Black Musa was born in Crete in 1880. He was originally from Sudan. Upon his father's death, who he was living with in Crete, he moved to Cairo with his grandfather, who was an Ottoman enthusiast, and grew up in a neighborhood with Turks.[2][3][4][5] Musa became fluent in Turkish while living in this neighborhood. He voluntarily participated in the Italo-Turkish War with his grandfather in 1911. While in Tripolitania, he met Kuşçubaşı Eşref, who came to Libya to galvanize the local people against the Italians, and became his amir.[6][7] After the Italo-Turkish War, he participated in the Balkan Wars, the Sinai-Palestine Campaign, the Campaign in South Arabia during World War I, the Gallipoli campaign, and the Raid on the Suez Canal.[8][9][10][11] According to Kurdish–Turkish historian Cemal Kutay, during the occupation of Istanbul, a British Army general, Charles Harington, offered gold to lure Musa to the side of the British, but Musa did not accept it.[12] He carried out both armed struggles and intelligence activities in the wars he participated in. He died of tuberculosis in 1919 while living in Üsküdar Şeyh Ata Efendi's Özbekler Lodge.[13][14] His body was buried in the cemetery next to the Özbekler Lodge. Since the burial place still remains undiscovered, an epitaph was built in his memory in a designated place in the cemetery.[4]
