Abdullah Hakim Quick – Untold Stories Of World History 11

			La Jolla.
		

			Bismillah Ar Rahman r Rahim In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. I praise Allah
subhana wa Taala. And I send peace and blessings to all of the prophets and messengers who came from
the beginning of time, and especially to our beloved Prophet Mohammed, his family, his companions,
and all those who call to his way to the Day of Judgment. Assalamu aleikum wa rahmatullah peace and
blessings be upon you.
		

			The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, sent his followers in all directions. And Islam within 100
years, was able to go far to the east to China, and far to the west, all the way to the Atlantic
Ocean.
		

			And it is reported that one of his companions occupy Urban afia rhodiola, one penetrated the great
Sahara Desert.
		

			From his time, caravans were going from the north, across the desert, and into West Africa, the
great empire of gold. It was from that region, in the bambach. Mines, the body mines, that gold was
being mined, and being set north. And this became the greatest area of gold production on the face
of the planet Earth.
		

			The Empire of Mali
		

			was the base for this gold production. And so Mali became a fabulous Empire. Right from the
beginning, when it was established, Muslims were able to not only consolidate themselves, but they
were able to move from east to the west, north and south because of the facility of having this
wealth and the need for people to come into the area of the great leaders of Mali who are known as
Mansa or Amir. Mansa can can Moosa ruled from around 1312 to 1337 was probably the most celebrated
of the great Amir's of Mali. He consolidated Mali, he made his empire a part of the lands of Islam.
He encouraged Islamic learning, and he turned his country into a vast, multi ethnic Empire. He built
		

			Friday Masjid, Juma mustards everywhere he could, not only did he build the mosque, but he
established prayer amongst the people.
		

			In the map, here we see Musa Mansa Musa on the right with golden his hand. On the left, we see a
Berber, who was bringing goods from across the desert. This map was made by a European cartographer,
and it shows the respect that they had for months of Moosa at that time.
		

			And so once a Moosa encouraged Islamic learning, and it is reported that he was very serious about
instituting the flick of Imam Malik Ibn s, Rahim Allah, one of the great four imams of Islamic
jurisprudence, in 1324 months of Moosa made a very important decision. He made his intention to go
to pilgrimage to Mecca. And so he started on his journey. But in the tradition of Mali, he didn't
just go by himself. He carried with him, somewhere between 60 to 72,000 people across the Sahara
Desert. They carried so much gold with them, that they change the economy of every country that they
reached. It is reported that they had close to 15,000 camels laden with gold 8000 soldiers, and this
		

			huge moving nation, going from city to city, changing the economy, developing relationships, and
once a Moosa would build a mosque everywhere he stopped
		

			When they finally reached north into Egypt, they found by Halima Luke's ruling Egypt at the time,
and the mameluke leaders audit him and gave him a special escort to take him from Cairo into Mecca.
And so once a Moosa with a huge delegation that came into Mecca at that time, you can imagine the
Hajaj from Mali probably made up about 95% of the pilgrims that year, and he had a profound effect
upon the people of hijas in Saudi Arabia, and the people in Egypt. Mansa Musa returned to Timbuktu
and gave special attention to the city on the Niger
		

			he was supported by the scholars of the region. And it is said that from Saudi Arabia itself, a CD,
Abdurrahman, a Tamimi left the Hejaz Mecca Medina area, and traveled into the area of Timbuktu and
the Niger River. And when he found the level of scholarship in this area, he went to Fes, and learn
more about the Maliki fic. And then he returned to Timbuktu and he lived all of his life in this
region in West Africa. He felt that the real knowledge in the Islamic world was there, not in Mecca,
and in Medina.
		

			What was Timbuktu?
		

