Latest / Timbuktu: Africa's Forgotten Center of Knowledge — Fexingo History / The Timbuktu Scholar Who Argued Against Slavery
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Timbuktu's scholars—Ahmad Baba especially—but there's one aspect of his work that I think really challenges how we think about the history of slavery in West Africa. In 1615, while he was still in exile in Marrakech, he wrote a legal opinion—a fatwa—called the Mi'raj al-Su'ud, which translates to 'The Ladder of Ascension.' And its subject was nothing less than the enslavement of Muslims. Luna: Wait, he was arguing against slavery itself? Lucas: Not exactly slavery as an institution—he was a scholar of his time, and Islamic law did permit slavery under certain conditions. But what he did was mount a devastating legal argument against the mass enslavement of people from the Sahel, which the Saadian sultanate was doing after their invasion of Songhai. His core point was simple: you cannot enslave a free Muslim, and many of the people being sold in Marrakech's slave markets were, in fact, free Muslims from Timbuktu, Djenné, and Gao. Luna: But how did the Saadians justify it? Lucas: They claimed that the people of the Sahel weren't really proper Muslims—that their Islam was mixed with pagan practices, or that they were from ethnic groups that had never converted. And this was a convenient justification, because it allowed the Saadians to treat the entire population as legitimate spoils of war. Ahmad Baba had been captured himself in 1591, when Judar Pasha's army sacked Timbuktu. He knew firsthand that the accusation was false. Luna: He was writing from personal experience, then. Lucas: Exactly. And he had the credentials to back it up. He was the last great scholar of the Sankore tradition, and he had taught generations of students. In Marrakech, he was held in high regard even by his captors—the Saadian sultan Ahmad al-Mansur actually consulted him on legal matters. So when he wrote the Mi'raj al-Su'ud, it wasn't just an academic exercise. It was a direct challenge to the foundation of the Saadian slave economy. Luna: And this is something that's still relatively unknown in mainstream history, right? Lucas: Very much so. The manuscript itself was lost for centuries and only rediscovered in the 20th century among the private collections in Timbuktu. It's one of the earliest and most sophisticated arguments against the enslavement of black Africans, written by an African scholar in the heart of the Islamic world. And it's not just a religious text—it's a detailed historical and ethnographic document. Ahmad Baba lists dozens of ethnic groups from the Sahel and the Sudan, and for each one he determines whether they are known to be Muslim or not, based on trade contacts, travel accounts, and his own knowledge. Luna: So he's basically compiling evidence for a legal case. Lucas: Exactly. For example, he writes about the Wangara, the Mandinka, the Fulani—all groups that had been Muslim for centuries. He even cites earlier scholars like al-Maghili, who had ruled that the people of the Songhai Empire were Muslims. And he's scathing about the Saadian justification. In one passage he says, 'If someone claims that a person is an unbeliever based on his appearance or his language, that is not permissible. Judgment must be based on knowledge.' He's saying, you can't just look at someone and decide they're enslavable. Luna: That's incredibly progressive for the 17th century. Lucas: It is, and it's grounded in Maliki jurisprudence, which was the school of law in West Africa. Ahmad Baba wasn't inventing new ideas—he was applying existing legal principles with rigor. And he had a practical goal: to stop the trade. He knew that the markets of Marrakech and Fez were filled with people from his homeland, and he wanted to free them, or at least prevent more from being taken. Luna: Did his fatwa have any effect? Lucas: We know it was widely copied and circulated. Manuscripts of the Mi'raj al-Su'ud have been found across the Sahel, from Timbuktu to the Hausa states. But whether it actually changed the Saadian policy is less clear. The sultanate was reliant on the slave trade for revenue, so economic interests probably trumped legal arguments. Still, Ahmad Baba himself was eventually released and returned to Timbuktu in 1608, where he continued teaching until his death in 1627. And his work remained a reference for later scholars. Luna: So it became part of the intellectual arsenal against slavery. Lucas: Yes, and that's what makes it so important. When we think of early abolitionist thought, we often look to Europe—the Quakers, the Enlightenment philosophers. But here is an African scholar, writing in Arabic, making a rigorous legal case against the enslavement of his people, decades before any European abolitionist movement. And he did it from within the Islamic legal tradition, not in opposition to it. That challenges a lot of assumptions about who gets to be an intellectual hero in the fight against slavery. Luna: I love that we're highlighting this. It's a story that deserves to be much more widely known. Lucas: Absolutely. And you know, it's stories like this that remind me why we do this show. We dig deep into the archives to bring forward voices