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The Lost Library of Ahmad Baba: Timbuktu's Intellectual Heart
When Moroccan invaders sacked Timbuktu in 1591, they seized thousands of manuscripts and deported the city's greatest scholar, Ahmad Baba al-Timbukti, to Marrakesh. This episode follows the fate of his legendary library—a collection of over 1,600 volumes that represented the pinnacle of Saharan scholarship. We explore how Ahmad Baba rebuilt his collection from exile, the network of scholars and scribes who preserved Timbuktu's written heritage, and the modern-day efforts to recover and digitize these fragile texts. Along the way, we encounter the Kunta scholars, the Qadiriyya Sufi…
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