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E-PROCEEDING OF THE 7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARABIC STUDIES & ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION 2020 TIMBUKTU: A FORGOTTEN ISLAMIC LEGENDARY CITY! Soufiana Salim DRAMÉ The Department of Curriculum and Instruction_ Islamic Education, Kulliyyah of Education International Islamic University Malaysia, 53100 Gombak Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT Over the past thousand years, the Islamic civilisation had been shining and made immense contributions to the global civilisation. The early development of Islamic civilisation started in Madinah in the mid-7th century, and then it spread to all the Muslim world. The Muslim scientists and thinkers were the mastermind and original source of several modern sciences and numerous innovations. Muslim civilisation gave birth to the first university alongside the first mental health hospital in the world. That greatest contribution was made by Muslims from all over the continents. Despite this ethnical diversity and geographical distance between Muslims, the Islamic faith (Tawhid) was the strongest link that connected them. In fact, that universality was the great secret of the true success of Islamic civilisation. Unfortunately, the reality shows that all these wonderful and priceless Islamic heritages and legacies seem to be forgotten by our today’s Muslims society, especially, among Muslim youth. Therefore, this paper aims to revive one of those forgotten Islamic legacies, which is the legendary city of Timbuktu. It is also the vision of this paper to call and recall the Muslims to turn back to those Islamic heritages and legacies. This study highlights considerable achievements of Islamic civilisation and as well as some significant contributions of Muslim Scientists around the world. The writer used the document research method by analysis and evaluation with an argumentative as well as narrative approach. Keywords: Islamic civilisation, forgotten legacy, revive Islamic heritage, Muslim youth, Timbuktu, Mali. E-PROCEEDING OF THE 7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARABIC STUDIES & ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION 2020 (ICASIC 2020). (e-ISBN 978-967-0792-37-8). 10 June 2020. Organized by https://worldconferences.net Page 18 E-PROCEEDING OF THE 7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARABIC STUDIES & ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION 2020 1. INTRODUCTION For the past millennium years, from the 7th century to the modern period, the Islamic civilisation has revolutionised and made greatest contributions to the world civilisation. Yet, the Islamic civilisation is defined by scholars as the values and principles that Islam has offered to humanity, which benefit people in this life and the Hereafter. Then, too, one of the significances of Islamic civilisation is it was made together by all Muslims around the world, throughout different eras and continents. It was made possible by Arabs, Africans, Persians, Chinese, Indians, Indonesians, Malays, Turks, and as well other Muslim and non-Muslim communities. In fact, this universality of Islamic civilisation has distinguished it from other earlier civilisations. No civilisation on earth has been built in such a way. The uniqueness of Muslim civilisation is through its universality and oneness of God (as-Siba’ee, 2005). The innovations and contributions made by Muslim civilisation to the development of human civilisation and modern sciences are a lot. For example, the first university in the world was founded by this Muslim civilisation that is the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco (859 CE). Figure 1: The University of al-Qarawiyin’’ in Fez, Morocco (859 CE). Source: Retrieved from http://onlineresize.club/pictures-club.html The Baghdad mental hospital was also the first of its kind, and it was established in 705 CE (Syed IB, 2002). Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi (Albucasis, 936- 1013 CE) for instance, a genius physician and surgeon of Muslim Spain who invented over 150 surgical tools, which are still used in the medical field nowadays. Moreover, Zahrawi’s remarkable contribution to modern surgery is his encyclopaedic book 'Al-Tasrif' (The Method of Medicine), which was used in the field of surgical practices as the first reference in the West for many centuries (Syed IB, 2002; Bakar, 2014). The founders of Algebra and Sociology are Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (780–850) and Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) respectively. It may be impossible to talk about the history of modern medicine without mentioning the name of Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037) who is also recognised as the “father” of modern medicine. Apart from that, Jabir Ibn Hayyan (Geber) is considered as the inventor of chemistry. On the other side, the Islamic Khilafat (Islamic Empire) ruled Spain and Portugal for more than 700 years. Therefore, this Muslim rule in Spain did not only benefit the Islamic civilisation, but it had also helped medieval Europe to wake up from its long intellectual and civilisational darkness (Bakar, 2014). Next, we have Ibn Battuta (1304-1369), who is known as one the greatest explorers and geographers in human