Sīdī al-Mukhtār al-Kuntī

Kunta religious leader and mediator

• Born: 1729
• Birthplace: West Africa (now in Mali)
• Died: 1811
• Place of death: West Africa (now in Mali)

A brilliant scholar and charismatic preacher, Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār helped to spread Sufi Islamic doctrines through the Sahara and West Africa. He also proved to be an extraordinary mediator, using his prestige to bring an era of peace to the turbulent tribes of the Sahara.

Early Life

Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār al-Kuntī was the most celebrated member of the Kunta, a confederation of related clans who inhabited the central and western Sahara Desert. Although they claimed Arab ancestry, their true origins appear to have been among the Tajakant Berbers of Mauritania. From their earliest history the Kunta were a sacerdotal people who developed a reputation as charismatic preachers. The most noted of Kunta holy men (marabouts or murabitun) were also thought to be miracle workers.

Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār, known as al-Kabir (the Great), was a child prodigy who was said to have humbled the ulama (religious scholars) in intellectual debate. Nevertheless, he had to work his way up the Kunta ranks, starting as a lowly helper-disciple in the salt business at the Taudenni mines. Soon his talents were recognized, and he gained enough influence to be sent to the city of Walata, where he was appointed to the prestigious position of guardian of the tomb of Sidi Ahmad al-Bakkai, his great-grandfather and the most renowned of his immediate ancestors. From there he began to make tours to preach, trade, and settle disputes in the towns and among the tribes of the western desert, the traditional way Kunta marabouts built their reputations. Al-Mukḥṭār’s tours were extraordinarily successful; by the time he returned to his family home in the Azawad, an oasis region 150 miles north of Timbuktu, his name was widely known and his retinue of disciples large.

Life’s Work

Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār devoted himself to the most demanding of challenges, the mastery of the Sufi mysteries known as the mujahadat, a spiritual quest leading to communion with God, and most of his scholarly work concerned this particular esoteric school of knowledge. By the age of twenty-five, he had become the head of the Qadiriyya brotherhood in the western Sahara and West Africa. His followers believed he had been granted superhuman powers, including the ability to resurrect the dead, read minds, communicate with inanimate objects, fly, leap across large areas, see one hundred miles distant, be in two places at the same time, forestall disasters, and bring rain. Most important, he was thought to be able to ascertain divine truth and to intercede with God on behalf of others. Few religious figures, even those who founded their own religions, have enjoyed such influence in their lifetimes. He was recognized as a wali, a living saint, and under him Kunta power reached its height.

If Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār did work one real miracle, it was in keeping large parts of the Sahara from falling into total chaos. Like other maraboutic tribes, the Kunta played important roles as mediators and peacemakers. Sometimes they stopped or prevented major wars involving tribe against tribe, confederation against confederation, but more often they were concerned with feuds among clans of a particular tribe or between factions within a town. Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār’s sacred position placed him above petty politics, or so others assumed, and he was recognized as the supreme arbiter of disputes in much of the Sahara and surrounding areas. He mediated among the warrior tribes of Moors and Tuaregs and sometimes used those who accepted his authority to tame or punish those who did not. In the main, however, the Pax Kunta he established was built on prestige and persuasion rather than force. During his time, from the early seventeenth to the late nineteenth century, the Sahara enjoyed its highest level of security.

One of Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār’s most impressive political feats was to maintain peace between large and potentially hostile Tuareg confederations. He was friend to the Kel Ahaggar, trusted by the Kel Tadmakkat, and venerated by the Iwillimeden, the most powerful of the southern Tuaregs. In 1771, al-Mukḥṭār was successful in mediating a major war between the Kel Tadmakkat and the Arma, a caste of soldiers descended from Moroccan invaders who ruled the city of Timbuktu. In return for a payment in horses, gold, and clothing, the Tuaregs ended their siege, which had driven Timbuktu to the brink of starvation.

