Sankoré Madrasah, The University of Sankoré, or
Sankore Masjid is one of three ancient centers of learning located in
TimbuktuTimbuktu is a city in Tombouctou Region, in the West African nation of Mali. It was made prosperous by Mansa Musa, tenth mansa of the Mali Empire...
,
MaliMali, officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked nation in Western Africa. Mali is the seventh largest country in Africa, bordering Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west...
,
West AfricaWest Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of approximately 5 million square km:*Benin...
. The three
mosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid, —...
s of Sankoré,
Djinguereber MosqueThe Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu is a famous learning center of Mali built in 1327, and cited as Djingareyber or Djingarey Ber in various languages...
and
Sidi YahyaSidi Yahya is a mosque and madrassa of Timbuktu in the West African country of Mali which finished construction in 1440. Sidi Yahya along with Djinguereber and Sankore compose the "University" of Timbuktu.-History:...
compose the famous
University of TimbuktuThe University of Timbuktu was a medieval University in Mali, West Africa which comprised three schools; namely the Masajid of Djinguereber, the Masajid of Sidi Yahya, and the Masajid of Sankore. During its zenith, the university at Timbuktu had an average attendance of around 25,000 students...
. Madrasah means school/university in Arabic and also in other languages associated with Muslim people.
The
Mali Empire|native_name = Manden Kurufa|conventional_long_name = Mali Empire|common_name = Mali Empire|continent = Africa|region = North-West Africa|country = [Mali]|status = Empire|government_type g = Constitutional monarchy||year_start = 1230s...
gained direct control over the city of Timbuktu in 1324 during the reign of Mansa Kankou Musa.
Sankoré Madrasah, The University of Sankoré, or
Sankore Masjid is one of three ancient centers of learning located in
TimbuktuTimbuktu is a city in Tombouctou Region, in the West African nation of Mali. It was made prosperous by Mansa Musa, tenth mansa of the Mali Empire...
,
MaliMali, officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked nation in Western Africa. Mali is the seventh largest country in Africa, bordering Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west...
,
West AfricaWest Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of approximately 5 million square km:*Benin...
. The three
mosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid, —...
s of Sankoré,
Djinguereber MosqueThe Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu is a famous learning center of Mali built in 1327, and cited as Djingareyber or Djingarey Ber in various languages...
and
Sidi YahyaSidi Yahya is a mosque and madrassa of Timbuktu in the West African country of Mali which finished construction in 1440. Sidi Yahya along with Djinguereber and Sankore compose the "University" of Timbuktu.-History:...
compose the famous
University of TimbuktuThe University of Timbuktu was a medieval University in Mali, West Africa which comprised three schools; namely the Masajid of Djinguereber, the Masajid of Sidi Yahya, and the Masajid of Sankore. During its zenith, the university at Timbuktu had an average attendance of around 25,000 students...
. Madrasah means school/university in Arabic and also in other languages associated with Muslim people.
Construction
The
Mali Empire|native_name = Manden Kurufa|conventional_long_name = Mali Empire|common_name = Mali Empire|continent = Africa|region = North-West Africa|country = [Mali]|status = Empire|government_type g = Constitutional monarchy||year_start = 1230s...
gained direct control over the city of Timbuktu in 1324 during the reign of Mansa Kankou Musa. Upon returning from his famous
HajjThe Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca . It is currently the largest annual pilgrimage in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, an obligation that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
, Musa brought the Granada architect Abu Ishaq es Saheli from
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
to help build mosques and palaces throughout the empire. He designed and saw the construction of one of Sankore's first great mosques and the Jingeray Ber Masjid in 1327.
The foundations of the previous structure were laid around 989 A.D. on the orders of the city's chief judge
Al-Qadi Aqib ibn Mahmud ibn UmarSheik Sidi Abu Al Barakaat Mahmud ibn Umar ibn Aqit was also known as Sheik Al Islam Abu Al Barakaat. He was the Supreme Judge of Timbuktu, Imam and the Dean of Sankore University.-External links:*...
. A local
MandinkaThe Mandinka are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million. They are the descendants of the Empire of Mali, which rose to power under the rule of the great Mandinka king Sundiata Keita...
lady, esteemed for her wealth, financed his plans to turn Sankoré into a world class learning institution with professors on par with any outside of Africa. He had the Mosque's courtyard built to the exact dimensions of the Ka'abah in
MeccaMecca , sometimes spelled Makkah is the holiest meeting site of the Islamic religion. The city is modern, cosmopolitan and whilst being closed to non-Muslims is nonetheless ethnically diverse.Islamic tradition attributes the beginning of Mecca to Ishmael's descendants...
, using a rope for precise measurements.
Growth as a Center of Learning
Timbuktu had long been a destination or stop for merchants from the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
. It wasn't long before ideas as well as merchandise began passing through the fabled city. Since most if not all these traders were
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
, the mosque would see visitors constantly. The temple accumulated a wealth of books from throughout the Muslim world becoming not only a center of worship but a center of learning. Books became more valuable than any other commodity in the city, and private libraries sprouted up in the homes of local scholars.
Apex
By the end of Mansa Musa's reign, the Sankoré Masjid had been converted into a fully staffed Madrassa (Islamic school or in this case university) with the largest collections of books in Africa since the
Library of AlexandriaThe Royal Library of Alexandria, or Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was probably the largest, and certainly the most famous, of the libraries of the ancient world...