			What type of people were living there? And what is the importance of this famous city, to the
history of Islam and to the world. There's probably no other word in the English language that gives
you a meaning of remoteness and distance than Timbuktu. If you say to a person, I'm going to
Timbuktu, then that gives you the understanding you're going to the moon, to a vast expanse
somewhere in the remote distance. But the reality was
		

			too many explorers. Timbuktu actually represented a land of great riches. It was a land of golden.
Some of the explorers actually thought that the streets were lined with gold, and that the women had
so much gold on their bodies, they could hardly move for Muslim travelers, rulers, scholars, from
Morocco to Persia, Timbuktu had another meeting. It was the starting point for the Hajaj for the
pilgrims to Mecca. And it was also the center of some of the finest Islamic scholarship of the
Middle Ages. Timbuktu was founded in the 11th century by the robotic people who lived in the Sahara
Desert. And the Tijuana eggs are known for the men who cover their faces with blue and black
		

			turbans, constantly covering themselves. And they were part of the Berber groupings, who would take
you through the great desert of the Sahara, the ones who had the strength and the patience to
overcome the terrible heat and the lack of water.
		

			Timbuktu was actually a few miles up from the Niger River, because the Niger River
		

			was a place where during the flood season, there was a lot of stagnated water. And so when the twigs
would come with their animals, they would find themselves
		

			dying from disease surrounded by mosquitoes. And so they made their base just to the north. The city
was actually founded by a woman. And her name was tin, Abu toot. And so from this name, tin, Abu
toot comes Timbuktu. She founded the city by digging a well and making a base for people to be able
to leave the stagnated area of the river and go to a very dry, flat area, not too far away from the
traffic going along the river. And so with a small well and a small settlement established by a
woman of Islam, a great city develops again.
		

			This city was developed precisely where the Niger River flows northward into the southern edge of
the desert. Timbuktu is a natural meeting point, four different people's the song guy, the mandate,
the one Gada the Fulanis that wattics the Arabic speaking people. It is a natural meeting place for
people coming out of the desert and moving along into the river area. It is even said that Timbuktu
is the place where the camel met the canoe
		

			in that area in Timbuktu and also in other famous cities along the Niger River.
		

			Salt and goods were being carried from the north. And they were traded for the gold coming up from
the south. But Timbuktu also attracted scholars from all over West Africa, from the Sahara region,
and many parts of the Islamic world. The salt coming into the city came from Gaza in the north. And
the gold came from the famous board a bomb book mine area.
		

			A famous historian Leo africanus. In the 16th century, when he wrote about Timbuktu, he had the
following to say there are many judges, doctors and clerics here, all receiving good salaries from
King eska, Mohammed of the state of sangai. He pays great respect to men of learning, there is a
great demand for books, and more profit is made from the trading books than any other line of
business. This is a very important statement, because we see Timbuktu coming into its own around the
12th century. And then by the 16th century, it reaches such a high level. If you look at London and
Paris, and many of the great European cities, you will find that they did not develop themselves to
		

			that level. It was only at the lucea the Muslim cities in Andalusia. But if you look at Europe and
other parts of the world, you'll see that Timbuktu rivaled the great universities all around the
planet. It is said that By the mid 16th century, Timbuktu was a center of learning, a center of
scholarship, and a center of Islamic spirituality. There were over 150 Quranic schools, and there
were three major universities, the Concordia University, Jenga, a bale University, and CD Yahya
University. The city at that time had over 100,000 people. And it is said that in the sand Korea
University itself, there were 25,000 students. Now this is something that is hard to understand
		

			today. It is hard to come to grips with with the negative propaganda about the African continent,
and about the level of scholarship of people below the Sahara. But Timbuktu was a fabulous city and
a city that people wanted to reach, who were coming from many different parts of the world. It is
also said that in Timbuktu, the city was so organized, and so developed that there were 26
establishments for Taylor scholars, each Taylor scholar had over 100 employees. And so thriving
business cloth is being manufactured, clothing is being made. So Timbuktu is moving out literature,
moving clothing, covering the bodies of people, also teaching purity, connecting the people of the
		

			south south of the Niger River, with the people north of the Sahara Desert. It was a port city on a
sea of sand. It was a fabulous city. And up until that point, it was 100% Muslim. It has also stated
that in the 16th century, the people of Timbuktu were totally literate 100% of the people, man,
woman and child, male and female, could all read the Arabic language. But let's take a break for a
moment and come back to hear more about the fabulous city of Timbuktu.
		

