Ahmad Baba al Massufi

Ahmad Bābā, full name Abū l - ʿ Abbās Ahmad ibn Ahmad al - Massūfī at- Tinbuktī (Arabic ابو اعباس احمد بن احمد بابا المسوفي التنبكتي, DMG Abū ʿ Abbās Aḥmad ibn l - Ahmad al - Massūfī at- Tinbuktī born October 26, 1556 Araouane, † April 22, 1627 in Timbuktu ) was an Islamic jurist of the Maliki teaching direction, who worked in Timbuktu and Marrakech.

Ahmad Bābā came from a respected family of scholars who presented has developed over several generations, the Kadis and Imams in Timbuktu. As the Songhai calibration was conquered in 1591 by the troops of Ahmad al - Mansur, he refused to acknowledge the political authority of the new sovereign. Two years later he was to have prepared on charges, an uprising against the Moroccan Sultan, captured and transferred in chains to Marrakech. While there he gained his freedom, but he could not leave the Moroccan capital. He then began to teach Fiqh and Hadith and to issue fatwas. Soon, he was considered one of the most important scholars of the whole Maghreb. When, after the death of Ahmad al - Mansur, the residence requirement was lifted for him, Ahmad Bābā went on pilgrimage to Mecca, and then returned to Timbuktu.

Ahmad Bābā wrote about 50 books on Maliki matic law, Arabic grammar and other topics. His major work was a supplement to the bio - bibliographical lexicon Maliki genetic jurist Ibn Farhūn (d. 1397 ) entitled " The gold silk brocade of the great scholars of the Madhhab " (ad - Dībāǧ al - muḏahhab fī ma ʿ rifat a ʿ yan ʿ ulama ʾ al - madhhab ). This Supplement, which he signed in Marrakesh in 1596, he gave the title of "the achievement of joy in the decoration of silk brocade " (Nail al - ibtihāǧ bi- taṭrīz ad Dībāǧ ). The work, which also includes biographies of some Moroccan saints ( Auliya ʾ ), constitutes one of the main sources for the intellectual and religious life of the Maghreb in the 15th century

The Mercury crater Ahmad Baba and the Ahmed Baba Institute in Timbuktu are named after him.