{"id":14636,"date":"2013-02-01T17:40:40","date_gmt":"2013-02-01T22:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/?p=14636"},"modified":"2013-05-10T15:01:25","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T19:01:25","slug":"february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/","title":{"rendered":" Timbuktu Mali Manuscripts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- http:\/\/www-tc.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/rss\/media\/video\/episode-1622-timbuktu-manuscripts.m4v --><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align:center\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>KIM LAWTON<\/strong>, correspondent: The fabled Saharan city of Timbuktu has been designated a world heritage site, largely because of its priceless collection of Islamic manuscripts dating back to the 13th century.  The international community was outraged by reports that the departing militants had ransacked a major library and torched it, destroying some of the documents.  Outside experts spent the week trying to confirm what had happened.  At the University of Cape Town, Professor Shamil Jeppie leads a project to study the texts.  He says the majority appear to have been saved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PROF. SHAMIL JEPPIE<\/strong> (Univ. of Cape Town): The manuscripts were moved out of Timbuktu, we are told.  This is the latest news from Timbuktu, that 25,000-odd manuscripts were actually quietly moved in the past nine months from Timbuktu to the capital.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAWTON<\/strong>: Timbuktu was considered an ancient seat of Islamic learning.  Its collections include texts on theology, math and science, as well as history and politics.  When militants took over the city last April, they imposed a strict version of sharia law and began destroying historic sites, including centuries-old Sufi shrines that they deemed to be idolatrous.  Many scholars fled the city, but before they left, Jeppie says they apparently hid what manuscripts they could.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEPPIE<\/strong>: The images we see of manuscripts damaged and burnt and so on are very few, very few, maybe as many as two thousand.  That is bad enough, but not the kind of damage and destruction we heard of previously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAWTON<\/strong>: Jeppie hopes scholars can now get back to their work in Timbuktu, uninterrupted by violence.  I\u2019m Kim Lawton reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The latest news from Timbuktu, according to Professor Shamil Jeppie, is that 25,000 Islamic manuscripts were quietly moved out of the fabled Saharan city to protect them from destruction by Islamist militants. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/\" class=\"more\">More <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":18100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6569],"tags":[417,5257,10647,4295,10646],"class_list":["post-14636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-videocast","tag-islam","tag-islamic-extremism","tag-mali","tag-sharia","tag-timbuktu","topics-war-and-peace","faith-muslim"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>February 1, 2013 ~ Timbuktu Mali Manuscripts | February 1, 2013 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The latest news from Timbuktu, according to Professor Shamil Jeppie, is that 25,000 Islamic manuscripts were quietly moved out of the fabled Saharan city to protect them from destruction by Islamist militants.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"February 1, 2013 ~ Timbuktu Mali Manuscripts | February 1, 2013 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The latest news from Timbuktu, according to Professor Shamil Jeppie, is that 25,000 Islamic manuscripts were quietly moved out of the fabled Saharan city to protect them from destruction by Islamist militants.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBS.ReligionEthics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-01T22:40:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-05-10T19:01:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2013\/02\/thumb02-timbuktu-manuscripts.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Yi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionEthics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ReligionEthics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Yi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/01\\\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\\\/14636\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/01\\\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\\\/14636\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Fred Yi\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0576fe5f06986bc0418635994a2bcd47\"},\"headline\":\"Timbuktu Mali Manuscripts\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-01T22:40:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-10T19:01:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/01\\\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\\\/14636\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":272,\"commentCount\":3,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/01\\\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\\\/14636\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/files\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/thumb02-timbuktu-manuscripts.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Islam\",\"Islamic extremism\",\"Mali\",\"sharia\",\"Timbuktu\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Videocast\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/01\\\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\\\/14636\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/01\\\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\\\/14636\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/01\\\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\\\/14636\\\/\",\"name\":\"February 1, 2013 ~ Timbuktu Mali Manuscripts | February 1, 2013 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/01\\\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\\\/14636\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/01\\\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\\\/14636\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/files\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/thumb02-timbuktu-manuscripts.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-01T22:40:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-10T19:01:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0576fe5f06986bc0418635994a2bcd47\"},\"description\":\"The latest news from Timbuktu, according to Professor Shamil Jeppie, is that 25,000 Islamic manuscripts were quietly moved out of the fabled Saharan city to protect them from destruction by Islamist militants.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/01\\\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\\\/14636\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/01\\\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\\\/14636\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/files\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/thumb02-timbuktu-manuscripts.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/files\\\/2013\\\/02\\\/thumb02-timbuktu-manuscripts.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":100},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/\",\"name\":\"Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly\",\"description\":\"An examination of religion&#039;s role and the ethical dimensions behind top news headlines.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/search-results\\\/?q={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0576fe5f06986bc0418635994a2bcd47\",\"name\":\"Fred Yi\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pbs.org\\\/wnet\\\/religionandethics\\\/author\\\/yif\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"February 1, 2013 ~ Timbuktu Mali Manuscripts | February 1, 2013 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS","description":"The latest news from Timbuktu, according to Professor Shamil Jeppie, is that 25,000 Islamic manuscripts were quietly moved out of the fabled Saharan city to protect them from destruction by Islamist militants.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"February 1, 2013 ~ Timbuktu Mali Manuscripts | February 1, 2013 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS","og_description":"The latest news from Timbuktu, according to Professor Shamil Jeppie, is that 25,000 Islamic manuscripts were quietly moved out of the fabled Saharan city to protect them from destruction by Islamist militants.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/","og_site_name":"Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBS.ReligionEthics\/","article_published_time":"2013-02-01T22:40:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-05-10T19:01:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":200,"height":100,"url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2013\/02\/thumb02-timbuktu-manuscripts.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Fred Yi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionEthics","twitter_site":"@ReligionEthics","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fred Yi","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/"},"author":{"name":"Fred Yi","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#\/schema\/person\/0576fe5f06986bc0418635994a2bcd47"},"headline":"Timbuktu Mali Manuscripts","datePublished":"2013-02-01T22:40:40+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-10T19:01:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/"},"wordCount":272,"commentCount":3,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2013\/02\/thumb02-timbuktu-manuscripts.jpg","keywords":["Islam","Islamic extremism","Mali","sharia","Timbuktu"],"articleSection":["Videocast"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/","name":"February 1, 2013 ~ Timbuktu Mali Manuscripts | February 1, 2013 | Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2013\/02\/thumb02-timbuktu-manuscripts.jpg","datePublished":"2013-02-01T22:40:40+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-10T19:01:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#\/schema\/person\/0576fe5f06986bc0418635994a2bcd47"},"description":"The latest news from Timbuktu, according to Professor Shamil Jeppie, is that 25,000 Islamic manuscripts were quietly moved out of the fabled Saharan city to protect them from destruction by Islamist militants.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/02\/01\/february-1-2013-timbuktu-mali-manuscripts\/14636\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2013\/02\/thumb02-timbuktu-manuscripts.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/files\/2013\/02\/thumb02-timbuktu-manuscripts.jpg","width":200,"height":100},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/","name":"Religion &amp; Ethics NewsWeekly","description":"An examination of religion&#039;s role and the ethical dimensions behind top news headlines.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/search-results\/?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/#\/schema\/person\/0576fe5f06986bc0418635994a2bcd47","name":"Fred Yi","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/author\/yif\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}