Timbuktu, 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 of Timbuktu 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 treatise is about the Songhai Empire, which flourished in West Africa during the 14th and 15th centuries. It consists of the answers to seven questions asked of the author by the emperor of Songhai. The author tells the emperor that he is obliged to apply Islamic law strictly in administering the political and economic affairs of the empire. In order to do so properly, he is told that he needs to seek the advice of pious scholars.
