They are excellent tools to introduce senior high school students and university undergraduates to Africa’s rich literary traditions from the ninth century C.E. In a move reminiscent of the Taliban's destruction of Afghanistan's famous Bamiyan Buddha sculptures, Islamist fighters bulldozed 14 ancient mud-brick mausoleums and cemeteries that held the remains of revered Sufi saints.Ī spokesman for the Islamists said it was "un-Islamic" for locals to "worship idols.These recent publications are a stimulating and useful set of sources about the history of Timbuktu and its central role in the development of scholarship and trade in Africa. Local imams who dared speak out against the occupiers were barred from preaching in their mosques. Girls were forbidden from attending school, and boys were recruited into the fighters' ranks. Women were flogged for not covering their hair or wearing bright colors. Though it appears most of the manuscripts are safe, the Islamists' occupation took a heavy toll on Timbuktu. They go into the desert and bury them until it is safe." "They are used to hiding their manuscripts. "The people here have long memories," he said. Sidi Ahmed, a reporter based in Timbuktu who recently fled to Bamako, said Monday that nearly all the libraries, including the world-renowned Mamma Haidara and the Fondo Kati libraries, had secreted their collections before the Islamist forces had taken the city. In addition to the Ahmed Baba Institute, Timbuktu is home to more than 60 private libraries, some with collections containing several thousand manuscripts and others with only a precious handful. He finally returned to Timbuktu in 1611, and it is for him that the Ahmed Baba Institute was named. In the process of securing the city, they killed or deported most of Timbuktu's scholars, including the city's most famous teacher, Ahmed Baba al Massufi, who was held in exile in Marrakesh for many years and forced to teach in a pasha's court. The Moroccan army invaded the city in 1591 to take control of the gold trade. This isn't the first time that an occupying army has threatened Timbuktu's cultural heritage. "The manuscripts, our mosques, and our history-these are our treasures. "The manuscripts are the city's real gold," said Mohammed Aghali, a tour guide from Timbuktu. Wealthy families had the documents copied and illuminated by local scribes, building extensive libraries containing works of religion, art, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, history, geography, and culture. The scholars imported parchment and vellum manuscripts via the caravan system that connected northern Africa with the Mediterranean and Arabia. They in turn took on students, forming schools affiliated with's Timbuktu's three main mosques. The city emerged as a wealthy center of trade, Islam, and learning during the 13th century, attracting a number of Sufi religious scholars. The written word is deeply rooted in Timbuktu's rich history. The manuscripts are in total security." ( Read "The Telltale Scribes of Timbuktu" in National Geographic magazine.) Speaking later from Bamako, Zouber told TIME: "I can guarantee you. However, a member of the University of Cape Town Timbuktu Manuscript Project told eNews Channel Africa on Tuesday that he had spoken with the director of the Ahmed Baba Institute, Mahmoud Zouber, who said that nearly all of its manuscripts had been removed from the buildings and taken to secure locations months earlier. Video showed what appeared to be a large pile of charred manuscripts and the special boxes made to preserve them in front of one of the institute's buildings. The man said some 3,000 of the institute's 20,000 manuscripts had been destroyed or looted by the Islamists. On Monday, Sky News posted an interview with a man identifying himself as an employee of the Ahmed Baba Institute, a government-run repository for rare books and manuscripts, the oldest of which date back to the city's founding in the 12th century. Timbuktu Mayor Halle Ousmane Cisse, speaking from the Malian capital of Bamako, told journalists that the fighters had "torched all the important documents." However, there are conflicting reports as to how many manuscripts were actually destroyed. Witnesses, however, said the Islamists, who claim an affiliation to al Qaeda and had imposed a Taliban-style rule in the northern Malian city over the last ten months, slipped into the desert a few days earlier.īut before fleeing, the militants reportedly set fire to several buildings and many rare manuscripts. French and Malian troops surrounded Timbuktu on Monday and began combing the labyrinthine city for Islamist fighters.
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