Sidi Mahmoud Ben Amar (also known as Sidi Amar, Cadi Sidi Mahmoud, or Sidi Mahmoud) was a revered Muslim scholar who is one of the 333 Sufi saints said to be buried in
Timbuktu
Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou;
Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...
. The tomb of Sidi Mahmoud Ben Amar is among 16 cemeteries and mausolea that are a part of Timbuktu, which is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On 30 June 2012, it was reported that his tomb had been destroyed by
Ansar Dine
Ansar Dine ( ar, أنصار الدين ''ʾAnṣār ad-Dīn'', also transliterated ''Ançar Deen''; meaning " helpers of the religion" (Islam) also known as Ansar al-Din (abbreviated as AAD) was a Salafi jihadist group led by Iyad Ag Ghaly. Ans ...
following the
Battle of Gao
The Battle of Gao was fought between the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and the Islamist Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA), along with its ally Ansar Dine, in Gao between 26–28 June 2012. By the 28 Ju ...
, as it contravened
sharia
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
according to Ansar Dine. These attacks resemble those carried out by the
Wahabi
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, and ...
st movement on the Arabian peninsula during the late 18th century.
Notability as pilgrimage site
According to tradition the Cadi Sidi Mahmoud belonged to a
Berber
Berber or Berbers may refer to:
Ethnic group
* Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa
* Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages
Places
* Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile
People with the surname
* Ady Berber (1913–196 ...
tribe of the
Godala
The Godala or Gudāla is a Berber tribe in Western Africa that lived along the Atlantic coast in present-day Mauritania and participated in the Saharan salt trade and the salt mines of Ijiil. The Godala may be linked to or the same as the ancien ...
. His forebears moved to Timbuktu after living in
Macina and then
Oualata
, settlement_type = Communes of Mauritania, Commune and town
, image_skyline = Oualata 03.jpg
, imagesize = 300px
, image_caption = View of the town looking in a southeas ...
. He was born in 1463 or 1464 and was named Cadi in 1498 or 99 and he died in 1548. Sidi Mahmoud was
Ahmed Baba
Aḥmad Bābā al-Timbuktī (), full name Abū al-Abbās Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad ibn Umar ibn Muhammad Aqit al-Takrūrī Al-Massufi al-Timbuktī (1556 – 1627 CE, 963 – 1036 H), was a Sanhaja Berber writer, scholar, and politic ...
's great uncle. The
Tarikh ''Taʾrīkh'' is an Arabic word meaning "date, chronology, era", whence by extension "annals, history, historiography". It is also used in Persian, Urdu, Bengali and the Turkic languages. It is found in the title of many historical works. Prior to t ...
(histories) of Timbuktu attributed him with numerous legends. His tomb is a place of pilgrimage and his descendants count many scholars. The tomb of Sidi Mahmoud Ben Amar is
visited by local people who believe he has the power to bring rain, through the blessing of God.
Part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site
The UNESCO website specifically calls out the tomb of Sidi Mahmoud Ben Amar as follows: "Equally noteworthy and from the same general period
sthe grave of the scholar Sidi Mahmoudou, who died in
year 955 of the
Hegira
The Hijrah or Hijra () was the journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina. The year in which the Hijrah took place is also identified as the epoch of the Lunar Hijri and Solar Hijri calendars; its date eq ...
(1547 CE)." In 2012, it was listed as "endangered" along with the other sites in Timbuktu.
Attacks by Islamist rebels
During the
Tuareg rebellion of 2012, Islamist fighters attacked and desecrated the tomb of Sidi Mahmoud Ben Amar. In April 2012,
Ansar Dine
Ansar Dine ( ar, أنصار الدين ''ʾAnṣār ad-Dīn'', also transliterated ''Ançar Deen''; meaning " helpers of the religion" (Islam) also known as Ansar al-Din (abbreviated as AAD) was a Salafi jihadist group led by Iyad Ag Ghaly. Ans ...
fighters had taken over Timbuktu and reportedly were trying to impose ''
Sharia
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
'' law. UNESCO had expressed concern about the safety of this and other sites in the city. On 30 June, it was reported by a local journalist that Ansar Dine had completely destroyed the mausoleum, along with two others, and would eventually destroy 13 other cemeteries and mausolea.
See also
*
Bourem Sidi Amar
Bourem Sidi Amar is a village and commune of the Cercle of Diré in the Tombouctou Region of Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, itali ...
*
Buddhas of Bamiyan
The Buddhas of Bamiyan (or Bamyan) were two 6th-century monumental statues carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley of Hazarajat region in central Afghanistan, northwest of Kabul at an elevation of . Carbon dating of the structural ...
, Buddha statues in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
that were destroyed by the
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
as being in violation of ''sharia''
References
External links
333 saints of Timbuktu
Timbuktu
History of Mali
People from Timbuktu
Sufi saints
1547 deaths
Malian Sufis
Berber Malians
{{Mali-bio-stub