			Welcome to this new episode of focus points, the new generation is has is that good the habit of
reading more than before.
		

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

			The city of Timbuktu was a fabulous city of learning, scholarship, and of wealth, a port city on a
sea of sand. Although the name in many cultures, gives you an impression of remoteness, some
distance of being somewhere where there is no civilization.
		

			Timbuktu, especially by the 16th century, was the height of civilization on the African continent,
and could could rival cities and places of universities anywhere in the world. The scholars of
Timbuktu had reached such a level that when scholars came from Mecca and Medina and Cairo and other
places, they would stay there, usually for the rest of their life. The level that the scholars
reached was one, that up until today,
		

			the scholars and educators are still coming to grips with if you look at the Timbuktu educational
system. And this is very important because this system affected Muslims throughout West Africa, and
even eventually came into the Americas, with the scholars in slavery.
		

			The first level on the Timbuktu educational system was the primary level. At that point, the young
student would memorize the Quran, and would become familiar with the Arabic language, they would
learn the bases of Islamic sciences, but especially they would focus on the grandma upon literature,
until they became powerful in the use of Arabic and able to read the Quran in any part and
understand what they are reading. The second level was the secondary part, wherein they studied the
Islamic sciences with more depth, they studied grammar, they studied Tafseer commentary of the
Quran, they studied the Hadith, the sayings and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon
		

			him. They studied fic, or jurisprudence, and especially they focused on the Maliki of fit that was
used throughout West Africa and North Africa. But at the same time, along with the study of Islamic
sciences, or what today, people would term as religious sciences, Islamic science for the people of
Timbuktu covered every single aspect of academia. So the students on the secondary level, would also
study mathematics, geography, history, physics, astronomy, chemistry, science, sciences of different
types. And they put a special emphasis on the study of sand. And this is righteousness in Islam,
whereby the person is able to benefit from the sciences and put it into their life. The third and
		

			highest level of study was the specialized area. Today, we would call it graduate studies. And this
is where the students would sit under renowned or law, renowned scholars of different disciplines.
And if the person for instance, was focusing on Tafseer, he would sit with a renowned scholar of
Tafseer, who would take him through the subtleties of the court and, and help them to understand
what was taught by scholars throughout the Muslim world. They also focused not only on taking in
knowledge, but practicing knowledge, and you could call it the the the system of melasma. And
melasma was that you would live with your teacher, and you would also
		

			take in his character, so you would live with him, and you would also work with him, you would trade
with him, you would eat your meals with him, you would learn not only from the knowledge in his
mind, but you would learn from his character from what actually came out in his life itself. This
melasma system was so important that it was practiced by people all throughout West Africa, and in
many parts of the world. So the when a person came out of the specialized study, underneath a
scholar, he was given ijazah, he was given special permission permission that he could teach this
subject to other students, he had to pass a test, whereby not only he memorized the basic tune or
		

			the texts, but he could explain what was in the method or the text of a particular subject. And it
could give you the subtleties of the subject, he could take it to a higher level, and actually go
into the philosophy of the subject. And so the students coming out of Timbuktu were masters of their
disciplines. And when they went to Morocco and other parts of the Muslim world, they actually found
difficulty in relating some of their concepts to the people because the people were generally
looking at the text and not going above the text and looking at some of the higher levels of science
and discipline. And so amongst the great scholars
		

			in Timbuktu, were people whose tradition lasted all the way up until the present day. A few of the
names of scholars in Timbuktu that are very well known within the history books in West Africa,
would debo Muhammad Ali Al Kabadi, who was a Fulani man, and who was known to be a great judge, a
great, knowledgeable person in Maliki. There was also a person named elkaar de al Hodge, who was
from Valletta, a city north of Timbuktu. He became the chief kadhi, or the Chief Judge of Timbuktu
and set the trend for judges into the future.
		

			Muhammad bhaga Hugo as Sudan de la one God, he was a person from the one Gara who were Dinka coming
out of Mali, and a famous scholar who influenced people within his society, and whose generations
later became also great all about from amongst the generations coming out of the scholars. Probably
the most famous was chef Ahmed Baba sudanic. Ahmed Baba Sudan de Rahim Allah was a scholar who
surpassed all of the scholars of his time, he wrote 60 texts. He especially focused on aqidah,
grammar, history, and Fiq and it is set in 1593. And invasion force came into Timbuktu from Morocco.
They cross the desert, using weapons, and they succeeded in conquering Timbuktu and driving many of
		

			the scholars out of the city. I have met Baba Ahmed Baba was captured by the Moroccan force, and he
was taken high into Morocco.
		

			By the time he reached Fes, now imagine the scholar being taken any starts in chains. By the time he
reaches Morocco, he was out of his chains, and he was giving lessons to all of the soldiers.
		

			When he reached Morocco, and the people of Morocco realized the level of this man's Islamic
knowledge, he became the leading scholar in the nation. He was called the standard of standards. And
he was able to offer many books. He was able to produce students from Morocco, who still recognize
his achievements up until today, but it became homesick for Timbuktu. And the end of his story is
that he finally was allowed to leave Morocco, he returned to Timbuktu, where he taught and practiced
his faith for the rest of his life. And so Ahmed Baba, goes down into the annals of history as being
one of the most important scholars of his time. And we find within the tardy. The special histories
		

			study for Sudan, the history of the Sudan, by CD Abdul Rahman assadi. This records the history of
Timbuktu and the region tatical fat cash by Mark wood caty, there's also reports the history of the
people in that region, or Saudi, in his text, brings a very interesting report. This is going back
now to around the 16th century. And he said that one of his relatives had a problem with his eye. So
he went to Gen D, which is a city just down the river from Timbuktu. He went to Germany, and they
performed a complicated eye operation, his cataract, and it was successful. So people in Timbuktu in
the 16th century, we're not only masters of Islamic sciences, but they will also masters of
		

			medicine, of optics, and many other disciplines. The importance of Timbuktu is not only significant
for the past, it represents to us a great height in Islamic civilization. But it is also important
to us presently today. And that is because in recent years, about three years ago, the President of
South Africa, taboo and Becky traveled to Mali on a diplomatic mission. He was taken there during
his break period, he visited the city of Timbuktu and he finds in the city of Timbuktu, the Ahmed
Baba Institute.
		

			Now in the Ahmed Baba Institute, the President of South Africa, finds 15,000 Arabic textbooks, still
in readable form.
		

			He's interested
		

			shock when he sees these textbooks, and he realizes that
		

			Timbuktu and the Mohammed Baba center needs not only the attention of South Africa, but it needs the
attention of the whole of Africa. So, therefore, the project of preserving the documents in Timbuktu
has become the prime cultural project for the African Union. It is now looked upon as the chief
repository of African culture.
		

			It is also looked upon by Muslims, as one of the centers of learning were great texts are reported.
		

			Some of these books, some of these writings are still very legible. The desert is encroaching on
Timbuktu, the termites are having their toll taking a toll upon the textbooks. dryness is making the
paper brittle. But the Timbuktu documents have withstood the test of time. The Timbuktu documents
are now being photographed, they are now being put into digital libraries, they are being preserved.
And it is the hope of the African Union. It is the prayer of the Muslims that the heritage of
Timbuktu be saved for the world. Another interesting spin off coming out of Timbuktu is that there
are people in America, there is the Timbuktu Educational Foundation, and other groups in America,
		

			who are actually going into the ghettos of America, and using the Timbuktu methodology, as a means
of structuring a system for children who are coming from a low disadvantaged background, and helping
them to come into the light of learning, the Millennium a system where the teacher is not only
giving information, but also teaching character. This is the importance of Timbuktu. It is the set
it was the center of learning of the past, and the light is still showing up until today. Again, we
are unlocking untold stories from World History. And I leave you with this thought and in a state of
peace was salam wa Alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh
		

			went to Fes and learn more about the Maliki fic. And then he returned to Timbuktu. And he lived all
of his life in this region in West Africa. He felt that the real knowledge in the Islamic world was
there, not in Mecca. And in Medina.
		

			What was Timbuktu?
		

			What type of people were living there? And what is the importance of this famous city, to the
history of Islam and to the world. There's probably no other word in the English language that gives
you a meaning of remoteness and distance than Timbuktu. If you say to a person, I'm going to
Timbuktu then that gives you the understanding you're going to the moon to a vast expanse somewhere
in the remote distance. But the reality was
		

			too many explorers. Timbuktu actually represented a land of great riches. It was a land of golden.
Some of the explorers actually thought that the streets were lined with gold, and that the women had
so much gold on their bodies, they could hardly move
		

			for Muslim travelers, rulers, scholars, from Morocco to Persia Timbuktu had another meeting. It was
the starting point for the Hajaj for the pilgrims to Mecca. And it was also the center of some of
the finest Islamic scholarship of the Middle Ages. Timbuktu was founded in the 11th century by the
robotic people who lived in the Sahara Desert. And the Tijuana eggs are known for the men who cover
their faces with blue and black turbans, constantly covering themselves. And they were part of the
Berber groupings, who would take you through the great desert of the Sahara, the ones who had the
strength and the patience to overcome the terrible heat and the lack of water.
		

			Timbuktu was actually a few miles up from the Niger River because
		

			The Niger River
		

			was a place where during the flood season, there was a lot of stagnated water. And so when the twigs
would come with their animals, they would find themselves
		

			dying from disease surrounded by mosquitoes. And so they made their base just to the north. The city
was actually founded by a woman. And her name was tin, Abu toot. And so from this name, tin, Abu
toot comes Timbuktu. She found the city by digging a well and making a base for people to be able to
leave the stagnated area of the river and go to a very dry, flat area, not too far away from the
traffic going along the river. And so with a small well and a small settlement established by a
woman of Islam, a great city develops again.
		

			This city was developed precisely where the Niger River flows northward into the southern edge of
the desert. Timbuktu is a natural meeting point for different peoples, the song guy, the mandate,
the one Gada, the Fulanis that wattics the Arabic speaking people. It is a natural meeting place for
people coming out of the desert, and moving along into the river area. It is even said that Timbuktu
is the place where the camel met the canoe
		

			in that area in Timbuktu and also in other famous cities along the Niger River. Salt and goods were
being carried from the north. And they were traded for the gold coming up from the south. But
Timbuktu also attracted scholars from all over West Africa, from the Sahara region, and many parts
of the Islamic world. The salt coming into the city came from Gaza in the north, and the gold came
from the famous Bodie bambach mind area.
		

			A famous historian Leo africanus. In the 16th century, when he wrote about Timbuktu, he had the
following to say there are many judges, doctors and clerics here, all receiving good salaries from
King askia, Mohammed of the state of sangai. He pays great respect to men of learning, there is a
great demand for books, and more profit is made from the trading books than any other line of
business. This is a very important statement. Because we see Timbuktu coming into its own around the
12th century. And then by the 16th century, it reaches such a high level. If you look at London and
Paris, and many of the great European cities, you will find that they did not develop themselves to
		

			that level. It was only at the lucea the Muslim cities in Andalusia. But if you look at Europe and
other parts of the world, you'll see that Timbuktu rivaled the great universities all around the
planet. It is said that By the mid 16th century, Timbuktu was a center of learning, a center of
scholarship, and a center of Islamic spirituality. There were over 150 Quranic schools, and there
were three major universities, the San Kota University, Jenga a bell University, and CD Yahya
University. The city at that time had over 100,000 people. And it is said that in the sand Korea
University itself, there were 25,000 students. Now this is something that is hard to understand
		

			today. It is hard to come to grips with with a negative propaganda about the African continent, and
about the level of scholarship of people below the Sahara. But Timbuktu was a fabulous city and a
city that people wanted to reach, who were coming from many different parts of the world. It is also
said that in Timbuktu The city was so organized, and so developed that there were 26 establishments
for Taylor scholars. Each Taylor scholar has over 100 employees. And so thriving business class is
being manufactured. clothing is being made. So Timbuktu is moving out literature, moving clothing,
covering the bodies of people, also teaching purity, connecting the people of the south south of the
		

			Niger River, with the people north of the Sahara Desert.
		

			was a port city on a sea of sand. It was a fabulous city. And up until that point, it was 100%.
Muslim. It has also stated that in the 16th century, the people of Timbuktu were totally literate
100% of the people, man, woman and child, male and female, could all read the Arabic language. That
let's take a break for a moment and come back to hear more about the fabulous city of Timbuktu.
		

			Welcome to this new episode of focus points, the new generation is has is that good the habit of
reading more than before
		

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

			The city of Timbuktu was a fabulous city of learning, scholarship, and of wealth, a port city on a
sea of sand. Although the name in many cultures, gives you an impression of remoteness, some
distance of being somewhere where there is no civilization. Timbuktu, especially by the 16th
century, was the height of civilization on the African continent, and could could rival cities and
places of universities anywhere in the world. The scholars of Timbuktu had reached such a level that
when scholars came from Mecca and Medina and Cairo and other places, they would stay there, usually
for the rest of their life. The level that the scholars reached, was one, that up until today,
		

			the scholars and educators are still coming to grips with if you look at the Timbuktu educational
system. And this is very important because this system affected Muslims throughout West Africa, and
even eventually came into the Americas, with the scholars in slavery.
		

			The first level on the Timbuktu educational system was the primary level. At that point, the young
students would memorize the Quran, and would become familiar with the Arabic language, they would
learn the bases of Islamic sciences, but especially they would focus on the grandma upon literature,
until they became powerful in the use of Arabic, unable to read the Quran in any part and understand
what they are reading. The second level was the secondary part, wherein they studied the Islamic
sciences with more depth, they studied grammar. They studied Tafseer commentary of the court and
they studied the Hadith, the sayings and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. They
		

			studied fic, or jurisprudence, and especially they focused on the Maliki of fit that was used
throughout West Africa and North Africa. But at the same time, along with the study of Islamic
sciences, or what today, people would term as religious sciences, Islamic science for the people of
Timbuktu covered every single aspect of academia. So the students on the secondary level would also
study mathematics, geography, history, physics, astronomy, chemistry, science, sciences of different
types. And they put a special emphasis on the study of sand. And this is righteousness in Islam,
whereby the person is able to benefit from the sciences and put it into their life. The third and
		

			highest level of study was the specialized area. Today, we would call it graduate studies. And this
is where the students would sit under renowned are law, renowned scholars of different disciplines.
And if the person for instance, was focusing on Tafseer, he would sit with a renowned scholar of
Tafseer, who would take him through the subtleties of the court and, and help him to understand what
was taught by scholars throughout the Muslim world. They also focused not only on taking in
knowledge, but practicing knowledge and you could call it the
		

			The system of melasma and melasma was that you would live with your teacher. And you would also
		

			take in his character, so you would live with him, and you would also work with him, you would trade
with him, you would eat your meals with him, you would learn not only from the knowledge in his
mind, but you would learn from his character from what actually came out in his life itself. This
melasma system was so important that it was practiced by people all throughout West Africa, and in
many parts of the world. So that when a person came out of the specialized study, underneath a
scholar, he was given ijazah, he was given special permission permission that he could teach this
subject to other students, he had to pass a test, whereby not only he memorized the basic tune or
		

			the texts, but he could explain what was in the method or the text of a particular subject. And he
could give you the subtleties of the subject, he could take it to a higher level, and actually go
into the philosophy of the subject. And so the students coming out of Timbuktu were masters of their
disciplines. And when they went to Morocco and other parts of the Muslim world, they actually found
difficulty in relating some of their concepts to the people because the people were generally
looking at the text, and not going above the text, and looking at some of the higher levels of
science and discipline. And so amongst the great scholars in in Timbuktu, were people whose
		

			tradition lasted all the way up until the present day, a few of the names of scholars in Timbuktu
that are very well known within the history books in West Africa, modibo, Muhammad, Al Kabaddi, who
was a foolhardy man, and who was known to be a great judge, a great, knowledgeable person in Maliki.
There was also a person named elkaar de al Hodge, who was from Valletta, a city north of Timbuktu.
He became the chief kadhi or the Chief Judge of Timbuktu and set the trend for judges into the
future.
		

