Ahmad Bābā

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

Ahmad Bābā came from a respected family of scholars who had provided the Qādīs and Imams in Timbuktu for several generations . When the Songhaire empire was conquered by the troops of Ahmad al-Mansur in 1591 , he refused to recognize the political authority of the new ruler. Two years later he was arrested and chained to Marrakech on charges of preparing an uprising against the Moroccan sultan . Although he regained his freedom there, he was not allowed to leave the Moroccan capital. He then started teaching fiqh and hadith and giving fatwas . Soon he was considered one of the most important scholars in the whole of the Maghreb . When after the death of Ahmad al-Mansūr the residence obligation was lifted for him, Ahmad Bābā went on pilgrimage to Mecca and then returned to Timbuktu.

Ahmad Bābā wrote about 50 works on Maliki law, Arabic grammar and other topics. His main work was a supplement to the bio-bibliographical encyclopedia of Malikite legal scholars by Ibn Farhūn (d. 1397) with the title "The gilded silk brocade about the great scholars of Madhhab " ( ad-Dībāǧ al-muḏahhab fī maʿrifat aʿhabyān ʿulamā al- ) . He gave this supplement, which he completed in Marrakech in 1596, the title "Achievement of Joy in the Decoration of the Silk Brocade" ( Nail al-ibtihāǧ bi-taṭrīz ad-Dībāǧ ). The work, which also contains biographies of some Moroccan saints ( auliyāʾ ), is one of the most important sources on 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.

literature

• John Owen Hunwick: "A new source for the biography of Ahmad Bābā al-Tinbuktī (1556-1627)" in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 27 (1964) 568-593.
• E. Lévi-Provençal: "Aḥmad Bābā" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. I, pp. 279b-280a.
• Mahmoud Abdou Zouber: Ahmad Bābā de Tombouctou (1556 - 1627); sa vie et son oeuvre. Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose 1977.