It was early in the summer of 2012, and at the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu, a clandestine operation was under way. Night after night, a team under the direction of the library’s founder, Abdel Kader Haidara, quietly packed the ancient works of astronomy, poetry, history, and jurisprudence into metal chests, then spirited them out of the library in mule carts and 4x4s to safe houses scattered around the city.

It was part of a last-ditch attempt to protect the country’s most significant collection of historic manuscripts from falling into the hands of militants allied to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Six months earlier, terrorist groups had seized northern Mali and launched a systematic effort to destroy anything they viewed as haram—forbidden—according to their harsh interpretation of Islamic practices.

Continue reading: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/140421-haidara-timbuktu-manuscripts-mali-library-conservation