Ahmad al-Tayyib b. al-Bashir أحمد الطيب بن البشير

Ahmad al-Tayyib b. al-Bashir rahimahullah (1155-1239 AH / 1742-1824 CE) was a Sudanese Sufi scholar and the principal revivalist of Islamic spirituality in Sudan. Born in Sudan and of Abbasid lineage on his paternal side, he undertook the pilgrimage to Madina, where he received initiation into the Sammaniyya Sufi order directly from its founder, Shaykh Muhammad al-Samman al-Madani (d. 1776 CE), spending years in his company and being initiated into multiple spiritual paths including the Qadiriyya. Upon returning to Sudan in the second half of the eighteenth century, Ahmad al-Tayyib propagated the Sammaniyya with such transformative effect that the tariqa came to bear his name, becoming known throughout Sudan as the Tariqa al-Tayyibiyya al-Sammaniyya. He revitalized the practices of dhikr and madih (devotional praise poetry) and authored spiritual works including devotional texts and aphorisms (hikam). His order grew to become the largest Sufi brotherhood in Sudan, with millions of adherents across the country and the continent of Africa. He is buried in Sudan and venerated as one of the great awliya of the Nile Valley.