The Jewel of the Desert: A glance at the scholastic history of Timbuktu

Akibou TANDİA

(Translated from Turkish by Al-Amin O. Yakubu)

Although the city of Timbuktu was not famous as an intellectual centre until the middle of the 15th century, it was founded in the 12th century and developed gradually under different leaderships. In the year 1325, Mali Emperor "Mansa Musa" visited the city on his return from pilgrimage. He brought with him scholars from North Africa, whom he made to settle in the city. The emperor also built the city’s grand mosque that will later become a citadel of learning and point of contact for scholars. 

During the reign of the Songhai empire, the city entered its political and scientific golden age.  Especially in the reign of Al-haj Askia Muhammad (1493-1528) and his son Askia Dawud (1548-1583) when the city gained higher ground in scholarship and defence.  Askia Muhammed had a consultation council of scholars whose advice he implements. His son on the other hand, apart from being a statesman, was a scholar in the real sense of the word. During his reign, he established public libraries in the kingdom and procured exorbitant manuscripts from outside it.  This gesture is an antecedent for a bunch of cultural and scholarship development of the city.

Over time, Timbuktu became a hub for books selling and copying of manuscripts. By the 16th century, the book trade became a vibrant business. On one side, there was a flow of books from North Africa. On the other hand, pilgrimswould purchase copies of new books on their way back, to other centres of learning including Cairo.  As purchases and copying increases, local scholars also ventured into the authorship of books on religious and scientific subjects and created their personal library full of manuscripts and valuable books.  These and similar factors, the city has earned the name "Jewel of the Desert".

The manuscripts in Mali:

During the reign of Askia Dawud (1548-1583), public libraries were established in major cities, including Timbuktu and Gao, the capital of the empire.  This situation shows that knowledge developed all over the empire at that time and books and manuscripts were in abundance.

The abundance of manuscripts in Mali and neighbouring countries is no longer a hidden fact. A Researcher and historian Mahmud Zubeir estimates the number of these manuscripts to be approximately 950,000 and stated that Timbuktu alone houses around 100,000 of these.  Like it’s the common tradition in Sub-Sharan scholarship, many of the works were passed down from fathers to sons. Thus, they remain in the hands of family members.

Apart from Timbuktu, Gao, Kayes, Ségou and Kidal regions in Mali are also great hosts to old manuscripts.  Although due to the colonial activities these regions were subjected to, some of these works found their ways to Mauritania, Niger, Morocco, France and Spain.

Between 1984-1987, Abdel Kader Haïdara made great efforts to search for manuscripts in villages around Timbuktu and was able to collect two thousand (2000) manuscripts from just one village.  One may wonder, how many manuscripts are there in the rest of the cities and villages? Some researchers have even estimated that numbers of manuscripts in Timbuktu and the surrounding villages to be around 300 thousand.

In today’s Timbuktu,among the most famous public libraries are the Askia Mohammed Library and his Son Askia Daoud Library.  Among the most famous private libraries are the Libraries of the Akît family, Bagayogo family, Ka'at family.

Below we will try to give some information about these libraries by referring to their importance.

Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Education and Islamic Studies:

Ahmed Baba Documentation and History Research Center (CEDRAB: Center de Documentation et de Recherches Ahmed Baba) was established in 1973 in Timbuktu by the Mali government.  This centre is named after the Timbuktu scholar Ahmed Baba.  The foundation date of the centre is adopted in the UNESCO meeting held in Timbuktu in 1967 to plan a series of UNESCO book’s volumes on African history.  At the end of the meeting, a decision was taken to call on the Malian government to establish a centre in Timbuktu to preserve Arabic manuscripts. This centre was built primarily with funding from the State of Kuwait (Conscience Buabdillah, 24.ae).

The institute's library currently consists of approximately 30-40 thousand manuscripts and existing manuscripts collected. This was achieved with the efforts of some prominent people that includes the centre’s first director Dr Mahmoud Zubair, Abdel-Qader Hydera and others.  The number of available works is still less compared to the estimated number in the region.

Mama Haidara Memorial Library:

This library was built by Abdulkader Haidara who previously worked at the Ahmed Baba Centre. After leaving office, he devoted most of his time and energy to collecting and preserving his family's manuscripts.  The library is named after his father, Mama Haidara, who greatly contributed to the development of his ancestral library.

 This library contains around 9500 manuscripts.  Abdoul Kader began indexing his inherited collection with the help of the Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation in London which agreed to publish his catalogue.

Andalusian Library in Timbuktu:

The Timbuktu Andalusian Library, known as "Fondo Ka'ati", was founded by Ismaël Diadié Haïdara, a descendant of Timbuktu historian Mahmud Ka'ati.  It was opened with the financing of the Spanish government on September 27, 2003, due to the ties that bind the Ka'at family and Spain.

Ismaël's collection includes around 7000 manuscripts.  These works have been studied and indexed appropriately.  These manuscripts are arranged chronologically.  The oldest one being a Koran manuscript dates back to the 15th century and belongs to his great-grandfather Ali b.  Ziyad.

Wankari Manuscript Library:

 The official opening of the Wankari Manuscript Library took place on September 26, 2003.  The library is managed by al-Muhtar b Yahya Muhtar al-Wankari and contains around 3000 manuscripts based on the original library of the renowned lawyer Sheikh Mohammed Bagayogo who was also Ahmed Baba's teacher. This collection includes the works of many scholars from Sudan and Morocco.  The oldest document in the library is a copy of the Qur’an dating back to 1695.  In addition to religious texts, there are some important historical documents in the library.

Content and Languages ​​of the Articles:

These libraries include work on the Quran, hadith, fiqh and its principle, Tawheed, creed, the biography of the Prophet, eulogy of the prophet, Sufism, prayers from the Prophet and his predecessors; It includes a variety of religious and scientific works of manuscripts such as history, politics, economics, syntax and linguistics, dictionaries and poetry collections. The libraries also contain manuscripts related to natural sciences, philosophy, law, mathematics, arithmetic and medical sciences and metaphysical sciences such as magic and astrology.

Although most of these manuscripts are written in Arabic, some are written in African languages ​​that use different Arabic letters such as Fulani and Hausa.  There is also a Turkish and Hebrew manuscript.

Conclusively, Timbuktu manuscripts were severely damaged by some armed terrorist organizations in 2012.  These terrorist organizations took over the Ahmed Baba Institute and burned some of the manuscripts.  However, the locals managed to save 90% of them.  Many manuscripts in Timbuktu and its surroundings are still available for great service and needs protection more than ever.  This is the responsibility of everyone especially the governments and the people of the region.  Currently, there is a large number of manuscripts (within the libraries and outside).  This is an important chance for all people who value science and art.  Besides, extensive studies and great efforts of researchers are needed on the manuscripts.