Desecration and destruction in Timbuktu

Since the year 1327, the Djingareiber mosque has stood in Timbuktu, Mali. Made of earth, straw and fibre, it has stood the test of time and temperature, and provides a worship space for over 2,000 of the faithful.

It may not survive the next few months.

This mosque, along with others in Timbuktu, is a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site.

It is part of the ancient Sankore Madrasah, or University of Timbuktu.

The 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 within a city of around 100,000 people. There were four levels within the University curriculum, that included the "Circle of Knowledge", the "Superior Degree", the "Secondary Degree", and the "Primary Degree". Teachings mostly consisted of Quranic principles; however, literature covering topics of science, mathematics, and medicine are also observed, among other disciplines.

It, and other ancient sites in Timbuktu, are now the center of an international controversy involving world governments, UN organizations, historians and archaeologists since it is being openly and willfully destroyed by Islamist Tuareg rebels who belong to Ansar Dine, "Defenders of the Faith".

Al Jazeera reported:

A hardline religious group occupying northern Mali has destroyed 15th-century mausoleums of Sufi Muslim saints in Timbuktu and have threatened to demolish the remaining 13 UNESCO world heritage sites in the fabled city, witnesses have said. [...]

"They have already completely destroyed the mausoleum of Sidi Mahmoud (Ben Amar) and two others. They said they would continue all day and destroy all 16," Yeya Tandina, a local Malian journalist, said by telephone.

"They are armed and have surrounded the sites with pick-up trucks. The population is just looking on helplessly," he said, adding that the Islamists were currently taking pick-axes to the mausoleum of Sidi El Mokhtar, another cherished local saint.
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The Islamist Ansar Dine group backs strict sharia, Islamic law, and considers the shrines of the local Sufi version of Islam idolatrous.

I wrote a piece earlier this month for Black Kos, Tears for Timbuktu, to call attention to the situation, which is worsening with each day that passes.

(Continue reading below the fold.)