On his book Beyond Timbuktu: An Intellectual History of Muslim West Africa
Cover Interview of February 15, 2017
In a nutshell
Beyond Timbuktu is
about the literary cultures of West Africa. The old West African city of
Timbuktu is famous as a great center of Muslim learning from Islam’s Golden
Age. It is renowned for its madrassas and archives of rare Arabic manuscripts.
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 sometime 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, Beyond
Timbuktu corrects lingering misconceptions in both the West and the Middle
East that Sub-Saharan 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 insurmountable 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.
Unfortunately, the Western public and academy
have been largely ignorant of this vibrant intellectual and religious tradition.
Beyond Timbuktu provides an accessible account of the development of
this tradition from the earliest stages through its complex interactions with
colonialism and present fascinating engagements with modernity. I hope Western
readers will enjoy discovering a rich scholarly tradition that is likely to be
new to them, and that those who are already familiar with the tradition will
appreciate the historical perspective and analysis of the various dynamics that
have shaped West Africa’s impressive Islamic tradition.
[M]odern art still commonly refers to a rather narrow range of meaning and scope. It basically focuses on developments in Paris (Impressionism etc.) in the nineteenth century, and to selected Euro-American movements in the twentieth century (Cubism, Abstract Expressionism etc). But if we understand modernity as a socially transformative condition that was in force across much of the world from the nineteenth century on, how are we to understand artistic practices that were associated with these momentous changes?Iftikhar Dadi, Interview of March 26, 2012
The two world wars of the twentieth century were a product of the dislocations brought about of modernization in an environment where great power competition and the drive for hegemony were conducted primarily by violent means. Now that this era has passed in Europe and is receding in much of the Pacific rim, and hegemony achieved by force is no longer considered a legitimate ambition, the security requirements and fears of great powers should decline.Richard Ned Lebow, Interview of October 4, 2010
In a nutshell
Beyond Timbuktu is about the literary cultures of West Africa. The old West African city of Timbuktu is famous as a great center of Muslim learning from Islam’s Golden Age. It is renowned for its madrassas and archives of rare Arabic manuscripts. 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 sometime 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, Beyond Timbuktu corrects lingering misconceptions in both the West and the Middle East that Sub-Saharan 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 insurmountable 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.
Unfortunately, the Western public and academy have been largely ignorant of this vibrant intellectual and religious tradition. Beyond Timbuktu provides an accessible account of the development of this tradition from the earliest stages through its complex interactions with colonialism and present fascinating engagements with modernity. I hope Western readers will enjoy discovering a rich scholarly tradition that is likely to be new to them, and that those who are already familiar with the tradition will appreciate the historical perspective and analysis of the various dynamics that have shaped West Africa’s impressive Islamic tradition.