Aḥmad Bābā of Timbuktu (1556-1627): the essentials

AḤMAD BĀBĀ OF TIMBUKTU (963-1036 AH / 1556-1627) · THE ESSENTIALS أَبُو الْعَبَّاسِ أَحْمَدُ بَابَا بْنُ أَحْمَدَ التِّنْبُكْتِيُّ Key dates 963 AH / 1556: born in Araouane, north of Timbuktu, into the scholarly Aqīt family. Education: with his father, his uncle Abū Bakr and above all Muḥammad Baghayogho, his main teacher. 1591: the Moroccan army of Aḥmad al-Manṣūr defeats the Songhay at Tondibi and occupies Timbuktu. 1593-1594: arrested with his family, he is deported in chains to Marrakesh; his library is looted.

Around 1596: released from prison, he teaches in Marrakesh; al-Maqqarī is among those who study with him. 1005 AH / 1596: he completes Nayl al-ibtihāj, his major work. 1608: return to Timbuktu, where he teaches until his death. 6 Shaʿbān 1036 AH / 22 April 1627: dies in Timbuktu. His main works Nayl al-ibtihāj bi-taṭrīz ad-Dībāj: more than two hundred biographies of Mālikī scholars. Kifāyat al-muḥtāj: an abridgement of the former, including his own biography. Commentary and glosses on Khalīl's Mukhtaṣar.

Miʿrāj aṣ-ṣuʿūd (1615): a free Muslim may not be enslaved, and skin colour is never a ground for it. Key takeaways He embodies the scholarly tradition of Timbuktu and West Africa. Even in exile he taught and wrote, becoming a teacher of the scholars of Morocco. The Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Islamic Studies and Research in Timbuktu, which holds thousands of manuscripts, bears his name. Read the full biography Aḥmad Bābā of Timbuktu → https://tahacademy.com/biographies/ahmad-baba-de-tombouctou Sources Aḥmad Bābā, Kifāyat al-muḥtāj; Muḥammad Makhlūf, Shajarat an-nūr az-zakiyya.

J. O. Hunwick, "A New Source for the Biography of Aḥmad Bābā al-Tinbuktī", BSOAS, 27 (1964). Saʿd Ghurāb, "Aḥmed Bâbâ et-Tinbüktî", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi.