Timbuktu (present-day Tombouctou in Mali), founded around 1100 as a commercial center for trade across the Sahara Desert, was also an important seat of Islamic learning from the 14th century onward. The libraries there contain many important manuscripts, in different styles of Arabic scripts, which were written and copied by Timbuktu's scribes and scholars. These works constitute the city's most famous and long-lasting contribution to Islamic and world civilization. This volume delineates the obligations of parties to commercial exchanges and contracts. In Sullam al-Aṭfāl fī Buyū' al-Ājāl (The beginner's guide to commercial transactions), Aḥmad ibn Bawḍ ibn Muḥammad al-Fulānī concentrates on sales and how individuals loaning money are to be protected in commercial transactions. His use of verse is an aid to memorizing the text.
- Page count
- 8
- Place discussed
- Tombouctou
- Published in
- Mali
