Mansa Musa’s Hajj

Mansa Musa, king of the Mali Empire located in West Africa, ruled between 1312 and 1337. Well-known today as the richest man who ever lived, Musa’s accomplishments were not limited to the consolidation of tremendous wealth. Rather, integrating Mali into an expansive, transcontinental world system was perhaps his greatest achievement. Mansa Musa ruled during the Golden Age of Islam, a period of sustained success for countries in and around the Middle East. The same Islamic belief system Musa himself subscribed to tied the kingdoms of the existing world system together. A devout Muslim with the resources to embark on the Hajj, the Mansa’s pilgrimage to Mecca was a catalyst for integration within this world system. The first step in all of this was to gain the recognition of the Muslim world. Having done so, transcontinental trade began with Mali and commercial centers flourished, bringing about a new age of urbanization within his Empire. The indigenization of Islam in Mali took advantage of this urbanization and was critical in establishing the Empire within the Islamic world system. Mansa Musa used his 1324 Hajj to integrate Mali into the ranks of the Islamic world order by establishing economic and ideological connections to that world order, thereby strengthening himself and his Empire as a whole.

First and foremost, Musa’s Hajj was how he expanded the reach of his Empire’s reputation. David Conrad, a professor of African history, writes that Mali’s publicity grew tremendously by way of the Mansa’s sensational journey to Mecca. Gomez notes that Al-Umari, a prominent Syrian scholar of the time, explained that this was due to the Mansa being “open-handed toward the pilgrims and the inhabitants of the Holy Places, [giving away] much wealth in alms.” The West African King very much controlled the narrative that surrounded him and his kingdom. Parading through the Middle East in a rather ostentatious fashion, he drew attention to himself and thereby to his thriving Kingdom that lay to the West. To arrive in Mecca, Mansa Musa needed to stop in Cairo for supplies. Professor of Islamic Studies, Michael A. Gomez, concludes that the ruler of the Mamluk Sultanate al-Malik al-Nasir recognized Musa as the eminent leader of a transregional Empire. Al-Umari wrote that general awareness of the Mansa had spread after he “forwarded to the royal treasury many loads of unworked native gold and other valuables.” Musa’s wealth was crucial in establishing a name for himself and, by extension, his Empire. Conrad furthers that it was on account of Musa that word spread of the Empire’s wealth and might. In this sense, the first step Mansa Musa had to take to integrate Mali within the Islamic world system was to make people within that world system aware of West African prosperity.

This encouraged transcontinental trade that led to widespread urbanization across the Empire. Gomez notes that Timbuktu’s rise as a commercial center attracted flocks of merchants and traders from the Middle East. Michael Gomez notes that Ibn Khaldun, a near-contemporary Arab historian, wrote of a similar city called Byty: “‘an extensive place with cultivated land fed by running water, very popular with brisk markets.’” Mansa Musa captured the attention of the Islamic world on his Hajj and presented his Empire with a unique opportunity to establish economic links to the dominant world system. Not only did they manage to establish this connection, but as a result of the growing commercial hubs, a process of urbanization began. Gomez writes that commercial centers like Timbuktu soon became large, cosmopolitan cities filled with merchants, traders, travelers, philosophers, scientists, scholars, and the like. Robert Launay, Professor of Anthropology reports Ibn Battuta, widely regarded as the greatest author-traveler of the time, as suggesting that these flourishing cosmopolitan cities, such as Gao, in particular, were some of the “the finest, biggest, and most fertile” of cities. Although Mansa Musa’s Hajj did not directly cause this urbanization, it was a major factor in establishing this connection to the East by trade, which served to further integrate Mali into the existing world system. The resulting urbanization is relevant because the Mansa saw this as an opportunity to educate the masses in the ways of Islam.

The fusion of Islamic belief into West African culture was the final purpose Mansa Musa’s Hajj served in the context of Islamic integration. His pilgrimage to Mecca provided him with spiritual capital that put him in the position to both educate West Africans in Islam and erect great Mosques in major cities. These measures worked in conjunction. Gomez writes that the Mansa educated scholars in Fez in Muslim teachings, thereby promoting the spread of Islam among African intellectuals. The West African people began to accept and adopt the religion as well, due in part to the presence of the Prophet’s descendants, and experts in Islam that Musa had brought back with him. The Ta’rīkh al-fattāsh, a 17th-century West African chronicle of the Mali Empire, maintained that Musa “asked the shaykh of the noble and holy town of Mecca…to entrust him with two, three, or four noblemen, who were descendents of the Messenger of God.” Mansa Musa was persistent in his request and after some time, the Shaykh agreed. Musa returned from the Hajj to Mali with an entourage of “noblemen,” the supposed “descendants” of Muhammad. The Ta’rīkh al-fattāsh provides an example of the spiritual authority these men provided to the Mansa, and ultimately aligning himself with these “descendants” was a move that furthered his political power, aligning his authority with Islam by extension. Whether or not these men were truly the Prophet’s descendants is irrelevant, the effect they had remained the same. Musa’s Islamic credibility assisted the widespread adoption of Islam in West Africa. In terms of infrastructure, Gomez suggests that the construction of the Djinguereber mosque in the cosmopolitan city of Timbuktu facilitated the growth of Islam in West Africa. Ibn Battuta noted that “If it is a Friday and a man does not go early to the mosque he will not find anywhere to pray because of the press of the people.” While there are written records of Musa commissioning the construction of Mosques, this piece of evidence from Ibn Battuta is more important in the context of Islam penetrating and pervading West African belief. In this quote, it is clear that not only had Mosques been constructed, but Ibn Battuta makes particular note of the “press of the people” within them. In such a short period, the West African public, quick to convert to Islam, filled these Mosques to capacity. The influx of learned Muslims, African and Arab, coupled with the development of crucial infrastructure allowed for Islam to establish roots in West Africa, thereby adjoining Mali and the Middle East on a religious and ideological level.

Mansa Musa thoughtfully tied Mali into a wider world system by establishing both a commercial and religious bridge between the two. His pilgrimage was the catalyst for this, and he used his immense wealth to direct the spotlight onto his Empire. Trade began as a result and Mali connected itself to the Muslim world in an economic sense. Commerce led to the coming about of cosmopolitan cities in the region, that embraced Islam as the Mansa had brought it to them. Successfully associating itself with the dominant world system furthered West African prosperity. Trade brought about economic success, and the common ground of Islam strengthened relationships with other states such as the Marinids and Mamluks. The architect for all of this was Mansa Musa. The West African Mansa was wise beyond his years, aware that integration would ensure sustained prosperity so that a successful Mali would outlive him. Even after his death, Islam lived on in West Africa and so Mali remained part of that wider world system. People in power today can learn from this man, that a leader’s focus on that which they leave behind is crucial in sustaining success in the long term.