Hamden Ould Al-Tah was born in 1933 in the suburbs of Al-Mudhardha in southwestern Mauritania. His genius was clear in the field of what was known in the Mauritanian schools at that time as rational sciences, such as logic, the sciences of monotheism, and belief.
He read the texts of Islamic jurisprudence and the Arabic language, with its grammar and eloquence, and added to that logic, theology, and the study of principles. After his retirement from public service, he held some senior positions in the country's constitutional bodies.