Scholars of precolonial Africa

14th century Muslim Maghrebi scholar and explorer

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (; 1445–1505), or al-Suyuti, was an Egyptian Sunni Muslim polymath of Persian descent. Considered the mujtahid and mujaddid of the Islamic 10th century, he was a leading muhaddith (hadith master), mufassir (Qu'ran exegete), faqīh (jurist), usuli (legal theorist), sufi (mystic), theologian, grammarian, linguist, rhetorician, philologist, lexicographer and historian, who authored works in virtually every Islamic science. For this reason, he was honoured one of the most prestigious and rarest titles: Shaykh al-Islām.

founder of the Sokoto Caliphate

In the Muslim world, the marabout () is a descendant of Muhammad (Arabic: سـيّد, romanized: sayyid and sidi in the Maghreb) and a Muslim religious leader and teacher who historically had the function of a chaplain serving as a part of an Islamic army, notably in North Africa and the Sahara region, in West Africa, and historically in the Maghreb.

Nigerian princess and poet

Egyptian Islamic scholar and historian (1753–1825)

ethnic group in West Africa

Sultan of Sokoto

Malian academic (1556-1627)

African scholar and enslaved man

Islamic scholar

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Maghīlī (), commonly known as Al-Maghīlī (); 909–840 AH/ 1440–1505 CE) was a Berber Sunni scholar from Tlemcen, the capital of the Kingdom of Tlemcen, now in modern-day Algeria and came to be the most influential medieval scholar of West Africa. He is chiefly remembered for three things: his campaigns against the Jews, his position as an Islamic reformer, and his contributions to political theory. Beyond this, he produced an extensive body of writings that covered a wide range of disciplines, including Mālikī jurisprudence, hadith studies, kalām (theology), Sufism

Nigerian military personnel

Abu Ishaq al-Sahili (; 1290 – 15 October 1346), also known as al-Tuwayjin (), was an Andalusi poet and fiqh scholar who became a favored member of the court of Mansa Musa, Emperor of Mali. He is the most renowned of the scholars from the wider Muslim world who emigrated to Mali in the aftermath of Mansa Musa's pilgrimage.

ethnic group

ethnic group in Mali, described as Arab or Berber tribe

Malian historian

Sultan of Gwandu

18th-century Somali mathematician, theologian, astronomer and philosopher

Sokoto historian

The Jakhanke -- also spelled Jahanka, Jahanke, Jahanque, Jahonque, Diakkanke, Diakhanga, Diakhango, Dyakanke, Diakhanké, Diakanké, or Diakhankesare -- are a Manding-speaking ethnic group in the Senegambia region, often classified as a subgroup of the larger Soninke. The Jakhanke have historically constituted a specialized caste of professional Muslim clerics (ulema) and educators. They are centered on one larger group in Guinea, with smaller populations in the eastern region of The Gambia, Senegal, and in Mali near the Guinean border. Although generally considered a branch of the Soninke (also