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