Mohammed Uthman al-Mirghani, known as Al-Khatim (Arabic: محمد عثمان الميرغني الختم) was the founder of the Khatmiyya sufi tariqa, a sect of Islam, that has a following in Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia.
[1][2][3] Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani was born in Ta'if and died in Mecca and was buried there in al-Ma'alla.
Al-Khatim's religious journey began in Mecca from whence he travelled to Tarim in Yemen and then to Somalia by sea and to Massawa on the Red Sea coast where he travelled inland into the Ethiopian hinterland before returning to Mecca.
On this trip tens of thousands of people embraced Islam including entire clans and tribes.
[citation needed] On his second trip, which started in the Egyptian countryside south of Cairo, he was accompanied by his teacher Ahmad ibn Idris who parted ways with him in Al-Zeyniyyah.