What was Timbuktu?

Overview

Timbuktu was a centre of learning on the African coast. Its peak came under the Mali and then the Songhay sultanates. Its universities, manuscripts and madrasas made it among the best-known centres of African Islam. ¹

Disputing the count of raids and sariyas

The maghazi arithmetic disputes: Ibn Ishaq's twenty-six raids versus the twenty-seven that split Wadi'l-Qura from Khaybar; nine pitched battles common to both lists with al-Waqidi adding Wadi'l-Qura and al-Ghaba for eleven; and the sariya counts ranging from thirty-five to al-Waqidi's forty-eight (in al-Tabari's chain) to sixty-six.

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Disputing the count of raids and sariyas