Research Potential in Timbuktu’s Manuscript Libraries

Research Potential in Timbuktu’s Manuscript Libraries Aslam Farouk-Alli & Mohamed Shaid Mathee[1] Introduction Timbuktu is one of West Africa’s oldest centers of learning. At its intellectual climax in the 15th century Timbuktu boasted three major institutions of learning and syllabi in the religious sciences recognized by major universities in Egypt and Tunisia. The city thus became home to an intellectual elite and the pursuit of knowledge and love of the written word pervaded local culture. The overthrow of the Songhay Empire by Moroccan invaders ushered in steady decline but the fruits of Timbuktu’s intellectual legacy were to remain preserved in the vast number of extant manuscripts that are still to be found there today. While most of the estimated 300 000 extant manuscripts in the region are still in private hands, recent initiatives have been made to gather this valuable material and store and preserve it in accessible collections. These efforts go back to 1973, with the establishment of CEDRAB by the Malian government, for the collection and preservation of Timbuktu’s manuscripts. More recently two private manuscript libraries have also been established with the assistance of outside funding. These three centers are an obvious starting place for any researcher interested in undertaking any study pertaining to the region and its intellectual tradition. In this article we will give a brief overview of these centers and also try and shed some light upon the manuscript collections they hold. Such information should be of considerable use to the potential researcher. The Ahmed Baba Centre for Documentation and Historical Research - CEDRAB The government of Mali had instituted the Ahmed Baba Centre for Documentation and Historical Research or CEDRAB, as it is generally referred to by its abbreviated French title, in Timbuktu in 1973. The centre was built primarily with funding received from Kuwait and immediately began gathering manuscripts. CEDRAB currently holds about 20 000 manuscripts. The Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation has already published a catalogue, incomplete as yet, listing about 9000 manuscripts from the CEDRAB collection.[2] The starting point for any researcher interested in this collection would be a careful perusal of the catalogue. It is thus helpful to briefly describe the catalogue before discussing the content of some of the catalogued material itself. The CEDRAB catalogue comprises five volumes subdivided into six parts, with parts five and six incorporated into a single volume. Each volume contains 1500 entries totalling 9000 in all. Out of the 9000 entries only 50 are not in the Arabic language. These unique manuscripts are all written in the Arabic script but are in African languages such as Songhay, Fulani, Tamasheq and Hassaniyyah. There are also a few manuscripts written in Turkish but also utilising the Arabic script. Volume one is the only part of the catalogue arranged according to subject headings. All entries are grouped under the subjects Qur’an, Law, Theology, Literature, Astronomy, Politics, Documents and Medicine. The manuscripts under each of these topics are arranged alphabetically. Volumes two to six simply contain a random arrangement of the material but do make mention of the subjects under which an entry is to be regarded. We may now turn attention to describing some of the manuscripts in the collection itself. Most of the manuscripts are on law (fiqh) or are collections of juristic opinions (fataawa). Though legal in nature, they highlight important aspects of the social history of the region. For example, manuscript number 4743 (vol. 4: 117) is a fatwa that was issued in response to a wife who refused to grant her husband conjugal access by telling him that he is now forbidden to her in the same way as her father is. In classical fiqh such a phenomenon is known as zihar, but it is usually the husband who repudiates the wife by comparing her to the back of his mother. This incident reflects a unique reversal of roles and is possibly very revealing of the higher status accorded to women in this region. It is equally possible that this may have been an isolated incident, but the interested researcher is faced with the task of seeking corroborating evidence by searching for similar cases in the vast collections of juristic rulings available in manuscript form. Apart from law, the most commonly dealt with subject is literature. Many of the manuscripts are anthologies of poetry. There is an equally rich body of prose in the form of stories from the early centuries of Islam. Officially recorded documentation (watha’iq) also constitutes a large portion of the collection. Such documents contain information on the sale and purchase of slaves, livestock, salt, tea, homes, agricultural lands, execution and distribution of estates, bequests, determining of dowries; records of peoples’ charities, disputes over wells between two tribes or families, records on the manumission of slaves containing their personal details etc. These official documents are an important source for understanding conflict of a socio-economic nature as well as conflict resolution. Unlike classical fiqh works that are rather abstract these manuscripts present us with concrete cases whether social, legal or otherwise. The remainder of the manuscripts deal with astrology, medicine, Qur’anic and hadith sciences, theology, mysticism, heresiography, Arabic grammar and history. The Mamma Haidara Memorial Library Abdul Kader Haidara conceived the idea of establishing a memorial library to hold his family’s collection while working for CEDRAB. After leaving the centre he devoted all of his time and energy to this project and was successful in setting up the Mamma Haidara Memorial Library, which was the first of its kind in Mali. Abdul Kader began cataloguing his inherited collection and was assisted by the al-Furqan Heritage Foundation in London, who agreed to publish his catalogue. Currently four of the projected five volume catalogue has been published.[3] The Mamma Haidara collection comprises of 5000 manuscripts and each volume of the catalogue contains roughly 1000 entries. Material in the catalogue is arranged randomly, unlike the 1st volume of the CEDRAB catalogue, which uses subject divisions. As far as subject matter is concerned, the catalogue comprises of about 3000 entries on Law and its various branches, Hadith studies, Qur’an studies, Doctrine, Arabic grammar, astronomy and literature. About a 1000 entries relate to documents of historical significance, dealing with the nature of the tribes in the region, business transactions, correspondence between scholars and the relationship of Timbuktu with its neighboring settlements. Manuscript number 516 (Vol.1: 287) provides interesting insight into the socio-political culture of the region. It is a tract written by the Nigerian Reformist Abd-Allah b. Uthman b. Fudi (d. 1829). Divided into several sections, it discusses apostasy, highway robbery, hostile combatants and heretics. The manuscript also deals with the issue of politics and classifies politics as either oppressive or just. An outstanding aspect of this work is a deeply philosophical discussion on the five universal elements necessary for existence, i.e., life, dignity, wealth, intellect, religion and deterrents from committing sin. The Timbuktu Andalusian Library (Biblioteca Andaluside Tombuctu) Abdul Kader Haidara has also been actively involved in assisting other collection holders in setting up their own libraries. He has given much guidance and assistance to Ismail Haidara, a close relative whose mother hails from the Haidara clan, and who has also recently managed to establish his own private library. The Biblioteca Andaluside Tombuctu, less elaborately referred to as the Fondo Kati Library was officially opened on the 27th of September 2003, with generous funding from the Spanish government because of the Kati family’s Spanish ancestry. Ismail’s collection of manuscripts was gathered from the various branches of the Kati family. He endeavors to collect manuscripts that deal with their Spanish roots and concentrates mainly upon works written by scholars from his own clan. The manuscripts in Ismail’s collection are arranged chronologically and the oldest manuscript in his collection is that of a Qur’an dating back to the 15th century, which belonged to his great grandfather, ‘Ali ibn Ziyad, who had left Spain for Africa after its Christian reconquest. Ismail’s collection comprises of about 3 000 manuscripts that are in the process of being properly catalogued. The Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation in London has undertaken to publish a catalogue of his collection. John Hunwick has studied some of the manuscripts in this collection and has found them to be an important source of local history.[4] As he discovered, even manuscripts dealing with strictly religious sciences are sometimes a source of local history by virtue of commentary on local events scribbled in the very wide margins of such texts. Conclusion Although the two Haidara libraries currently represent the most organized and relatively well preserved private manuscript collections in Timbuktu, they are by no means the only collections of significance. Abdul Kader Haidara has also established an association of private manuscript libraries in Timbuktu. The association has 24 affiliates, which represents an additional source of research information for the researcher devoted enough to spend prolonged periods of time in Timbuktu. [1] The authors are researchers for the Timbuktu-UCT Manuscripts Project based in the Historical Studies Department, University of Cape Town, South Africa. The project is being co-ordinated and led by Dr Shamil Jeppie. [2] Ould Ely, Sidi Amar & Librarians of the Centre. 1995-1998. Handlist of Manuscripts in the Centre de Documentation et de Recherches Historiques Ahmed Baba, 5 vols. London: Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation. [3] Mamma Haydarah, Abd al-Qadir. 2000 - . Catalogue of Manuscripts in Mamma Haidara Library, 4vols. London: Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation. [4] Hunwick, John. 2002. The Islamic Manuscript Heritage of Timbuktu. Unpublished Paper.