Abdullah Hakim Quick – Untold Stories Of World History 10

			La Jolla.
		

			Bismillah Ar Rahman r Rahim In the name of Allah was gracious, most merciful. I praise Allah subhana
wa Taala. And I send peace and blessings to all of the profits from the beginning of time, and
especially to our beloved Prophet Mohammed, his family, his companions, and all those who called his
way and establish his son, to the day of judgment as to what follows I begin with the greeting words
of the righteous. Assalamu aleikum wa rahmatullah. The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was the
last of a series of messengers who came to every nation and every tribe. And the central teaching,
shared by all of these prophets, was the teachings of tawheed, of oneness of unity, and the belief
		

			in one God.
		

			And the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, was a special Prophet, in that not only did he come to
Arabic speaking people, his own tribe, but he came to every nation, he came to all people, all
colors, and all languages.
		

			And it is reported that one of the illustrious companions, Akbar ignacia, brought the alarm on. He
was reported to have ridden his horse from Egypt all the way across North Africa.
		

			He established the city of beta one.
		

			In 670, this base became one of the most central features of the Islamic establishment in North
Africa.
		

			It is also reported that Akbar rhodiola Han, not only based himself there along the coast, but he
turned south, and he was involved in a number of missions into the great Sahara Desert. He is
reported reached Lake Chad. And up until now, there are descendants of Obi Wan afia, who live within
the desert region. And remember their relationship with the companions of the Prophet Muhammad peace
be upon him.
		

			By the year 705 ad, the leader of the Muslims in the north Hassan Eben, nah man founded an area that
he called Africa.
		

			And this name may be related to an ancient Phoenician name that was used by the Carthaginians in
this region, or it may be an Arabic way of expressing a separation between the Mediterranean and the
great sea of sand. In any event, what is important about this terminology, here is not only the fact
that it was the central base of operations, but that it is the basis of the word Africa. So Africa
itself comes from the Arabic language. And the fact that we are using an Arabic word in such a broad
sense, is another part of the legacy that the world owes to the Arabic language, and to those who
are carrying the civilization and way of life of Islam, to peoples throughout this world,
		

			the governor of Africa, looking south, realized that this sea of sand was actually leading to
another civilization.
		

			Upon meeting caravans, he found that gold was coming from the deep south, and that if caravans were
organized in a proper way, that he would be able to benefit from the gold coming out of that area.
So he dug wells along the way. And he set up oasis.
		

			These Oasis, I came to base, we became the basis for movements from the north, going down into the
South. What we are recognizing about this area is that the Muslims were using the trade routes that
had been established very early in history, and that people had used from Roman times
		

			But what was different is that they were able to revolutionize the travel into the desert, and to
develop a system where large amounts of goods could be taken from the north to the south, and then
taken from the south to the north.
		

			Now, if we look at these trade routes, we find that of the main routes, we find that to the east of
in the Sahara Desert, was the route from Tripoli. And from Tripoli, you would go to gabicce. From
ghadames, you would go south to build.
		

			And when you reach Bilbo, then you would finally continue on to canon bought a new and Canon bought
new became the basis of a very powerful civilization, right around the area of Lake Chad. And it is
said that the dynasty of care kind of bought new was the longest freestanding dynasty of a family in
the history of people on this planet.
		

			The other main route, coming more toward the center of the great desert was the trade route that
started at Target, and then went to Ted Mecca. And then it descended south into Gao on the Niger
River. And Gao became a very important center of business and culture in that region. And so the
connection was directly from the area of target. These are people who are living just west of Pedro,
Juan, the third of the major routes, was starting infests and going to sigil, masa, and then to
outgassed. And finally to come, bizarrely, this landed you in a great kingdom, known as the kingdom
of Ghana. And so people were traveling literally across a sea of sand, the most important group or
		

			agent for carrying people across worthy purpose, and especially Sahaja. The Sahaja Berbers were
known for their hardiness, their ruggedness, and their ability to move to the desert in rapid
		

			succession. And so they would give guidance and protection to the caravans, and take the people
across this huge sea of set. This required, of course, great patience, and courage, and an ability
to know direction in the middle of what appeared to be an endless wasteland. But the the goal of all
of this was to strike it rich in the gold that was being mined around the Niger River, deep into the
South. And so, with these major trade routes developed, the people of the north in Fes in Tripoli,
and tar hurt and all the cities in the north on the coast, became extremely rich from the trade,
because they were bringing in different items from the Mediterranean. Even beads at different
		

			coinage was coming in, from far north. Also, different items of of porcelain and leather was being
carried self and and for that they were carrying back gold, which became, of course the basis of
economies, and is probably the most sought after metal in existence. Now, from amongst the tribes
that were moving along.
		

			Not only were the Sun hajah a very important group, but there was another set of tribes called
gadalla, lamb, tuna, and mostofa. And these Berber tribes were especially known not only for their
hardiness and their courage in the desert, but their high sense of spirituality. So when these
people came into Islam, they naturally became agents of the religion as well as the trade and they
formed the group known later as Albert Robbie tune.
		

			And the word warabi tune is coming from Rabat. They are peoples of the ribat of the fortresses in
the Koran itself, the book of Scripture of the Muslims, it is saying an Arabic speaking to the
believers is saying ooh spirou wasabi. Wasabi to what taco lalala comm toughly hold, the believers
are told to have patience, to compete with each other in patience, and to bind themselves together
in Rabat, and to protect the believers in fortresses around the Islamic territories. And finally,
the verse says, and have the consciousness of God and fear Allah in order that you would be
successful. So the manabi tune
		

			became a very important force in the 11th century. And it is reported that they focused on three
major issues. Number one, they saw themselves as calling the people to truth to they repelled
injustice wherever they could find it. And three, they forbade the taking of taxes in any form
unless it was strictly covered or allowed in Sharia Islamic law. That would be to love the sooner
they love the way of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And they tried to
emulate Rasulullah sallallahu in everything that they did. And so, when they establish themselves in
the area, they very quickly had a powerful effect upon all of the Muslims and non Muslims who they
		

			encountered. They divided themselves into two and then three major sections in the northern section
		

			uses Eben tashfeen. In the year 1061, became the leader, and he consolidated the area far to the
north. And as we have learned in an earlier session, use of even touch feed where he bahala he was
able to go into an Andalus into Spain, he assisted the rulers in the area, and he was able to repel
the forces of the trinitarians, who were moving down from the north, and in a position to begin to
oppress the people again.
		

			Following this, they also broke themselves into another section, which was based in Marrakesh, and
this is in present day Morocco. And it is from the base in Marrakech that Amir Abu Bakar, Eben Omar
Rahim Allah, he was able to develop a very powerful force. And his best general or leader was chef
Abdullah, he has seen and he really was one of the front runners of the bobby toon movement. And he
succeeded in carrying the teachings of Islam far deep into the south, to the point where he even
penetrated into the Niger River into what is now known as Mauritania and Senegal. And he was able to
teach people in this area and establish a strong base for the blobby tune. So at one point in time,
		

			the manabi tunes holdings and their empire actually stretched from deep south into the air in the
area of Senegal, to the north and Morocco. And then eventually, right up into an under loose into
present day, Portugal and Spain. And they had a powerful effect upon the people of the North,
because they were very serious about their Islamic practices. They did not want to have a lot of
extra items around. They didn't like bright gaudy colors in the masjid. They didn't want people to
be wasting money, but they wanted people to strictly stick stick to the teachings of the Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him. Youssef Eben tashfeen was known to be a man, a very tall men with a very
		

			stern look at the age of 70 years old, he moved like a man of 30 years old. He ate very simple food.
He prayed 200 in the evening, and it is reported that when he came into Spain, and found that the
Muslims had become soft, and they were not dealing with their Islam properly, he eventually took
over the whole of Spain, and revived Islam in a way that people were able to practice their faith,
and they were protected against forces that were out to destroy them all around. Let us take a break
now and then come back to see what else happened when Islam penetrated the Sahara Desert.
		

			Welcome to this new episode of focus point. The new generation is has got the habit of reading more
than before.
		

			Your question was named basically the problem of Jews who lost their function in society.
		

