University of Timbuktu
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The University of Timbuktu (
History of Timbuktu
Timbuktu is a city created by the Tuareg people around the late 1100s A.D. to early 1200s A.D. Due to the Tuaregs having established the area as a way-station for supplies and provisions, which was often visited by travelers and merchants passing by, it eventually became a large trading city.[2]
Eventually Mansa Musa I (ruled 1307–1332) gained control of the city. When he traveled to Mecca in order to complete the Hajj, he returned to Mali with architects and scholars whom he had encountered along the way. He employed these people to establish mosques and universities in Timbuktu that quickly gained fame.[3] As a result, more scholars from varied backgrounds and places traveled to the city to study and live. Some of these scholars came from Egypt, Fez, Awjila, Ghadames, and Tuat. Timbuktu acquired a reputation for learning and scholarship across the Muslim world.[2][3]
According to African scholar Shamil Jeppie in The Meanings of Timbuktu:
Timbuktu is a repository of history, a living archive which anybody with a concern for African history should be acquainted with. Timbuktu may be hard to get to but it played an essential role as a centre of scholarship under the Songhay state until the invasion from the rulers of Marrakesh in 1591, and even thereafter it was revived.[4]
After Timbuktu was occupied in 1591 following the
Mosques
The University of Timbuktu was associated with three mosques: the Sankore, the Djingereber, and the Sidi Yahya mosques. The three made up an intellectual and spiritual centre throughout the golden age of Timbuktu. These mosques are also prime examples of earthen architecture, which are maintained by traditional maintenance techniques which continues to the present day. For one mosque, the Great Mosque of Djenne, the maintenance of the mosque is a festive community effort, which is known as the crépissage.[8]
Sankore Mosque
In 989 AD Al-Qadi Aqib ibn Mahmud ibn Umar, the Supreme Judge of Timbuktu, founded the Sankore Mosque. For over five centuries the Sankore Mosque served as a significant religious and intellectual hub. It was especially prevalent under the reign of Mansa Musa I and the
Djinguereber Mosque
The Djinguereber Mosque was initially built when Mansa Musa I had returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca, but was reconstructed between 1570 and 1583 by Imam Al-Aqib ibn Mahmud, who was the qadi of Timbuktu.[9] He added the southern portion of the mosque as well as the wall which surrounds the cemetery and situates itself to the west. The Djinguereber Mosque minaret is among the most noticeable landmarks of the Timbuktu landscape with its dominating structure.[10]
Sidi Yahya Mosque
The Sidi Yahya Mosque was named after one of the friends of ruler Muhammad-n-Allah, who was named Sidi Yahya al-Tadallisi.[11] The Sidi Yahia Mosque, located to the south of the Sankore Mosque, was erected around 1400 AD by the marabout Sheikh El Moktar Hamalla. It was built with the expectation of a holy man who would emerge some forty years later as Cherif Sidi Yahia, who would then be chosen as the Imam. Much like the other two mosques, Sidi Yahia was also restored by Imam Al Aqib from 1577 to 1588.[10]
The University
In the University of Timbuktu, there were several independent schools, each having its own principal instructor. Students often took several different tutors who all specialized in their respective fields of study, and paid their tutors via either money, goods, or services.
Teaching
Upon completion of studies, a turban was given for the students to wear along with an ijazah that allowed the students authorization to teach a specific subject or text. Each ijazah's value was dependent of the quality of the teacher who gave it.[12]
Teaching curriculums
While teaching curriculums varied, certain texts were taught throughout every institute. The Quran,
Notable scholars
There was a long succession of scholars and imams in Timbuktu, many associated with the
Abu Hafs
Abu Hafs Umar ibn al-hajj Ahmad ibn Umar ibn Muhammad Aqit was a grammarian and
Al-Aqib Aqit
In 1569 AD, he began rebuilding the
When he died he was succeeded as Qadi by his brother Abu Hafs Umar.[9]
Abu al-Tuwati
Sidi Abu 'l-Qasim al-Tuwati (d. 1528/29) was the successor of Qadi Katib Musa in the Sankore mosque. He was notable establishing recitation the entire Quran after Friday prayers.[11]
Ahmad Baba
Abu 'l-'Abbas Ahmad Baba bin Ahmad bin Ahmad bin 'Umar bin Muhammad Aqit al-Sinhaji al-Timbukti (21 Dhu 'l-Hijja 963 AH (26 October 1556) – 6 Sha'ban 1036 AH (22 April 1627)) was a popular jurist. He was born into a family who were a part of a long line of jurists. He was well known for the high quality of his fatwas, and is well known in modern times for his works being the main foundation of history concerning the history and lineages of medieval West African jurists and medieval Moroccan religious practices.[15] He wrote over sixty texts in his lifetime covering various disciplines that ranged from grammars to philosophy.[16]
Ahmad was born in Araouane and was raised in Timbuktu where he studied under his father Ahmad, his uncle Abu Bakr and Ahmad b. Mohammad, who was a distant relative of his. However, his principal teacher was Muhammad b. Mahmud b. Abu Bakr al-Wangari, a well known and respected scholar at the time.
