Muhammad al-Maghili

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, Arabic grammar, rhetoric, and political philosophy. Al-Maghili served the Songhai Empire in the late 15th century, acting as an advisor and religious authority to Askia Mohammad the Great after the ruler came to power in 1493.

Al-Maghili toured North and West Africa, observing the state of sharia and challenging the status of dhimmis within the region. His radical views on such subjects would set him against many notable Maghrebian scholars and authorities of the time. In the confines of his theological views, Maghili advanced his political thought in the form of legal advice at the courts of West African rulers and still practiced his crafts in the art of Islamic sciences. Though not ushering in drastic change, Maghili played a great role in the Islamization of West Africa, his writing has been copied, studied, and implemented in West Africa ever since its conception, making him one of the most influential figures in the development of Islam in the region.