that have been marginalized or forgotten. And a lot of that work is only possible because of the support from listeners like you. Luna: Yeah, we're listener-funded, no ads, and it really does make a difference. Lucas: If you've been following our episodes on Timbuktu and want to help us keep uncovering these stories, there's a simple way. A small group of our listeners already chips in through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that support literally funds the research and production. So if you're able, that's where you can help. And if not, no worries—just being here and learning with us is more than enough. Luna: Absolutely. Now, let's get back to Ahmad Baba's arguments. You mentioned he listed specific ethnic groups—who did he say were definitely Muslim? Lucas: He named the Wangara, the Mandinka, the Fulani, the Soninke, the Hausa—basically all the major trading peoples of the Sahel. He also discussed the Tuareg, who were known as Muslims, though their pastoral lifestyle made some question their orthodoxy. And he had a special section on the people of Katsina and Kano, which were major Islamic centers. For each, he cited evidence from earlier scholars or from his own observation. Luna: What about groups he considered non-Muslim? Lucas: He was careful. He said that some groups in the far south, like the 'Yam' people—probably referring to animist groups in the forest regions—were not known to be Muslim, so they could be enslaved according to Islamic law. But even then, he insisted that each case must be judged individually. You couldn't just enslave everyone from a region because some were non-Muslim. And he was very critical of the slave raids that targeted villages indiscriminately. Luna: So he was drawing a line between legitimate and illegitimate enslavement. Lucas: Exactly. And that line was based on religion, not race. In fact, Ahmad Baba explicitly rejected racial justifications for slavery. He wrote that 'blackness is not a sign of unbelief,' and he pointed out that many black Africans were among the earliest converts to Islam. This was a direct refutation of the racialized thinking that was becoming common in the Islamic world, especially among Arabs who considered themselves superior. Luna: That's a powerful statement, and one that resonates today. Lucas: It does. And it's important to remember that Ahmad Baba's views were not universally accepted. Many scholars in North Africa argued that the sahelian populations were legitimate targets because they had not fully embraced Islam. So the Mi'raj al-Su'ud was a minority opinion, but it was a well-argued one. And it survived precisely because it was copied and recopied by scholars who agreed with him. Luna: It's almost like an underground tradition of anti-slavery thought. Lucas: Exactly. And that tradition continued. In the 18th and 19th centuries, when the trans-Saharan slave trade was at its peak, you find other West African scholars citing Ahmad Baba's arguments. For example, the Sokoto Caliphate scholars, like Usman dan Fodio, used similar reasoning to justify the enslavement of non-Muslims while also condemning the enslavement of Muslims. So Ahmad Baba's work became a foundational text for Islamic jurisprudence on slavery in West Africa. Luna: And his own life—being a captive who wrote against captivity—adds a layer of moral authority. Lucas: Absolutely. He lived the contradiction. He was a free man, a respected scholar, then a captive, then freed again. And throughout, he maintained his integrity. When he was in Marrakech, he refused to cooperate with the Saadian propaganda. He even wrote a history of the Sudan, the Tarikh al-Sudan, which includes a bitter account of the invasion. So his scholarship was always intertwined with his experience. Luna: It's a legacy of resistance through knowledge. Lucas: That's a beautiful way to put it. And it's a reminder that Timbuktu wasn't just a center of learning—it was a place where scholars grappled with the great moral questions of their time. The Mi'raj al-Su'ud is one of those texts that challenges us to expand our understanding of intellectual history. It's not just about astronomy or law; it's about justice. Luna: So where can people find out more about this manuscript? Lucas: The original manuscript is held in the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu, one of the great private collections that survived the recent conflicts. There's also a critical edition and translation by John Hunwick, a scholar who worked extensively on Timbuktu's intellectual history. And the Ahmed Baba Institute has digitized many manuscripts, though the Mi'raj al-Su'ud itself may still be in the process. It's worth seeking out if you want to read the actual text. Luna: And of course, we'll link to some resources in the show notes. Lucas: Yes, we will. And that's a good note to end on. Ahmad Baba's ladder of ascension—his attempt to lift people out of bondage through the power of argument—reminds us that ideas matter. They can survive centuries, crossing deserts and empires, to speak to us today. So next time you think about Timbuktu, remember not just the gold and the manuscripts, but the man who used his pen to fight for freedom. Luna: Thanks for joining us on this journey. Until next time.