He studied the main disciplines pertaining to Islamic learning of his time under Wangari, including Arabic,
After being released by Sultan Moulay Zaidan, Ahmad arrived back in Timbuktu on 10 Dhu 'l-Qa'da 1016 AH (26 February 1608). Although not much is known about the chronology of his works, he wrote the Nail al-ibtihaj, his major work, as well as its abridgement, Kifayat al-muhtaj, whilst he was still in Morocco.
The Nail al-ibtihaj bi-tatriz al-Dibaj was a biographical dictionary of Maliki jurisprudents, containing within it a voluminous amount of information on North African scholars and is the primary source of information for when it comes to the life and works produced by medieval West African Muslim scholars. This was his greatest contribution to scholarship.[17]
Notable works and manuscripts
Hundreds of thousands of manuscripts were written in Timbuktu. In this, a mass trade of books was established and became one of the most profitable industries in the city. The manuscripts were produced in the Arabic script and were primarily written in the Arabic language, but other local languages such as Fulfulde, Songhai, Soninke and Bambara were also featured.[18] This helped form an invaluable record of Islam and history of West Africa.[19]
Tarikh al-Sudan
The Tarikh al-Sudan was a written work created by Abd al-Rahman and completed in 1655. It details the history of the Middle Niger region beginning from the founding of Timbuktu until the invasion and occupation of Ahmed al-Mansur of Morocco. These records were sourced from previous written and oral histories about the same subject. This work is highly credited as being one of the most important primary sources that discusses about the history of the Middle Niger region.[5]
Tarikh al-Fattash
The Ta'rīkh al-Fattāsh is a written work created by Mahmud Kati, but completed in 1665 by his three sons and grandson. It chronicles the history of the Middle Niger region, similar to the Tarikh al-Sudan.[5] The Soninke author of Ta'rikh al-Fattash, Ibn al-Mukhtar, recorded the oral tradition surrounding the origin of the Mali kingdom four hundred years earlier. Ibn al-Mukhtar states:
The kingdom of Mali rose to power only after the fall of the kingdom of Kaya-Magha, ruler of the whole western region. Until then the king of Mali was merely one of the vassals of the Kaya-Magha, one of his officials and ministers. Kaya-Mahga in the Wa'Kore (Soninke) language means 'king of gold'. ... The name of Kaya-Magha's capital was Qunbi.[20]
Condition
The manuscripts were mainly found in a collection of loose leaves placed within a loose cover or even just tightened with a ribbon. Due to the lack of a sewing structure or any link between the text blocks and covers, knowing whether any bookbinding structures existed or not is a difficult task for many codicologists. What further complicates this is that covers wrapping numerous leaves may have been moved from one text block to another. A manuscript could consist of a variety of texts and documents and can be made of a varying number of leaves ranging from just a few to a few hundred. Today, the Timbuktu manuscripts are primarily preserved in private families which are where they have traditionally been kept and in the Ahmed Baba Institute, a state run entity.[18]
Post-2012 crisis
In 2013, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) captured northern Mali and destroyed many of the manuscripts in an attempt to implement their jihad against any idea or practice which did not conform to their own vision of a pure Islamic society.[21] However, AQIM had only destroyed a portion of the manuscripts as most of them were taken outside of the city to the capital, Bamako, in an initiative led by Abdel Kader Haidara , the son of a respected Malian scholar, Mohammed 'Mamma' Haidara, who in addition to being a scholar was also the owner of a family library which had a considerable number of manuscripts.[22] Haidara did this with the help of the NGO SAVAMA-DCI (Sauvegarde et Valorisation des Manuscripts pour la Défense de la Culture Islamique), of which Haidara is the Executive President. Haidara worked alongside members of the local community in an effort to remove the manuscripts from areas which were susceptible to AQIM activity.[22]
See also
External links
- Islamic Manuscripts from Mali - U.S. Library of Congress
References
- ^ a b "Wonders: Sankore Mosque". PBS.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-49113-7.
- ^ a b "Mali Empire". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
- ^ Shamil Jeppie & Souleymane Bachir Diagne (eds). The Meanings of Timbuktu. Cape Town: HSRC Press, 2008
- ^ ISBN 978-0-500-51421-4.
- JSTOR 3649007.
- ISBN 978-90-04-12560-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-530173-1. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
- ^ )
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-530173-1, retrieved 2021-12-05
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-49113-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-500-51421-4.
- ^ "Timbuktu". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
- ^ a b "Mali Empire". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2021-11-18.
- ^ "Aḥmad Bābā | Islamic author and jurist". Encyclopædia Britannica. 22 October 2023.
- ^ Lawton, Bishop (2020-06-27). "Sankore Mosque and University (c. 1100–)". Retrieved 2021-12-05.
- S2CID 162780325.
- ^ S2CID 134271254.
- ^ Stock, Jennifer (2004). Global Events: Milestone Events Throughout History. Gale. pp. 95–98.
- ISBN 978-1-59221-809-7.
- ^ "Tombouctou Manuscripts Project". www.tombouctoumanuscripts.uct.ac.za. Retrieved 2021-12-06.
- ^ ISSN 0262-4079.