. The level of learning at Timbuktu's Sankoré University was superior to that of all other Islamic centers in the world. The Sankoré Masjid was capable of housing 25,000 students and had one of the largest libraries in the world with between 400,000 to 700,000 manuscripts.
Organization
As the center of an
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
ic scholarly community, the University was very different in organization from the universities of medieval
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
. It had no central administration other than the Emperor. It had no student registers but kept copies of its student publishings. It was composed of several entirely independent schools or colleges, each run by a single master or
imamAn imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the leader of a mosque and the community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads the prayer during Islamic gatherings. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have an Islamic question...
. Students associated themselves with a single teacher, and courses took place in the open courtyard of the mosque or at private residences.
Curriculum
The curriculum of Sankoré and other masjids in the area had four levels of schooling or "degrees". On graduating from each level, students would receive a turban symbolizing their mastery. The schooling was not secular as arguments that could not be backed by the Qu'ran were inadmissible in debates. However, secular teaching (
geometryGeometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers....
,
mathematicsMathematics is the science and study of quantity, structure, space, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns, formulate new conjectures, and establish truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions....
) were included and stressed to develop well-rounded individuals.
Qu'ranic School
The first or primary degree (Qur'anic school) required a mastery of Arabic language and writing along with complete memorization of the Qur'an. Students were also introduced to basic sciences at this level.
General Studies
The secondary degree or General Studies degree focused on full emersement in the basic sciences. Students learned grammar, mathematics, geography, history, physics, astronomy, chemistry alongside more advanced learnings of the Qu'ran. At this level they learned
Hadiths, jurisprudence and the sciences of spiritual purification according to Islam. Finally, they began an introduction to trade school and business ethics. On graduation day, students were given turbans symbolizing Divine light, wisdom, knowledge and excellent moral conduct. After receiving their diplomas the students would gather outside the examination building or the main campus library and throw their turbans high into the air cheering and holding each other's hands to show that they were all brothers and sisters, like many
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
students still do to this day. This is certainly another aspect of the largely neglected cultural transfer in the academic field that the modern world owes to the University of Timbuktu.
Superior Degree
The Superior degree required students to study under specialized professors doing research work. Much of the learning centered on debates to philosophic or religious questions. Before graduating from this level, students attached themselves to a Sheik (Islamic teacher) and demonstrated a strong character.
Alumni Level
The last level of learning at Sankoré or any of the Masjids was the level of Judge or Professor. These men worked mainly as judges for the city and eventually the region dispersing learned men to all the principal cities in Mali. A third level student who had impressed his Sheihk enough was admitted into a "circle of knowledge" and valued as a truly learned individual and expert in his field. The members of this scholar's club were the equivalent of tenured professors. Those who did not leave Timbuktu remained there to teach or council the Who's Who of the region on important legal and religious matters. They would receive questions from the region's powerful (kings or governors) and distribute them to the third level students as research assignments. After discussing the findings among themselves, the scholars would issue a fatwa on the best way to deal with the problem at hand.
Scholars of Sankoré
Scholars wrote their own books as part of a socioeconomic model. Students were charged with copying these books and any other books they could get their hands on. Today there are over 700,000 manuscripts in Timbuktu with many dating back to West Africa's Golden Age (12th-16th centuries).
- Ahmed Baba
Ahmad Baba al-Massufi al-Tinbukti, full name Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Ahmad al-Takruri Al-Massufi al-Tinbukti , was a medieval West African writer, scholar, and political provocateur in the area then known as the Western Sudan...
- Mohammed Bagayogo
Mohammed Bagayogo Es Sudane Al Wangari Al Timbukti was an eminent scholar from Timbuktu, Mali. He was the Sheik and professor of highly esteemed scholar, Ahmed Baba and teacher at the University of Sankore, one of three philosophical schools in Mali during West Africa's golden age ; the other two...
- Modibo Mohammed Al Kaburi
Modibo Mohammed Al Kaburi was an esteemed scholar of Fula descent from Timbuktu, Mali. A Cadi and Jurist, as well as a professor at the University of Sankore, he was celebrated for his piety, becoming a companion with many of the most devout scholars at Sankore. He is remembereded for having...
- Sheik Sidi Abu Al Barakaat Mahmud ibn Umar
- Abu Al Baraaka
- Abu Bakr ibn Ahmad Biru
- Mohammed ibn Mohammed Kara
- Ag Mohammed
- Al Aqib ibn Faqi Muhmud
- Abd Arahman ibn Faqi Mahmud
- Al Moctar Ag Mohammed ibn Utman
Literature
- Elias N. Saad, Social History of Timbuktu: The Role of Muslim Scholars and Notables 1400-1900. Cambridge - London - New York 1985. - Useful, but does not really appreciate Timbuktu's glory in the context of world history
Internet Sources
External links
See also
- Timbuktu Manuscripts Project
Timbuktu Manuscripts Project is a cultural project which aims to preserve around 700,000 scholarly manuscripts in the city of Timbuktu, Mali. Some of the manuscripts date back to the 13th century and are currently held in 24 private libraries in and around Timbuktu .It also aims to make access to...
- Medieval university
Medieval university is an institution of higher learning which was established during High Middle Ages period and is a corporation.The first European medieval institutions generally considered to be universities were established in Italy, France, and England in the late 11th and the 12th centuries...
- Ancient university
Ancient university is a term used to describe the medieval and renaissance universities of England and Scotland that have continued to exist.-Great Britain:The ancient universities in United Kingdom are, in order of formation:...
- List of oldest universities in continuous operation