			When Muslims reached the Sahara Desert, they found a great expense. But they were fortunate
		

			In that the Berber people came into Islam in large numbers and from the Berber people. There were
strong tribes of the Sun hajia and later Masuda and lamb tuna, who not only became agents for the
spreading of wealth, they will not only the guides across the desert, but they also became the
agents and the spreaders of Islam as a way of life itself. And when Islam penetrated the Sahara, the
great desert, when it penetrated that area, it met people who were already thinking in terms of one
God. And this may have been based upon the traditions of the past, where we find in many parts of
Africa, that people had already been familiar with the Great Spirit. In any event, Al Bukhari, one
		

			of the famous geographers from Andalusia. He records in his text in the year 1068. He brings
valuable information on three very famous Islamic empires, the empire of Gow, the empire of tacroz,
and the empire of Ghana. And three, these three empires are very important to us, not only for our
study of Islam in Africa, but they are important because the teaching Islamization they are teaching
what happens to Islam when it meets traditional religion. And it shows the different strategies used
by Muslims. Some of them are valid, some of them are not valid. But they are important to understand
the experience of Muslims. And what happened to the believers when they encountered very strong
		

			religions based on idolatry, and very powerful sorceress, and magicians, as were found in West
Africa at the time.
		

			The first of these three empires was Gao. And Gao was ruled by a king who accepted Islam. But at the
same time, he wanted to benefit also from the traditional religion. So the king was a Muslim, and
his royal emblem stayed Islamic. But the common people on the ground, continued to worship idols.
Also, many pre Islamic customs persisted within the society. Magic persisted in society, and the
king himself and this trend that he set is one who tries to get the best of both worlds as they
would say, he's an Imam during the day and a sorcerer at night. If he cannot defeat you by making
dua to Allah, that he wraps up a spell and throws it on you when he meets you in battle. And so this
		

			is a way of approaching Islam. It's syncretism it's mixing up are different ideologies. But we have
to recognize that this is what happened to Islam in many parts of the world. The second of these
three empires, was the empire of chakra, and this was founded around the year 1040. It is a very old
Empire. And the people of chakra became famous, because of their strict adherence to the teachings
of Islam. They were basically Wolof, Wolof people, and Berbers. And they won over this society
completely to Islam. And the king was very serious about his practice, to the point where he
compelled the people within a society to submit to Allah subhanaw taala. And so he did not tolerate
		

			idol worship, or magic, or any other form of religion, or worship within the boundaries of his
Islamic State. And taco became very famous for the powerful stance of the people. And also they
appear to be the first or the or the oldest of the Hajaj of the pilgrims, who went to Mecca to
Kerala. So the people of Mecca still remember that the tuck row of people as being the basis or the
foundation of West African society, the third of these great empires established in West Africa,
which was established around 1076 or so in its final form, was the empire of Ghana. And this was
ancient Ghana because this does not represent the country of Ghana today. Anxious Ghana would
		

			probably fall in what is now known as Mauritania and Senegal.
		

			What is important about the the the Muslims who were living there in Ghana, is that the head of
state wasn't
		

			non Muslim, and he ruled in the area of the palace. And of course, he was the leader and Master of
the people in his society, the Muslims were allowed to live in an autonomous site. So when you
entered into Ghana, if you are a Muslim merchant, then you would go to the Muslim quarters, there
within the quarters, you would hear the that being called, The food was halau, the court and was
being studied in the different schools, women were covering themselves properly. And you would find
everything that you would expect, within an Islamic land, an area ruled by an Amir of Islam, but
they lived within a non Muslim state. So this, again, is another trend that was set the Muslims
		

			because of their understanding of the Arabic language, and because of the travel that they had, and
the interaction with different races of different societies, were being used by the king, as
scribes, as accountants, as ambassadors, as merchants. And they were generally employed in the court
of the king, to meet different foreign dignitaries who would come into the courts, and also to help
the king to deal with contact with the Islamic world. And with different books and treatises, and
different coins, ages, with Arabic language being used. So we see now that Arabic is a very
important language, I mean, not only just for religious purposes, but Arabic actually unlocks the
		

