Mansa Musa's Hajj (1324)

Part oneThe road to Cairo

Musa became mansa of Mali in 1312, and under him the empire reached its height. In 1324 he set out on the Hajj. He was not the first ruler of Mali to go, but nobody before or since made the road so famous.

The caravan was enormous. Writers in Egypt spoke of thousands of people: soldiers, officials, servants and the households of the king, with camels carrying gold. The numbers grew with each telling, but every account agrees that nothing like it had been seen. The route crossed the Sahara by Walata and Tuat and came out in Egypt.

In Cairo the mansa camped near the pyramids and was received by the Mamluk sultan, al-Nasir Muhammad. The historian al-Umari, who wrote a few years later and spoke to people who had met him, recorded that Musa at first refused to bow before the sultan and said he bowed only to God. In the end a way was found that kept both men's dignity. Al-Umari also reports what people remembered most. Musa and his men gave and spent gold so freely in the markets of Cairo that its value fell, and twelve years later it had still not recovered. The historian Rudolph Ware has written that you should picture as much gold as a person could own and then double it.

Part twoMakkah and the road home

From Cairo the caravan went on to Makkah and Madinah with the pilgrims of Egypt. Musa performed the Hajj and visited the Prophet's ﷺ mosque, and he gave generous gifts to the poor of the holy cities. By the time he turned for home he had given away so much that he had to borrow money in Cairo for the return.

The real riches he brought home were people. He invited scholars, many of them descendants of the Prophet's ﷺ family, and teachers of law, to come and live in Mali. He also brought builders. Among them was Abu Ishaq al-Sahili, a poet and architect from al-Andalus, who designed buildings for him, including a royal hall and the great mosque of Timbuktu, the Djinguereber. On the way back Musa's generals took Gao, and Timbuktu and Gao both came firmly under Mali.

Part threeWhat the journey changed

The Hajj put Mali on the map, quite literally. A Catalan atlas drawn in Majorca in 1375 shows a king of Mali seated on a throne, holding a golden orb, under the name "Musse Melly". Merchants and scholars across the Mediterranean now knew that a great Muslim kingdom lay south of the Sahara.

At home, the journey strengthened Islam. Musa paid for mosques, schools and libraries, sent students north to study in Fes, and welcomed books from Cairo, Baghdad and Qayrawan. His pilgrimage became a model, and later rulers such as Askia Muhammad of Songhai followed his road to Makkah. Musa died in about 1337, after a reign of about twenty-five years. Mali stayed strong under his brother Sulayman, and the city of learning he had helped to build at Timbuktu outlasted the empire itself.

From the Quran

فِيهِ ءَايَـٰتٌۢ بَيِّنَـٰتٌ مَّقَامُ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ ۖ وَمَن دَخَلَهُۥ كَانَ ءَامِنًا ۗ وَلِلَّهِ عَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ حِجُّ ٱلْبَيْتِ مَنِ ٱسْتَطَاعَ إِلَيْهِ سَبِيلًا ۚ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَنِىٌّ عَنِ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ۝٩٧

In it are clear signs and the standing-place of Abraham. Whoever enters it should be safe. Pilgrimage to this House is an obligation by Allah upon whoever is able among the people. And whoever disbelieves, then surely Allah is not in need of ˹any of His˺ creation.

He gave away so much gold in Cairo that its price fell, and he came home with scholars.

More on How to Muslim

• guide.howtomuslim.orgHow to perform HajjThe pilgrimage he crossed the Sahara for, step by step.

WatchThe lecture for this chapter

Lecture Islamic GuidanceHow Mali Became Muslim (opens on YouTube)

The mapWhere it happened

• Niani
• Walata
• Tuat
• Cairo
• Makkah
• Madinah
• Gao
• Timbuktu

This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.

SourcesSources for this chapter