Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Fulani al-Kishnawi was an 18th-century Fulani scholar, mathematician, astrologer, Arabic grammarian, and judge from Katsina, Nigeria.^[1][2]

Al-Kishnawi studied at the Gobarau Minaret in Katsina before moving to Cairo, Egypt, in 1732, where he published in Arabic "A Treatise on the Magical Use of the Letters of the Alphabet," a mathematical academics manuscript of procedures for constructing magic squares up to the order 11.^[3]

Muhammad al-Kishnawi was a Fulani scholar born in Dan Rako, Katsina (now Katsina State). Dan Rako was well-known for its association with the Mali-based Wangara traders who had established a presence in the area. Muhammad Bello later destroyed the town, and it no longer exists.^[4] He was born and raised in a Muslim home and studied Islam and its holy book, the Quran. Muhamamd al-Wali al-Burnawi, a great scholar from Kanem-Bornu, Muhammad Fudi, the father of Usman dan Fodio, and Muhammad al-Bindu "Booro Binndi", who is another famous scholar from Kanem-Bornu, were among his teachers. He became popular in Hausaland and Bornu and attracted many students.^[5]

He left Katsina around 1730 for a pilgrimage to the Hijaz. He writes,

When the Deliverer of Destiny and Sempiternal Will delivered me, and the

Usher of Divine Mercy ushered me to visit His good Prophet, upon him be the best

of prayers and most devoted salutations, and to perform the pilgrimage of His holy

sanctified House, I stayed there for some time and grew through these prayers...

[and] spent of my duty to thank Him, the Gracious for variegating an areborerum

for me, a small utterance [shaʿrat lisānan] indeed for that greatest of graces [niʿam]

that He has bestowed upon me…^[6]: 249

Many of his works are being kept in al-Azhar Library in Cairo. Some are archived in Dar al-kutub, while others are kept documented in Morocco, Nigeria, and London. Some of these preserved works are words of encouragement to his readers:

Do not give up, for that is ignorance and not according to the rules of this art ... Like the lover, you cannot hope to achieve success without infinite perseverance^[7]

Part of his notable works are

• Bulūgh al-arab min kalām al-ʿarab: a work on Arabic grammar dated to around 1736-7.
• Bughyat al-mawālī fī tarjamat Muḥammad al-Wālī: a biography of Muhamamd al-Wali al-Burnawi (one of his teachers).
• Manḥ al-quddū: a didactic poem on logic drawn from the Mukhtaṣar of al-Sanūsī.
• Izālat al-‘ubū ‘an wajh minaḥ al-quddūs: a commentary on the Mukhtaṣar of al-Sanūsī.
• A commentary on Kitāb al-durr wa’l-tiryāq fī ‘ilm al-awfāq by Abd al-Rahman al-Jurjanī on the science of letters and the great names of God, completed on 6 September 1734.
• Three treatises on Durar al-yawāqīt fī ‘ilm al-ḥurūf wa’l asmā’.
• Mughnī al-mawāfī ‘an jamī‘ al-khawāf: a numerological work on the magic square completed on 29 January 1733.
• Al-Durr al-manẓūm wa khulāṣat al-sirr al-maktūm fī ‘ilm al-ṭalāsim wa’l-nujūm: his famous commentary on the three domains of the "secret sciences", completed on 20 December 1733.^[8]: 141