			key to the history of West Africa. It also gives you an understanding of what happened in societies
in many parts of the world. And the Muslims maintained their cordial relations with the king. And
because of this diplomatic way that Muslims functioned there in Ghana. All of the Muslim merchants
who came into the areas were highly respected. And it is said that when a Muslim merchant walked
down the street, the people would literally move to the side of the road to let the Muslims go by
because they respected Islam, and they respected the level of scholarship that Muslims were
functioning on. It is this state of Ghana, to this state that the Morabito came into, and they are
		

			in the same 11th century, they came down into the empire of God, and they assisted the king, and
they were calling to the good and forbidding evil. It is misunderstood. And it is mistaken
information that we find in many history textbooks. When it sells when it says the almoravids
meeting Abu Dhabi tune, it says the almoravids sacked or destroyed the kingdom of Ghana. This is a
major mistake, because when we look at the writings of Al Bukhari and azhari, and the other great
writers from North Africa and the lucea, who recording this information, we don't find any
information of them Robbie toon, actually coming into the area, destroying the society and killing
		

			the king, they actually assisted the king. And the proof of that is the fact that the king outlived
them. And if they destroyed the society and killed the king, it would have become clear.
		

			What is important for us here, above all, is that Muslims established a commercial diaspora. It was
a complicated set of trading basis, which will link together by the trade routes and by the Arabic
language. So Arabic became a lingua franca, it became a language of trade, of scholarship of
literacy. And young people of all nationalities, nationalities, Muslim and non Muslim, try to learn
the Arabic so that they could come into a higher level of civilization. And they could be involved
in international trade, and meeting people of all different nations, and all different tribes. Also,
Arabic and Islam, opened up the way for Sharia. So add the common legal system that was being used
		

			by the merchants in North Africa, in the desert region and down into West Africa, was the Islamic
Sharia system. So if there was a difference of opinion, they would turn to Sharia in order to find
out the best way to solve their problem.
		

			People came into Islam in large numbers. Eventually Ghana faded from the scene, and in its place
came the empire of Mali.
		

			Mali was a very important and dominating Empire. And from the year 1050, the people of Bali the
mandinka people suddenly
		

			People, they had a very strong impact upon West African society. But when their king became Muslim,
it linked them to the international trade routes. And it opened up a way for knowledge. A very
interesting story is related to us about how the king came into Islam. It is said that the king
being a non Muslim, and this society was suffering from a terrible drought. In the 11th century,
		

			a Muslim,
		

			educated, having basic understanding of Islam, came into the region, and sat was the king to
understand what was the problem. The King told him about the drought and the difficulties of the
people. And the Muslims said very clearly to him, if you want to solve your problems, then you
should accept the slump. You should submit to the Creator of the heavens, the creator of the rain,
the creator of the clouds, and then when you pray, maybe your prayers could be accepted. After a
period of time, the king accepted Islam. The Muslim scholar then told the king you need to purify
yourself. So the king purified himself, and the scholar gave him garments of cotton. So he put on
		

			the white cotton garments. And together, the scholar and the king prayed. They spent the whole
evening on a high raised mound, praying, the scholar would make dua, he would pray, and the king
would say amin, and they continue to do this all of the night. At the break of dawn. When the light
started to come, the rain poured down all over Mali, and the king except the den confirmed his
Islam. He ordered he ordered all of the idols to be broken. He expelled the magician's from his
country. And since then, all of the rulers of Mali have been Muslims. This is a powerful testimony
to the presence of Islam. After this time, months, months are only made pilgrimage to Mecca. He
		

			expanded Mali, and he incorporated Timbuktu and many other cities. Another ruler named Munster
Suleiman ruled in from 1337 to 1359. He built mosques, strengthened Islamic culture, and he was
visited by Ibn battuta, the famous Islamic traveler, who had traveled all over the planet. He
describes Mali within his writings, and he says very clearly, it was the most peaceful country that
I ever visited. And so we again have unlocked a gem of knowledge about the complex society in West
Africa. And now we need to look deeper into what happened in the past. I leave you with this thought
was Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah.
		

