Saudi, Hungarian defense ministers discuss military ties    Al-Rajhi: Cabinet's decision is supportive to most vulnerable groups    King Salman appoints Dr. Majid Al-Fayyad as Royal Court advisor    Alkhorayef emphasizes Saudi Arabia's growing role as global industrial investment hub    Saudi Arabia adopts World Drowning Prevention Day as national health priority    GACA imposes SR2.8 million in fines for 87 civil aviation violations in Q2 2025    Desperate Gaza doctors cram several babies into one incubator as fuel crisis reaches critical point    ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over women's rights violations    Syria issues appeal to EU for help battling massive wildfires along northwestern coast    Total e-messages sent to parties in lawsuits reach over 11.8 million during first half of 2025    3 arrested in assault case in Riyadh    New Property Ownership Law will take into effect in January 2026 Al-Hogail thanks King and Crown Prince for the updated law    HONOR returns to Esports World Cup as Official Smartphone Partner for 2025 The renewed commitment will see HONOR elevate mobile esports competition with cutting-edge AI technologies and industry-leading hardware    Riot Games responds to match-fixing allegations in VALORANT    BLAST responds to BESTIA Visa controversy ahead of CS2 Austin major    Christophe Galtier named NEOM SC head coach ahead of historic Saudi Pro League debut    Michael Madsen, actor of 'Kill Bill' and 'Reservoir Dogs' fame, dead at 67    BTS are back: K-pop band confirm new album and tour    Michelin Guide launches in Saudi Arabia with phased rollout in 2025    'How fragile we are': Roskilde Festival tragedy remembered 25 years on    Sholay: Bollywood epic roars back to big screen after 50 years with new ending    Ministry launches online booking for slaughterhouses on eve of Eid Al-Adha    Shah Rukh Khan makes Met Gala debut in Sabyasachi    Pakistani star's Bollywood return excites fans and riles far right    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Saving the Sahel's Islamic heritage
By Jeff Baron, Staff Writer at America.gov
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 22 - 04 - 2010

Revered documents of medieval Islam have been getting another chance at life in Africa's Sahel region. And the site of a great 14th-century mosque is being protected so it can be studied, too.
Thanks in part to a series of grants from the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, organizations and government agencies in Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Nigeria have begun to preserve vast collections of Islamic and other documents that date as far back as the 11th century.
The collections reflect the power the region held as far back as 1,000 years ago. Mali was the birthplace of three great empires from the 11th to the 16th century, and those empires - Ghana, Mali and Songhoy - built grand monuments and supported Islamic scholarship.
Some of the monuments, such as Mali's Mosque of Djinguereber in Timbuktu and the Askia Tomb in Gao, have been preserved and still command notice. But the vast mosque that architect Abu Ishaq Ibrahim Es-Saheli built for the emperor Kankou Moussa in Gao in 1324, after the emperor's pilgrimage to Makkah, gradually became a victim of disuse and urbanization. By the time Mali's government had begun a rescue program for the mosque in 2003, squatters had taken over its ruins.
Excavations turned up many important artifacts and long-buried walls and rooms. The work on Islamic documents, seeks to preserve them and put them within easier reach of researchers who want to read and study them without subjecting them to further wear - and without requiring that they be sent to a collection in one of the wealthier Islamic countries.
In Kaduna, Nigeria, for example, the Ambassadors Fund grant helped Michaelle Biddle, a US expert on the preservation of manuscripts working at the Wesleyan University Library in Middletown, Connecticut, run a three-day training program for workers and scholars at the Arewa House, the Centre for Historical Documentation and Research at Ahmadu Bello University.
Biddle found severe problems in many of the collections, with damage done or threatened by heat, humidity, mold, harsh light, abrasive dust, insect infestations, chemical fumes, a lack of ventilation and contact between fragile paper and such corrosive materials as leather and acidic paper and cardboard. She offered recommendations for storing the documents and for making them accessible to the public with far less risk of damage. As a result, Islamic and other historical documents that had been too fragile for much handling can now be examined halfway around the world.
The project at the Mosque of Djinguereber in Timbuktu helped preserve 1,500 Islamic manuscripts, many from the 13th and 14th centuries. The city was at the height of its importance in the Islamic world then, as a trading post between West Africa and Europe and as a center of scholarship. Many of the texts, used by Islamic diplomats who traveled between Timbuktu and Mecca, teach conflict resolution and tolerance. Likewise, in Mauritania, the Advanced Institute for Islamic Studies and Research received a series of grants to conserve and photograph documents, some dating to the 11th century.
Contributed by America.gov __


Clic here to read the story from its source.