			Muhammad, Baba Yaga a Sudan de la one guardi he was a person from the one Gada who were met Dinka
coming out of Mali, and a famous scholar who influenced people within his society, and whose
generations later became also great all about from amongst the generations coming out of the
scholars. Probably the most famous was chef Ahmed Baba, or sudanic Ahmed Baba Sudan e Rahim Allah
was a scholar who surpassed all of the scholars of his time, he wrote 60 texts. He especially
focused on aqidah, grammar, history, and fic and it is set in 1593. And invasion force came into
Timbuktu from Morocco. They crossed the desert using weapons, and they succeeded in conquering
		

			Timbuktu and driving many of the scholars out of the city, Ahmed Baba Ahmed Baba was captured by the
Moroccan force, and he was taken high into Morocco.
		

			By the time he reached Fes, now imagine the scholar being taken any starts in chains. By the time he
reaches Morocco, he was out of his chains, and he was giving lessons to all of the soldiers.
		

			When he reached Morocco, and the people of Morocco realize the level of this man's Islamic
knowledge. He became the leading scholar in the nation. He was called the standard of standards. And
he was able to author many books. He was able to produce students from Morocco, who still recognize
his achievements up until today, but he became homesick for Timbuktu. And the end of his story is
that he finally was allowed to leave Morocco. He returned to Timbuktu where he taught and practiced
his faith for the rest of his life. And so Ahmed Baba, goes down into the annals of history as being
one of the most important scholars of his time. And we find within the tady these special histories
		

			Tada, Sudan, the history of the Sudan by CD Abdullah madness
		

			Saudi. This records the history of Timbuktu and the region, Saudi potash by Mark wood caty. This
also reports the history of the people in that region. A Saudi, in his text brings a very
interesting report. This is going back now to around the 16th century. And he said that one of his
relatives had a problem with his eye. So he went to Gen D, which is a city just down the river from
Timbuktu. He went to Germany, and they performed a complicated eye operation, his cataract, and it
was successful. So people in Timbuktu in the 16th century, were not only masters of Islamic
sciences, but they were also masters of medicine, of optics, and many other disciplines. The
		

			importance of Timbuktu is not only significant for the past, it represents to us a great height in
Islamic civilization. But it is also important to us presently, today. And that is because in recent
years, about three years ago, the President of South Africa taboo and Becky, traveled to Mali on a
diplomatic mission. He was taken there during his break period, he visited the city of Timbuktu and
he finds in the city of Timbuktu, the Ahmed Baba Institute.
		

			Now in the mid barber Institute, the President of South Africa, finds 15,000 Arabic textbooks, still
in readable form.
		

			He's in shock when he sees these textbooks, and he realizes that
		

			Timbuktu and the Mohammed Baba center needs not only the attention of South Africa, but it needs the
attention of the whole of Africa. So therefore, the project of preserving the documents in Timbuktu
has become the prime cultural project for the African Union. It is now looked upon as the chief
repository of African culture.
		

			It is also looked upon by Muslims, as one of the centers of learning were great texts are reported.
		

			Some of these books, some of these writings are still very legible. The desert is encroaching on
Timbuktu, the termites are having their toll taking a toll upon the textbooks. dryness is making the
paper brittle. But the Timbuktu documents have withstood the test of time. The Timbuktu documents
are now being photographed, they are now being put into digital libraries, they are being preserved.
And it is the hope of the African Union. It is the prayer of the Muslims that the heritage of
Timbuktu be saved for the world. Another interesting spin off coming out of Timbuktu is that there
are people in America, there is the Timbuktu Educational Foundation, and other groups in America,
		

			who are actually going into the ghettos of America, and using the Timbuktu methodology, as a means
of structuring a system for children who are coming from a low disadvantaged background, and helping
them to come into the light of learning, the melasma system, where the teacher is not only giving
information, but also teaching character. This is the importance of Timbuktu. It is the set it was
the center of learning of the past, and the light is still showing up until today. Again, we are
unlocking untold stories from World History. And I leave you with this thought and in a state of
peace was salam wa Alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh