Sidi al-Mukhtar ibn Ahmad al-Kunti[a] (1729-1811) was a leading ʻalim of the Qadiriyya movement in the Western Sudan who played an important role in promoting the spread of Islam in West Africa in the nineteenth century.
[3] He was a member of the influential Kunta clerical tribe, originally Arab descendants of Uqba ibn Navi Al Fihri.
The Kunta adopted the teachings of Muhammad al-Maghili, a noted cleric around 1500 CE who was said to have introduced the Qadiriyya order of Sufis to the region.
[2] For a period, he was caretaker of the tomb near Oualata of Sidi Ahmed al-Kunti (aka al-Bakka'i Bu Dam'a, Arabic: سيدي أحمد الكنتي البكاي بودمعة), a Kunta saint who had died in 1515.
Starting in 1757, already recognized as the leader of the Kunta and soon by all the other Qadiri shaykhs, he became increasingly involved in resolving disputes among the Tuareg people of the region.
[2] Al-Mukhtar's huge moral influence and support for the Qadiriyya tariqa meant that Islam expanded its role in the region beyond that of the private religion of merchants and scholars.
[6] In response to a question on the status of the Fula people, Sidi al-Mukhtar explicitly refused to acknowledge any difference between blacks and whites.