Renowned for its madrassas and archives of rare Arabic manuscripts, Timbuktu is famous as a great center of Muslim learning from Islam’s Golden Age. Yet Timbuktu is not unique. It was one among many scholarly centers to exist in precolonial West Africa. Beyond Timbuktu charts the rise of Muslim learning in West Africa from the beginning of Islam to the present day, examining the shifting contexts that have influenced the production and dissemination of Islamic knowledge—and shaped the sometimes conflicting interpretations of Muslim intellectuals—over the course of centuries. Highlighting the significant breadth and versatility of the Muslim intellectual tradition in sub-Saharan Africa, Ousmane Kane corrects lingering misconceptions in both the West and the Middle East that Africa’s Muslim heritage represents a minor thread in Islam’s larger tapestry. West African Muslims have never been isolated. To the contrary, their connection with Muslims worldwide is robust and longstanding. The Sahara was not an insuperable barrier but a bridge that allowed the Arabo-Berbers of the North to sustain relations with West African Muslims through trade, diplomacy, and intellectual and spiritual exchange. The West African tradition of Islamic learning has grown in tandem with the spread of Arabic literacy, making Arabic the most widely spoken language in Africa today. In the postcolonial period, dramatic transformations in West African education, together with the rise of media technologies and the ever-evolving public roles of African Muslim intellectuals, continue to spread knowledge of Islam throughout the continent.

This book is not merely a history or a biography, but a testimony of how the hand of Lord used me with all of my failures to his glory. After more than 60 years of missionary service and seeing the hand of God work miracle after miracle, I am excited to share with you His mighty works that I witnessed while serving Him in Timbuktu and beyond. This book conveys the exciting adventures and wonderful joy of serving the Lord. I trust that through this book you will be encouraged in your service to God wherever that might be whether in Kalamazoo or Timbuktu.

With the fabled city of Timbuktu as his goal, author Rick Antonson began a month-long trek. His initial plan? To get a haircut. The second edition of this important book outlines the volatile political situations in Timbuktu following the spring 2012 military coup in Mali and the subsequent capture of the city by Islamic extremists.

Timbuktu has become a metaphor for remote and inaccessible locations. However, it is a real place with real people. Like much of the world's population, few of Timbuktu's residents have had the opportunity to hear the Gospel. While the task may seem daunting, the Church is not sitting still! Each year hundreds of Christians are joining the vast force of cross-cultural missionaries flung around the globe. To Timbuktu and Beyond serves as a practical, step-by-step guide for those getting ready to go into missions. It begins with the basic question of knowing and confirming your calling, working through the various steps of preparation, training and logistics, and carrying you through your first few months on the field. Each chapter has a series of tasks for you to prayerfully complete. Missions is the most fulfilling career path you could possibly embark on-not to mention an incredible adventure! To Timbuktu and Beyond will help you in preparation for your journey, because what you do before you go will have a significant impact on your future success.

The first book for general readers about the storied past of one of the world’s most fabled cities. Timbuktu — the name still evokes an exotic, faraway place, even though the city’s glory days are long gone. Unspooling its history and legends, resolving myth with reality, Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle have captured the splendour and decay of one of humankind’s treasures. Founded in the early 1100s by Tuareg nomads who called their camp “Tin Buktu,” it became, within two centuries, a wealthy metropolis and a nexus of the trans-Saharan trade. Salt from the deep Sahara, gold from Ghana, and money from slave markets made it rich. In part because of its wealth, Timbuktu also became a centre of Islamic learning and religion, boasting impressive schools and libraries that attracted scholars from Alexandria, Baghdad, Mecca, and Marrakech. The arts flourished, and Timbuktu gained near-mythic stature around the world, capturing the imagination of outsiders and ultimately attracting the attention of hostile sovereigns who sacked the city three times and plundered it half a dozen more. The ancient city was invaded by a Moroccan army in 1600, beginning its long decline; since then, it has been seized by Tuareg nomads and a variety of jihadists, in addition to enduring a terrible earthquake, several epidemics, and numerous famines. Perhaps no other city in the world has been as golden — and as deeply tarnished — as Timbuktu. Using sources dating deep into Timbuktu’s fabled past, alongside interviews with Tuareg nomads and city residents and officials today, de Villiers and Hirtle have produced a spectacular portrait that brings the city back to life.

Timbuktu has become a metaphor for remote and inaccessible locations. However, it is a real place with real people. Like much of the world’s population, few of Timbuktu’s residents have had the opportunity to hear the Gospel. While the task may seem daunting, the Church is not sitting still! Each year hundreds of Christians are joining the vast force of cross-cultural missionaries flung around the globe. To Timbuktu and Beyond serves as a practical, step-by-step guide for those getting ready to go into missions. It begins with the basic question of knowing and confirming your calling, working through the various steps of preparation, training and logistics, and carrying you through your first few months on the field. Each chapter has a series of tasks for you to prayerfully complete. Missions is the most fulfilling career path you could possibly embark on—not to mention an incredible adventure! To Timbuktu and Beyond will help you in preparation for your journey, because what you do before you go will have a significant impact on your future success.

Muslims beyond the Arab World explores the vibrant tradition of writing African languages using the modified Arabic script ('Ajami) alongside the rise of the Muridiyya Sufi order in Senegal. The book demonstrates how the development of the 'Ajami literary tradition is entwined with the flourishing of the Muridiyya into one of sub-Saharan Africa's most powerful and dynamic Sufi organizations. It offers a close reading of the rich hagiographic and didactic written, recited, and chanted 'Ajami texts of the Muridiyya, works largely unknown to scholars. The texts describe the life and Sufi odyssey of the order's founder, Shaykh Ahmadu Bamba Mbakke (1853-1927), his conflicts with local rulers and Muslim clerics and the French colonial administration, and the traditions and teachings he championed that permanently shaped the identity and behaviors of his followers. Fallou Ngom evaluates prevailing representations of the Muridiyya movement and offers alternative perspectives. He demonstrates how the Mur'ds used their written, recited, and chanted 'Ajami materials as an effective mass communication tool in conveying to the masses Bamba's poignant odyssey, doctrine, the virtues he stood for and cultivated among his followers-self-esteem, self-reliance, strong faith, work ethic, pursuit of excellence, determination, nonviolence, and optimism in the face of adversity-without the knowledge of the French colonial administration and many academics. Muslims beyond the Arab World argues that this is the source of the resilience, appeal, and expansion of Muridiyya, which has fascinated observers since its inception in 1883.