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Sidi Yahya

Type Figure Region West Africa Time 1397–1469 Also known as Sidi Yahya al-Tadelsi、Sidi Yahya ibn Umar al-Tadallâsî、Sidi Yahya al-Tudeli、سيدي يحيى التادلسي

Sidi Yahya (c. 14th century–1469) was a North African Islamic scholar and Sufi saint who settled in Timbuktu, Mali, and in 1441 was appointed first i…

Timeline

  1. c. 1397–1420Tadla · MoroccoBorn in the Tadla region of Morocco, of the Sanhaja Berber tribe. Trained in early years in Islamic law and Sufi practice, then traveled west along the Sahara trade routes, practicing in Shinqiti and elsewhere, accumulating the scholarly traditions of the North African Maghreb.
  2. c. 1440–1441Timbuktu · TimbuktuInvited by the governor of Timbuktu, Muhammad Nada, he traveled from his retreat in Shinqiti to Timbuktu. The city had begun building the Sidi Yahya Mosque around 1400; after standing empty for forty years, he became its first imam, and legend holds that only his arrival opened the mosque's doors.
  3. 1441–1469Sidi Yahya Mosque · TimbuktuServed as first imam of the Sidi Yahya Mosque for nearly thirty years, teaching Maliki jurisprudence and mystical poetics, while also engaging in trade and astrology. Renowned for his ascetic holiness, he was honored as foremost among Timbuktu's 333 saints, and his tomb chamber became a site of pilgrimage and judicial oaths.

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