			The people across this huge see upset. This required of course, great patience, and courage, added
ability to no direction in the middle of what appeared to be an endless wasteland. But the the goal
of all of this was to strike it rich in the gold that was being mined around the Niger River, deep
into the South. And so, with these major trade routes developed, the people of the north in Fes in
Tripoli, and tar hurt and all the cities in the north on the coast, became extremely rich from the
trade, because they were bringing in different items from the Mediterranean, even beads and
different coinage was coming in. From far north. Also, different items of of porcelain and leather
		

			was being carried south. And for that they were carrying back gold, which became, of course the
basis of economies, and is probably the most sought after metal in existence. Now, from amongst the
tribes that were moving along.
		

			Not only were the Sun hajia, a very important group, but there was another set of tribes called
gadalla, lamb, tuna, and mostofa. And these Berber tribes were especially known, not only
		

			For the hardiness and the courage of the desert, but their high sense of spirituality. So when these
people came into Islam, they naturally became agents of the religion as well as the trade. And they
formed the group known later as elbowed RB tune.
		

			And the word warabi tune is coming from Rabat. They are peoples of the ribat of the fortresses in
the court and itself the book of Scripture of the Muslims. It is saying an Arabic speaking to the
believers is saying, Oh spirou wasabi to warabi to what taco la Holla Holla come toughly hold. The
believers are told to have patience, to compete with each other in patience, and to bind themselves
together in Rabat, and to protect the believers in fortresses around the Islamic territories. And
finally, the verse says, and have the consciousness of God and fear Allah in order that you will be
successful. So the manabi tune became a very important force in the 11th century. And it is reported
		

			that they focused on three major issues. Number one, they saw themselves as calling the people to
truth to they repelled injustice wherever they could find it. And three, they forbade the taking of
taxes in any form, unless it was strictly covered or allowed in Sharia Islamic law would be to love
the Sunda they love the way of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. And they tried
to emulate Rasulullah sallallahu everything that they did. And so when they establish themselves in
the area, they very quickly had a powerful effect upon all of the Muslims and non Muslims who they
encountered. They divided themselves into two and then three major sections in the northern section
		

			uses Eben tashfeen. In the year 1061, became the leader and he consolidated the area far to the
north. And as we have learned in an earlier session, use of Evan tashfeen, where he bahala he was
able to go into an Andalus into Spain, he assisted the rulers in the area, and he was able to repel
the forces of the trinitarians who were moving down from the north and in a position to begin to
oppress the people again.
		

			Follow Following this, they also broke themselves into another section, which was based in
Marrakech, this is in present day Morocco. And it is from the base in Marrakech that Amir Abu Bakr
Ibn Omar Rahim Allah, he was able to develop a very powerful force. And his best general or leader
was chef Abdullah he.
		

			And he really was one of the front runners of the Marathi tune movement. And he succeeded in
carrying the teachings of Islam far deep into the south, to the point where he even penetrated into
the Niger River into what is now known as Mauritania and Senegal. And he was able to teach people in
this area and establish a strong base for the bobby tune. So at one point in time, the manabi tunes
holdings and their empire actually stretched from deep south into the air in the area of Senegal, to
the north and Morocco. And then eventually, right up into an Andalus into present day, Portugal and
Spain. And they had a powerful effect upon the people of the North, because they were very serious
		

			about their Islamic practices. They did not want to have a lot of extra items around. They didn't
like bright gaudy colors in the masjid. They didn't want people to be wasting money, but they wanted
people to strictly stick stick to the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Youssef
Eben tashfeen, was known to be a man, a very tall man with a very stern look at the age of 70 years
old, he moved like a man of 30 years old. He ate very simple food. He prayed 200 in the evening, and
it is reported that when he came into Spain, and found that the Muslims had become soft, and they
were not dealing with their Islam properly. He eventually took over the whole of Spain and revived
		

			Islam in a way that people were able to practice their faith and they were protected against forces
that were out to destroy them all around. Let us take a break now.
		

			And then come back to see what else happened when Islam penetrated the Sahara Desert.
		

			Welcome to this new episode of focus point, the new generation is has got the habit of reading more
than before.
		

