defend themselves of any attack.
Most Sufi shrines and mosques are now destroyed unfortunately. However, that didn't stop them from praying in the ruins.