1840 - 1910

Important figure in the religio-political history of Mauritania and southern Morocco.

Ma al-Aynayn (also known as Shaykh Muhammad Mustafa ibn Muhammad Fadil al-Qalqami) was the son of Muhammad Fadil, founder of the Fadiliyya Sufi brotherhood, a religious scholar and leader among the nomadic populations of northern Mauritania. Like his father, Ma al-Aynayn was head of the Fadiliyya, a noted scholar, and political leader. A prolific author, he is credited with over 140 books on a wide variety of topics.

A close ally and adviser of the sultans of Morocco from 1859, Ma al-Aynayn cooperated in the extension of Moroccan authority into the Western Sahara. Under Sultan Hassan I and his successor Abd al-Aziz, he organized resistance to imperialist incursions into the western Sahara by France and Spain.

At his death in 1910 he was succeeded by his son Ahmad Hibat Allah, known as "El Hiba."

Bibliography

Martin, Bradford G. Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-CenturyAfrica. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976.

— EDMUND BURKE III

Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.