The Kunta family (the ''Awlad Sidi al-Wafi'') is among the best-known examples of a lineage of Islamic scholarship with widespread influence throughout Mauritania, Senegambia, and other parts of the Western Sudan, and are closely associated with the expansion of
Qadiriyya
The Qadiriyya (), also transliterated Qādirīyah, ''Qadri'', ''Qadriya'', ''Kadri'', ''Elkadri'', ''Elkadry'', ''Aladray'', ''Alkadrie'', ''Adray'', ''Kadray'', ''Kadiri'', ''Qadiri'', ''Quadri'' or ''Qadri'' are members of the Sunni Qadiri ta ...
.
The Kunta shaykhs and the family or clan they represent, are an outgrowth of the Kounta Bedouin Arab peoples who spread throughout what is today northern Mali and southern Mauritania from the mid-sixteenth to the early eighteenth centuries (CE).
Family background
The family's history goes back to Sheikh Sidi Ahmad al-Bakka'i ( ar, الشيخ سيدي أحمد البكاي بودمعة ; born in the region of the Noun river – d.1504 in Akka) who established a
Qadiri
The Qadiriyya (), also transliterated Qādirīyah, ''Qadri'', ''Qadriya'', ''Kadri'', ''Elkadri'', ''Elkadry'', ''Aladray'', ''Alkadrie'', ''Adray'', ''Kadray'', ''Kadiri'', ''Qadiri'', ''Quadri'' or ''Qadri'' are members of the Sunni Qadiri ta ...
Walata
, settlement_type = Commune and town
, image_skyline = Oualata 03.jpg
, imagesize = 300px
, image_caption = View of the town looking in a southeasterly direction
, imag ...
. In the 16th century the family spread across the Sahara to
Timbuktu
Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou;
Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...
, Agades, Bornu, Hausaland, and other places, and in the 18th century large numbers of Kunta moved to the region of the middle Niger where they established the village of Mabruk. Sidi
Al-Mukhtar al-Kunti
Sidi al-Mukhtar ibn Ahmad al-Kunti (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.
Origins
Al-Mukhtar ibn Ah ...
(1728–1811) united the Kunta factions by successful negotiation, and established an extensive confederation. Under his influence the
Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...
school of
Islamic law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
was reinvigorated and the Qadiriyyah order spread throughout Mauritania, the middle
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languagesGuinea, the Ivory Coast,
Futa Toro
Futa Toro ( Wolof and ff, Fuuta Tooro ''𞤆𞤵𞥄𞤼𞤢 𞤚𞤮𞥄𞤪𞤮''; ar, فوتا تورو), often simply the Futa, is a semidesert region around the middle run of the Senegal River. This region is along the border of Senegal and ...
, and
Futa Jallon
Fouta Djallon ( ff, 𞤊𞤵𞥅𞤼𞤢 𞤔𞤢𞤤𞤮𞥅, Fuuta Jaloo; ar, فوتا جالون) is a highland region in the center of Guinea, roughly corresponding with Middle Guinea, in West Africa.
Etymology
The Fulani people call th ...
. Kunta colonies in the Senegambian region became centers of Muslim teaching.Ira M. Lapidus, ''A History of Islamic Societies'', Cambridge University Press, p. 409
Political Involvement
The Kunta family has historically played a leading role in
Timbuktu
Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou;
Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...
, and have been power brokers in many states of the upper Niger.
See also
*
Ahmad al-Bakkai al-Kunti Ahmad al-Bakkai al-Kunti (1803 in the Azawad region north of Timbuktu – 1865 in Timbuktu) was a West African Islamic and political leader. He was one of the last principal spokesmen in precolonial Western Sudan for an accommodationist stance towar ...
(d.1865) – West African Islamic and political leader and one of the last Kunta sheikhs.