The Impact of the Hajj
History: KS3, topic 4.3.2
The Impact of the Hajj
The hajj had a huge impact on the intellectual and religious aspects of the Mali Empire.
The return journey
- Mansa Musa met many Muslim scholars (someone who spends their time learning and is passionate about specific topics), such as al-Sahili, in Mecca.
- Musa was supposedly so pleased by al-Sahili's storytelling that he invited him to return to Mali.
- al-Sahili's knowledge of Islam made his presence in Mali desirable. He was among the many scholars, traders and slaves who travelled with Musa back to Mali.
Capturing Gao & Timbuktu
- The route back to Mali was not the same as the journey to Mecca. Musa's group headed south and travelled across a trade route to Gao.
- Musa peacefully conquered Gao and did the same in Timbuktu. He added two important trading centres to his empire.
- This demonstrates the power he and the Mali Empire had in Africa.
- Timbuktu flourished as a centre of learning and architecture (buildings) under Mansa Musa.
al-Sahili's buildings
- al-Sahili settled in Timbuktu and built a palace for Musa to receive guests. This shows that al-Sahili was a skilled craftsman.
- Musa was so impressed with his work that he asked him to build another palace and a great mosque in Timbuktu.
- Grand mosques were then built all across Mali, showing how important Islam was to Mali's ruler and some of its people.
Education improves
- Timbuktu was home to the Sankore Madrasah, the biggest library since Alexandria. This was considered the centre of intellectual history in the empire.
- The Sankore University in Timbuktu also flourished under Musa's rule.
- It had one of the largest collections of books in Africa and was considered one of the best universities in the world. It provided studies on Islam, geography, astrology, mathematics and medicine.
The full impact
- Musa's interest in scholars and knowledge encouraged the development of Mali's education system, giving it intellectual power as well as wealth and religious strength.
- This was all enabled through Musa meeting scholars and intellectuals during his hajj.
Test yourself on The Impact of the Hajj
Who was al-Sahili?