by ROBYN DIXON
A photo from 1997 shows ancient manuscripts at the library in Timbuktu, Mali. A scholar said the value of the city’s collection lies in the knowledge it contains and the window it provides onto a golden age in the onetime trade hub, when people shared information by transcribing books. PHOTO/Evan Schneider/AFP/Getty Images
In Mali, copying Arabic manuscripts was once a prestigious occupation. Today, with texts threatened by Islamists, it is a spiritual enterprise that speaks to one man’s heart.
Homemade twig pens stand like off-duty soldiers in a jar on Boubacar Sadeck’s worktable. The morning sun steals into a room stuffed with a jumble of papers, ink bottles and stretched animal hides. He sits thoughtfully before a blank sheet of paper, with several old manuscripts — the color of dark tea and covered with Arabic script — open at his side.
Occasionally a breeze wafts in and playfully flicks one of the old brown pages to the floor.
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Copying the words of ancient scholars in elegant Arabic calligraphy makes Sadeck feel close to heaven.
“My weakness, my love, is calligraphy,” said the scribe, who fled Timbuktu, famed for its collection of centuries-old manuscripts, when Islamist militias invaded last year. “If I go a day without writing, I feel as if something is missing or strange. When I sit down with my paper and my pen, I feel wonderful. I feel at ease.”
Copying and recopying old manuscripts is an ancient Timbuktu calling. In the 15th century, there were hundreds of scribes; the job was one of the most highly paid and prestigious occupations in the city, then an intellectual center and trade hub.
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(Thanks to reader)