Ansar Dine
Ansar Dine ( ''ʾAnṣār ad-Dīn'', also transliterated ''Ançar Deen''), meaning " helpers of the religion" (Islam) (Defenders of the Faith) and also known as Ansar al-Din (abbreviated as AAD), was a Salafi jihadist group led by Iyad Ag Ghaly. Ansar Dine sought to impose absolute sharia across Mali. The group took over the city of Timbuktu in 2012, which prompted the French-led intervention, Operation Serval. The organization is not to be confused with the Sufi movement ''Ançar Dine'', founded in Southern Mali in the 1990s by Chérif Ousmane Madani Haïdara, which is fundamentally opposed to militant Islamism. Ansar Dine was opposed to Sufi shrines, and it had destroyed a number of such shrines. Ansar Dine was active from March 2012 until March 2017, when it merged with other militant Islamist groups to form Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin. Organization Membership Ansar Dine had its main base among the Ifora tribe from the southern part of the Tuaregs' homeland. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mali War
{{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Mali War , width = 35% , partof = the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel and the War on terror , image = MaliWar.svg , image_size = 300 , caption = Military situation in Mali {{as of, lc=yes, 2025, 5, 31. For a detailed map, see Template:Mali War detailed map, here. , date = Tuareg rebellion (2012), 16 January 2012 – present({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=01, day1=16, year1=2012) , place = Mali(with spillover into Algeria, Burkina Faso and Niger) , status = ''List of ongoing military conflicts, Ongoing'' , combatant1 = 2012–2013{{plainlist, {{flag, Mali ---- 2013–2022/23{{plainlist, *{{flag, Mali *{{flag, France *{{flagicon image, Flag of the United Nations.svg United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, MINUSMA{{efn, MINUSMA, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stab ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jama'at Nasr Al-Islam Wal Muslimin
Jama'at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (, JNIM; , GSIM; ) is a Salafi jihadism, Salafi Jihadist organisation in the Maghreb and West Africa formed by the merger of Ansar Dine, Al-Mourabitoun (militant group), al-Mourabitoun and the Saharan branch of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (a militant wing of Al-Qaeda). Its leaders swore allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri. In the early 2020s, JNIM was reported to be the fastest-growing terrorist organization in the world. As of 2025, it is considered the most heavily armed militant group in the Sahel and one of the most powerful globally. The group operates a decentralized Quasi-state, proto-state model in areas under its control, enforcing a strict interpretation of Islamic law and collecting taxes. Its influence is presently expanding southward into coastal West African countries, including Benin and Togo. History ''Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin'' (JNIM) was formed as a coalition of Salafi jihadism, Salafi-jihadist groups operat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ansar (Islam)
The Ansar (), also spelled Ansaar or Ansari, were the local inhabitants of Medina (mostly Muslims) who supported the Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad, and his followers (the ''Muhajirun''), when they fled from Mecca to Medina during the ''hijrah''. The Ansar belonged to the Arabian tribes of Banu Khazraj and Banu Aws. Background The Medinese, which consisted of Banu Aws and Banu Khazraj, along with their Jewish tribes of Arabia, Arabian Jewish allies (Banu Nadir, Banu Qurayza, and Banu Qaynuqa), were involved in degenerating years of warfare such as battle of Sumair, battle of Banu Jahjaha of Aus-Banu Mazin of Khazraj, battle of Sararah day, battle of Banu Wa'il ibn Zayd, battle of Zhufr-Malik, battle of Fari', battle of Hathib, battle of Rabi' day, first battle of Fijar in Yathrib (not Harb al-fijar, Fijar war between Qays with Kinana in Mecca), battle of Ma'is, battle of Mudharras, and second battle of Fijar in Yathrib. The Medinese also even contacted against fore ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jihadism
Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation is an efficient and theologically legitimate method of socio-political change towards an Islamic governance, Islamic system of governance. The term "jihadism" has been applied to various Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist or Islamism, Islamist individuals and organizations with militant ideologies based on the classical Islamic notion of ''Jihad, lesser jihad''. Jihadism has its roots in the late 19th- and early 20th-century ideological developments of Islamic revivalism, which further developed into Qutbism and Salafi jihadism related ideologies during the 20th and 21st centuries. Jihadist ideologues envision ''jihad'' as a "revolutionary struggle" against the international order to unite the Muslim world under Islamic law. The Islam ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Warwick University
The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of a government initiative to expand higher education. The Warwick Business School was established in 1967, the Warwick Law School in 1968, Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) in 1980, and Warwick Medical School in 2000. Warwick incorporated Coventry College of Education in 1979 and Horticulture Research International in 2004. Warwick is primarily based on a campus on the outskirts of Coventry, with a satellite campus in Wellesbourne and a central London base at the Shard. It is organised into three faculties—Arts; Science, Engineering and Medicine, and Social Sciences—within which there are thirty-two departments. Warwick has around 29,534 full-time students and 2,691 academic and research staff, with an average intake of 4,950 unde ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Al-Qaeda In The Islamic Maghreb