			The question was named basically the problem of Jews who lost their function in society.
		

			When Muslims reached the Sahara Desert, they found a great expense. But they were fortunate in that
the Berber people came into Islam in large numbers, and from the Berber people with strong tribes of
the Sun hajah and later Masuda and lamb tuna, who not only became agents for the spreading of
wealth, they were not only the guides across the desert, but they also became the agents and the
spreaders of Islam as a way of life itself. And when Islam penetrated the Sahara, the great desert,
when it penetrated that area, it met people who were already thinking in terms of one God. And this
may have been based upon the traditions of the past, where we find in many parts of Africa, that
		

			people had already been familiar with the Great Spirit. In any event, Al Bukhari, one of the famous
geographers from Andalusia. He records in his texts in the year 1068. He brings valuable information
on three very famous Islamic empires, the empire of Gao, the empire of tacroz, and the empire of
Ghana. And three, these three empires are very important to us, not only for our study of Islam in
Africa, but they are important because they are teaching Islamization. They are teaching what
happens to Islam when it meets traditional religion. And it shows the different strategies used by
Muslims. Some of them are valid, some of them are not valid. But they are important to understand
		

			the experience of Muslims. And what happened to the believers when they encountered very strong
religions based on idolatry, and very powerful sorceress, and magicians, as were found in West
Africa at the time.
		

			The first of these three empires was Gao. And Gao was ruled by a king who accepted Islam. But at the
same time, he wanted to benefit also from the traditional religion. So the king was a Muslim, and
his royal emblem stayed Islamic. But the common people on the ground, continued to worship idols.
Also, many pre Islamic customs persisted within the society. Magic persisted in society, and the
king himself and this trend that he set is one who tries to get the best of both worlds as they
would say, he's an Imam during the day and a sorcerer at night. If he cannot defeat you by making
dua to Allah, that he wraps up a spell and throws it on you when he meet you in battle. And so this
		

			is a way of approaching Islam. It's syncretism, it's mixing up our different ideologies. But we have
to recognize that this is what happened to Islam in many parts of the world. The second of these
three empires, was the empire of chakra, and this was founded around the year 1040. It is a very old
Empire. And the people of chakra became famous because of their strict adherence to the teachings of
Islam. They were basically well off well off people and Berbers and they won over their society
completely to Islam. And the king was very serious about his practice, to the point where he
compelled the people within his society to submit to Allah subhanaw taala. And so he did not
		

			tolerate
		

			idol worship or magic, or any other form of religion, or worship within the boundaries of his
Islamic State. And takuro became very famous for the powerful stance of the people. And also they
appear to be the first of all the oldest of the Hajaj of the pilgrims, who went to Mecca to Kerala.
So the people of Mecca still remember that the tuck row of people as being the basis or the
foundation of West African society, the third of these great empires established in West Africa,
which was established around 1076 or so in its final form, was the empire of Ghana. And this was
ancient Ghana, because this does not represent the country of Ghana today, ancient Ghana would
		

			probably fall in what is now known as Mauritania, and Senegal.
		

			What is important about the the the Muslims who were living there in Ghana, is that the head of
state was a non Muslim. And he ruled in the area of the palace. And of course, he was the leader and
Master of the people in his society, the Muslims were allowed to live in an autonomous site. So when
you entered into Ghana, if you are a Muslim merchant, then you would go to the Muslim quarters,
there within the quarters, you would hear the van being called the food was halaal, to court and was
being studied in the different schools, women were covering themselves properly. And you would find
everything that you would expect, within an Islamic land, an area ruled by an Emir of Islam, but
		

			they lived within a non Muslim state. So this, again, is another trend that was set the Muslims
because of their understanding of the Arabic language, and because of the travel, that they had an
interaction with different races of different societies were being used by the king, as scribes, as
accountants, as ambassadors, as merchants. And they were generally employed in the court of the
king, to meet different foreign dignitaries, who would come into the courts, and also to help the
king to deal with contact with the Islamic world. And with different books and treatises, and
different coin ages, with Arabic language being used. So we see now that Arabic is a very important
		

			language, I mean, not only just for religious purposes, but Arabic actually unlocks the key to the
history of West Africa. It also gives you an understanding of what happened in societies in many
parts of the world. And the Muslims maintained their cordial relations with the king. And because of
this solid diplomatic way that Muslims functioned there in Ghana. All of the Muslim merchants who
came into the areas were highly respected. And it is said that when a Muslim merchant walked down
the street, the people would literally move to the side of the road to let the Muslims go by because
they respected Islam, and they respected the level of scholarship that Muslims were functioning on.
		

