Ibrahim Mukhtar

Who was Ibrahim Mukhtar?

Mufit Ibrahim Mukhtar Ahmed Omar was born in Eritrea in 1909 in a village close to the coast of the Red Sea. He was the second child in a family of seven siblings. His mother died when he was only ten years old. His father was a respected scholar who received his Islamic education locally as well as in Yemen and Tihamah. Sheikh Ibrahim Mukhtar received his preliminary education from his learned father.

From early childhood, Sheikh Ibrahim Mukhtar had a keen interest in learning and acquiring knowledge. In his teens he was eager to travel abroad to further his education. He had to postpone his travel plans, however, due to his father's old age and poor health. He decided to stay back and care for his father until his father's death in 1924.