Al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (, ), or AQIM, is an Islamist militant organization (of al-Qaeda) that aims to overthrow the Algerian government and institute an Islamic state. To that end, it was then engaged in an insurgency campaign in the Maghreb and Sahel regions. The group originated as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). It has since declared its intention to attack European (including Spanish and French) and American targets. The group has been designated a terrorist organization by the United Nations, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. Membership is mostly drawn from the Algerian and local Saharan communities (such as the Tuaregs and Berabiche tribal clans of Mali), as well as Moroccans from city suburbs of the North African country. The group has also been suspected of having links with the Horn of Africa-based militant group Al-Shabaab. AQIM has focused on kid ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sufi Shrine
A Sufi shrine or dargah ( ''dargâh'' or ''dargah'', Turkish: ''dergâh'', Hindustani: ''dargāh'' दरगाह درگاہ, ''dôrgah'') is a shrine or tomb built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint or dervish. Sufis often visit the shrine for ''ziyarat'', a term associated with religious visitation and pilgrimages. Dargahs are often associated with Sufi eating and meeting rooms and hostels, called ''khanqah'' or hospices. They usually include a mosque, meeting rooms, Islamic religious schools (madrassas), residences for a teacher or caretaker, hospitals, and other buildings for community purposes. The same structure, carrying the same social meanings and sites of the same kinds of ritual practices, is called ''maqam'' in the Arabic-speaking world. Dargah today is considered to be a place where saints prayed and mediated (their spiritual residence). The shrine is modern day building which encompasses of actual dargah as well but not always. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chérif Ousmane Madani Haïdara
Sheikh Chérif Ousmane Madani Haïdara is a religious figure in Mali who has been the president of the High Islamic Council of Mali since April 2019. He is a follower of the Maliki school of IslamHolder, Gilles"Chérif Ousmane Madani Haidara and the Islamic Movement Ansar Dine. A Popular Malian Reformism in Search of Autonomy" ''Cahiers d’études africaines'', vol. no 206-207, no. 2, 2012, pp. 389-425. and a Sufi. In 1991, Haïdara established the Sufi-based Islamic movement Ansar Dine (also written Ançar Dine) - not to be confused with the terrorist organization Ansar Dine Ansar Dine ( ''ʾAnṣār ad-Dīn'', also transliterated ''Ançar Deen''), meaning " helpers of the religion" (Islam) (Defenders of the Faith) and also known as Ansar al-Din (abbreviated as AAD), was a Salafi jihadist group led by Iyad Ag Gha ... operating in the north of Mali. The movement is strong in southern Mali, the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and with Malian diaspora. References Malian Sufis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sufism
Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are referred to as "Sufis" (from , ), and historically typically belonged to "orders" known as (pl. ) — congregations formed around a grand (saint) who would be the last in a Silsilah, chain of successive teachers linking back to Muhammad, with the goal of undergoing (self purification) and the hope of reaching the Maqam (Sufism), spiritual station of . The ultimate aim of Sufis is to seek the pleasure of God by endeavoring to return to their original state of purity and natural disposition, known as . Sufism emerged early on in Islamic history, partly as a reaction against the expansion of the early Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) and mainly under the tutelage of Hasan al-Basri. Although Sufis were opposed to dry legalism, they strictly obs ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Timbuktu
Timbuktu ( ; ; Koyra Chiini: ; ) is an ancient city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. It is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali, having a population of 32,460 in the 2018 census. Archaeological evidence suggests prehistoric settlements in the region, predating the city's Islamic scholarly and trade prominence in the medieval period. Timbuktu began as a seasonal settlement and became permanent early in the 12th century. After a shift in trading routes, particularly after the visit by Mansa Musa around 1325, Timbuktu flourished, due to its strategic location, from the trade in salt, gold, and ivory. It gradually expanded as an important Islamic city on the Saharan trade route and attracted many scholars and traders before it became part of the Mali Empire early in the 14th century. In the first half of the 15th century, the Tuareg people took control for a short period, until the expanding Songhai Empire absorbed ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fall Of Timbuktu
The Fall of Timbuktu took place during the war in northern Mali. It was one of the first clashes between the MNLA and Ansar Dine, and led to the latter taking control of the city in June 2012. During the conflict, concerns were raised of threats to the cultural heritage of Timbuktu; numerous shrines and mausoleums in the city were damaged or destroyed, and efforts were made to evacuate the Timbuktu Manuscripts. Battle On June 13, 2012, at approximately 10:00 am, an MNLA vehicle arrived at a station at the south-eastern entrance of Timbuktu City, on the Goundam Road. A quarrel started between the separatist fighters and Islamists who guarded the post, with the terrorists demanding that the men of the MNLA to lay down their weapons, which they refuse. Fighting then erupted. An Ansar Dine commander stated that "MNLA defeated elements wanted to move into the city, they were asked to put down their weapons, they refused and started firing, we fought back. Two of our elements were h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |