Ahmad Baba al-Timbukti

16th-century Saharan scholar who challenged racial slavery through Islamic jurisprudence

As Africa's most captured medieval author (over 40 works), Ahmad Baba (1556–1627) transformed Islamic law to condemn racial slavery. His fatwa Mi‘rāj al-Su‘ūd declared "no Muslim may enslave another Muslim", undermining trans-Saharan slave trade economics.

After being enslaved himself by Moroccan invaders, Baba established the Sankore Prison School where captors were forced to attend lectures on human dignity. His library preserved over 10,000 manuscripts using innovative desert preservation techniques involving date palm resins and sand filtration.

Baba's agricultural manuals introduced crop rotation and underground irrigation (foggaras) to the Sahara, enabling permanent settlements in previously uninhabitable zones. His linguistic works documented 18 African languages in Arabic script, creating early standardized writing systems for oral cultures.