Not everyone, however, was pleased with the peace settlement. A group of Arma diehards, who were embarrassed by their side’s poor showing in the war, found it convenient to direct their ire against the man who was responsible for ending it. They plotted and may have attempted to assassinate al-Mukḥṭār but were not successful for reasons unknown, since all accounts of this incident attribute their failure to supernatural causes.

One faction of Tuaregs who had hoped to plunder Timbuktu was also dissatisfied. This resentment combined with rivalry between chiefs led the Kel Tadmakkat to split into two, then three, groups, leading to civil war in 1777. The neighboring Iwillimeden used the opportunity to intervene, complicating the situation. The war finally ended when Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār influenced the Iwillimeden to annihilate the Kel Tadmakkat faction most opposed to him and to reconcile with the faction most favorable to him. This was also the faction most acceptable to the Arma of Timbuktu, and under al-Mukḥṭār’s guidance all three parties subsequently promoted peaceful commerce. The real victor in these wars turned out to be the peacemaker, Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār.

The Kunta believed that wealth was a sign of divine favor, and under Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār they became more prosperous than ever. Between 1736 and 1766, the Berabich Moors, who dominated much of the Saharan salt trade, plunged into a series of bloody civil wars that Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār ultimately settled. The Berabich proved eternally grateful. Al-Mukḥṭār became their spiritual leader and the Kunta their commercial partners. The Kunta also owned plantations in various oases that produced large quantities of dates, grain, and tobacco, and they kept huge herds of pack camels for rent as well as for use in their own enterprises. When the Kunta were not trading themselves, their camels could be seen on the caravan routes carrying merchandise for others. In this way, Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār controlled much of the transportation system of the Sahara.

Significance

Kunta military power, even when heading powerful coalitions, was never strong enough for Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār to weld together all of the diverse tribes and cities of the region into one vast theocratic empire under his own rule. He settled instead for playing a significant political role within a larger spiritual domain to ensure his people’s economic success. His most lasting commercial accomplishment was in professionalizing trans-Saharan trade by operating through a system of commercial agents rather than using disciples and dependents.

Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār’s economic and political achievements should not overshadow his most important role, that of holy man. Students, scholars, pilgrims, and even ulamas from Timbuktu and other cities flocked to Azawad to gain knowledge and bask in Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār’s baraka (blessedness). In return, he sent out disciples as missionaries to strengthen Islam, spread the Sufi doctrine, and propagate his own interpretation of mysticism. Other marabouts, even rulers including Usuman dan Fodio, leader of the Fulani jihad that would transform large parts of West Africa, requested his guidance. Through his preaching, teaching, and writing, he instilled new fervor in the devout and renewed new intellectual curiosity among the scholarly.

Bibliography

Brett, Michael, and Elizabeth Fentress. The Berbers. Oxford, England: Blackwell, 1996. Provides a good explanation of marabouts, saints, baraka, and related matters.

Hiskett, Mervyn. The Development of Islam in West Africa. London: Longman, 1984. Has a good overview of the Kunta, including a discussion of Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār’s relationship to Sufism.

McDougall, E. Ann. “The Economies of Islam in the Southern Sahara: The Rise of the Kunta Clan.” In Rural and Urban Islam in West Africa, edited by Nehemia Levtzion. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 1986. Explains the commercial success of the Kunta, particularly their role in the salt trade, which provided the material basis for their religious and scholarly activities.

Norris, H. T. The Arab Conquest of the Western Sahara: Studies of the Historical Events, Religious Beliefs, and Social Customs Which Made the Remotest Sahara a Part of the Arab World. Harlow, Essex, England: Longman, 1986. A book filled with Saharan history, which includes an examination of Sīdī al-Mukḥṭār’s relationship to the Iwillimeden.

Webb, James L. A., Jr. Desert Frontier: Ecological and Economic Change Along the Western Sahel, 1600-1850. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995. Provides a larger perspective for the history of the Kunta and related peoples within an environmentalist and economic framework.

Whitecomb, Thomas. “New Evidence on the Origins of the Kunta.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 38 (1975): 103-123, 403-417. Addresses the questions of how the Kunta should be defined and where they came from.