			It is this state of Ghana, to this state that the Morabito came into, and they are in the same 11th
century, they came down into the empire of Ghana, and they assisted the king, and they were calling
to the good and forbidding evil. It is misunderstood. And it is mistaken information that we find in
many history textbooks. When it sells when it says the almoravids meaning a Barbie tune, it says the
almoravids sacked or destroyed the kingdom of Ghana. This is a major mistake. Because when we look
at the writings of Al Bukhari and azhari, and the other great writers from North Africa and the
lucea, who recording this information, we don't find any information of the bobby tune, actually
		

			coming into the area, destroying the society and killing the king. They actually assisted the king
and the proof of that is the fact that the king outlived them. And if they destroyed the society and
killed the king, it would have become clear.
		

			What is important for us here, above all, is that Muslims established a commercial diaspora. It was
a complicated set of trading basis, which will link together by the trade routes and by the Arabic
language. So Arabic became a lingua franca. It became a language of trade, of scholarship of
literacy, and young people of all nationalities, nationalities, Muslims.
		

			non Muslims try to learn the Arabic so that they could come into a higher level of civilization. And
they could be involved in international trade, and meeting people of all different nations, and all
different tribes. Also, Arabic and Islam, opened up the way for Sharia. So add the common legal
system that was being used by the merchants in North Africa, in the desert region, and down into
West Africa, was the Islamic Sharia system. So if there was a difference of opinion, they would turn
to Sharia in order to find out the best way to solve the problem.
		

			People came into Islam in large numbers. Eventually Ghana faded from the scene, and in its place
came the empire of Mali.
		

			Mali was a very important and dominating Empire. And from the year 1050, the people of Mali, the
mandinka people, Southern cape people, they had a very strong impact upon West African society. But
when the king became Muslim, it linked them to the international trade routes. And it opened up a
way for knowledge. A very interesting story is related to us about how the king came into Islam. It
is said that the king being a non Muslim, and this society was suffering from a terrible drought. In
the 11th century,
		

			a Muslim,
		

			educated, having basic understanding of Islam, came into the region, and sat was the king to
understand what was the problem. The King told him about the drought and the difficulties of the
people. And the Muslims said very clearly to him, if you want to solve your problems, then you
should accept Islam, you should submit to the Creator of the heavens, the creator of the rain, the
creator of the clouds, and then when you pray, maybe your prayers could be accepted. After a period
of time, the king accepted Islam. The Muslim scholar then told the king, you need to purify
yourself. So the king purified himself, and the scholar gave him garments of cotton. So he put on
		

			the white cotton garments. And together, the scholar and the king prayed. They spent the whole
evening on a high raised mound, praying, the scholar would make dua, he would pray, and the king
would say amin, and they continue to do this all of the night. At the break of dawn. When the lights
started to come, the rain poured down all over Mali, and the king except you're then confirmed as
Islam. He ordered he ordered all of the idols to be broken. He expelled the magician's from his
country. And since then, all of the rulers of Mali have been Muslims. This is a powerful testimony
to the presence of Islam. After this time, months, months, not only made pilgrimage to Mecca, he
		

			expanded Mali, and he incorporated Timbuktu and many other cities. Another ruler named Mansa,
Suleiman ruled in from 1337 to 1359. He built mosques, strengthened Islamic culture, and he was
visited by Ibn battuta, the famous Islamic traveler, who had traveled all over the planet. He
describes Mali within his writings, and he says very clearly, it was the most peaceful country that
I ever visited. And so we again have unlocked a gem of knowledge about the complex society in West
Africa. And now we need to look deeper into what happened in the past. I leave you with this thought
was Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah