8 FACTS ABOUT TIMBUKTU YOU

PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW

JUNE 16, 2015 THEFCC LEAVE A COMMENT

Timbuktu
Timbuktu is a city in the West African nation of Mali situated 20 kilometers (12 miles)
north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The rapid economic
growth in the 13th and 14th centuries due to trade in salt, gold, ivory and other things,
positioned the legendary city as one of the greatest academic and commercial centers in
the world.

The city’s golden age in the 15th and 16th centuries proved fertile ground for
scholarship of religions, arts, math and sciences for its 100,000 inhabitants and the
world.

Origins
Because of the difficulty of excavating through meters of sand that have buried the
remains over the past centuries, there was no consensus on the origins of
Timbuktu. However, a recent archaeological survey, between 2008 and 2010, by Yale
academics confirmed that Timbuktu’s antiquity extends back further than its 12th
century A.D. Tuareg origins, and permanent large-scale urban settlements began as early
as 200 B.C. The researchers also concluded that Timbuktu was already part of trans-
Saharan trade by 500 A.D.

Largest University in the World

Under the Songhai empire, the city became a great Muslim educational center, with more
than 180 Quranic schools and universities. By the end of Mansa Musa’s reign (early 14th
century A.D.), the Sankoré mosque, also known as the University of Sankoré, was one of
the first universities ever built in the world. A contemporary of Oxford and the
Sorbonne, the level of learning at Timbuktu’s Sankoré University was superior to that of
all other Islamic centers in the world. The three madrasahs — Djinguereber, Sidi Yahya
and Sankore — facilitated 25,000 students, making it also the largest university in the
world at the time.
One of the Largest Libraries of Manuscripts in Africa Since Egypt’s Library of
Alexandria
Considered one of the leading beacons of Islamic knowledge, Timbuktu drew many
scholars from around the world. An active trade in books between Timbuktu and other
parts of the Islamic world led to the writing of thousands of manuscripts. During the
cities golden age, books became the most valuable commodity above all other trade
goods. Timbuktu housed more than 700,000 manuscripts, forming a priceless written
record of African history.

About 20,000 manuscripts are preserved by the Ahmed Baba Institute, built in 2009 to
protect the fragile literary artifacts.

Many of the books also reside in some of the local families’ private libraries. Among the
families with manuscript collections, it’s traditional for one family member from each
generation to swear publicly that he will protect the library for as long as he lives. The
families revere their manuscripts, even honoring them once a year through a holiday
called Maouloud, on which imams and family elders perform a reading from the ancient
prayer books to mark the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.

Before and during the occupation of the city by Islamic militants, more than 300,000
Timbuktu manuscripts from the Ahmed Baba Institute and from private libraries were
saved and moved to more secure locations in Mali.
The ‘City of 333 Saints’
Timbuktu is also known as the “City of 333 Saints” because 333 saints were laid to rest
in the city. These were celebrated Muslim scholars and teachers who were revered for
their exceptional wisdom, scholarship and generosity. Many Muslim pilgrims traveled to
Timbuktu to honor these religious icons.

Who Ruled?
Timbuktu was under the control of several different rulers throughout its 900-year
history. It was annexed by the Mali Empire early in the 14th century. In the first half of
the 15th century, the Tuaregs took control of the city for a short period until the
expanding Songhai Empire absorbed the city in 1468.
A Moroccan army defeated the Songhai in 1591, and made Timbuktu, rather than Gao,
the capital. The invaders established a new ruling class, the Arma, who after 1612
became virtually independent of Morocco.

Different tribes governed until the French took over in 1893, a situation that lasted until
it became part of the current Republic of Mali in 1960.

Attracted Metal-Hungry Europeans Who Instead Got a Faraway Place

Tales of Timbuktu’s fabulous wealth are one of the reasons metal-hungry Europeans
came searching the west coast of Africa for riches. Among the most famous descriptions
of Timbuktu are those of the Spanish explorer Leo Africanus and the captured African
merchant Shabeni, although the more truthful aspects of Africanus’ descriptions were
largely ignored.

Well before the Europeans arrived, Timbuktu had declined economically. When
European travelers didn’t find the gold they were looking for and instead found
how difficult it was to get there, the city’s reputation shifted from being fabled because
of its gold to being fabled because of its location and mystery. Being used in this sense
since at least 1863, English dictionaries now cite Timbuktu as a metaphor for any
faraway place.

Recognized as a World Heritage Site

 In December 1988, the World Heritage Committee (WHC) selected parts of Timbuktu’s
historic center for inscription on its World Heritage list. Three mosques and 16
mausoleums or cemeteries were selected for World Heritage status.

With inclusion came the call for protection of the buildings’ conditions, an exclusion of
new construction works near the sites and measures against the encroaching sand.

Shortly afterwards, the monuments were placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger
by the Malian government, which lasted from 1990 until 2005, when restoration work,
compilation of an inventory and other measures warranted “its removal from the
Danger List.”

In 2008, the WHC placed the protected area under increased scrutiny, dubbed
“reinforced monitoring,” to access the impact of planned construction work. The
designation was removed a year later after concerns were addressed.

Following the takeover of Timbuktu by Tuareg militants MNLA and the Islamist group
Ansar Dine and the destruction of some of the city’s monuments and tombs, the site was
returned to the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2012.

source: atlantablackstar.com by A Moore

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The Meaning of the Saints or Awliya In Sufism
A hierarchy of Awliya and their functions are outlined in the books of Sufi masters. There is
some controversies as to the terms used for each rank, but there is general agreement about
the numbers and functions of each level starting from the top downwards:

 One – Ghawth (Guide)

 Three – Qutb (World Pillar)
 Three – Nuqaba (Watchman)
 Four – Awtaad (Pegs), Aqtab (Poles)
 Seven – Abraar (Pious)
 Forty – Abdal ( Substitutes)
 Three Hundred – Akhyaar (Chosen)