The most influential scholar, Sufi and resistance leader of the Western SaharaâMauritania region (c. 1830, Oualata / present-day Mauritania â 1910, Tiznit / Morocco). Son of Muhammad Fadil, founder of the Qadiriyya-Fadiliyya order, and brother of Shaykh Saad Bouh. He wrote around three hundred works across jurisprudence to Sufi conduct and was recognized in Fez, Marrakesh and Cairo. In 1898 he founded a ribat/town at Smara in the Western Sahara, declaring it his religious and spiritual capital in 1902 and establishing a major library. He united Saharan tribes against French and Spanish colonization. Sources give two accounts of his burial: by the prevailing view his tomb is in Tiznit, Morocco, and a pilgrimage site, while his ribat at Smara is remembered as a spiritual center maintained by his descendants (the disagreement over burial place is stated transparently).