history. Hence, imagine how different would the world of today be without the contribution of Muslim civilisation? Without doubt or exaggeration, the modern world would look much different than it does today. Indeed, Islamic Civilisation has contributed to the building of human civilisation by gave birth to innumerable modern sciences throughout years and years. However, all these priceless Islamic civilisations are slowly being forgotten by most of today’s Muslim society, especially the Muslim youth. It is very devastating to see that most 21st- century Muslim youth do not know much about Islamic history. Hence, this article aims to revive one of those forgotten legacies, which is the city of Timbuktu. E-PROCEEDING OF THE 7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARABIC STUDIES & ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION 2020 (ICASIC 2020). (e-ISBN 978-967-0792-37-8). 10 June 2020. Organized by https://worldconferences.net Page 19 E-PROCEEDING OF THE 7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARABIC STUDIES & ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION 2020 2. A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIMBUKTU Figure 2: View_of_Timbuktu, 9th century_illustration_by_Martin_Barnatz Timbuktu (English: Timbuktu, French: Tombouctou, Koyra Chiini: Tumbutu) is a city in the Mali Republic in West Africa. The city of Timbuktu is known by several nicknames such as “the pearl of the desert”, “the land of million manuscripts” or “the old woman’s city”, but the most popular one is probably “the city of 333 saints”. According to the cultural Mission of Timbuktu and Yale University archaeologists (2010), Timbuktu’s first occupation dated back to the 5th century BC. Nevertheless, it was until the end of the 6th century that the city of Timbuktu began as a temporary seasonal settlement from the trade in salt, gold, and camels before it prospered and became a permanent commercial site by early in the 8th century. Apart from being a simple Trans-Saharan trade spot, the city has quickly become a meeting place of intellectualism and cultures during the 14th century. The city became a magnet that attracted both businessmen and as well as scholars and gracefully wove both activities together. 3. THE ARRIVAL OF ISLAM IN TIMBUKTU: HOW AND WHEN? Figure 3: Dessert in Timbuktu As early as the eleventh century CE, Islam reached Timbuktu by the Berber and Tuareg merchants via the trans-Saharan trade, and it had naturally and gradually spread all over the city. Meanwhile, some resources have argued with historical and documentary evidence that Islam was brought to the city by the same Muslim traders since during the 9th century. It can be summarised from both views by saying that Islam was introduced to Timbuktu through trading between the 9th and the 11th century. 4. TIMBUKTU’S EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT E-PROCEEDING OF THE 7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARABIC STUDIES & ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION 2020 (ICASIC 2020). (e-ISBN 978-967-0792-37-8). 10 June 2020. Organized by https://worldconferences.net Page 20 E-PROCEEDING OF THE 7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ARABIC STUDIES & ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION 2020 Figure 4: Timbuktu From the fourteenth to sixteenth century, Islamic teaching and learning had been well-developed and largely spread in Timbuktu. At that period, the quality of scholarship in the city of Timbuktu was very high and standard. According to the Tarikh al-Fattash, written by the sixteenth-century historian Mahmud Kati, ‘‘Timbuktu had reached the pinnacle of beauty and splendour; religion flourished within its confines, and the Sunna inspired every aspect of not only religious but also worldly affairs, although these two fields are apparently incompatible by definition. At the time Timbuktu was unrivalled among the cities of Bilād al-Sudan from Mali to the outer fringes of the Maghreb for the soundness of its institutions, its political freedoms, the purity of its morals, the safety of people and property, its clemency and compassion towards the poor and strangers, its courtesy to students and men of science and the assistance provided to the latter.’’ (as cited in Ali, Thiam, & Talib, 2016, p. 61). An example of the city’s intellectual brilliance, it is said that a famed Sheikh Abd al-Rahman al- Tamimi from Hedjaz (Arabia) was invited by Mansa Musa to give lecturers. But upon his arrival to Timbuktu and discussing with some of the students and realizing their level of knowledge, he was humbled and decided to travel to Fez to strengthen his jurisprudence studies (The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu, n.d; Hunwick, 1999). This example indicates how excellent the scholarship of Timbuktu was at the time. By the beginning of the fourteenth century, under the reign of the very eminent ruler and the tenth emperor of Mali Empire, Mansa Musa (Mansa means "king of kings" or "emperor"), the legendary city of Timbuktu has become one of the most prestigious Islamic learning centres, and it became home to remarkable scholars from around the world. During Musa’s era, Islam became the dominant religion in the city (Islamization of the Mali Empire and Timbuktu), and as well as the Arabic became the language of scholarship.