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