One of the structures I have always dreamed of visiting but fully realize that, chances are, I'd never would is the iconic Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu, Mali. A minaret rises above the shifting sands, unlike any others in northern African countries--wooden crossbeams, dozens of them, jut out from the four sides, and the dirt facade looks like it could crumble at a mere touch. It's not very tall either, unlike the "Arabian Nights"-like visions of others, but one can argue that it's very striking and memorable for these same reasons.
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(The minaret at Djinguereber
Mosque, unesco.org) |
Built in 1327 out of mud and organic plant materiel, the mosque still serves as one of the learning centers in the country and holds thousands of manuscripts dating back to the construction of the building, on a variety of subjects including Islam, astronomy, history, and mathematics. Additionally, the Djinguereber Mosque serves as one of the major madrassas in Mali, and really the entire sub-Saharan Africa region--it is a historical focal point of the early Islamification of the continent. The fact that it still stands today, amid encroachment of the Saharan desert, blistering heat, punishing sandstorms, and the coming and passing of empires and colonial masters is a testament to the grandeur of what Timbuktu was.
But all this history and culture is now under attack, literally. What began as a rebellion in January by ethnic Tuareg has been usurped
by Islamist militant groups who have taken advantage of a coup of the central government and
imposed Sharia in most of the key towns in the northern Mali, including Timbuktu. In the name of radical Islam, Ansar Dine and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have since destroyed half of the tombs of early Muslim saints in Djinguereber because Malians don't practice the "right" type of (radical) Islam.
(Most Malians practice Sufi Islam, which is viewed as more tolerant with an intellectual interpretation of the religion. Mixed with chanting, mysticism, and hypnotic prayers, perhaps it is blended with the regional culture that existed there before the spread of Islam.)
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(Before and after, the taller of
the two statues, wikipedia.org) |
It really is heart-breaking to see unique buildings and historical importance be lost to time and the elements, but doubly so when they are destroyed by hands of men. These are things that can never be recovered, whether lost to time, encroaching sands, or madness and intolerance. Northern Mali is called the "Afghanistan of western Africa," and the description is true on many fronts. The destruction of the shrines--and possibly of the entire Djinguereber Mosque itself--is a stark reminder of the loss of the Buddhas of Bamiyam at the hands (and dynamite) of the Taliban in 2001.
It is more than my dreams and hopes that were lost. An important facet of this world and our civilization's history will soon be gone.
