Editing Mansa Musa (section)

==Pilgrimage to Mecca==
[[File:Mansa Moussa on the map of Angelino Dulcert.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Mansa Moussa (''Rex Melly'') on the map of [[Angelino Dulcert]] (1339)]]
Musa was a [[Muslims|Muslim]], and his [[hajj]], or pilgrimage to [[Mecca]], made him well known across [[North Africa]] and the [[Middle East]]. To Musa, Islam was "an entry into the cultured world of the Eastern Mediterranean".<ref name=Goodwin110>{{harvnb|Goodwin|1957|p=110}}.</ref> He would have spent much time fostering the growth of the religion within his empire. When Musa departed Mali for the Hajj, he left his son Muhammad to rule in his absence.<ref>{{harvnb|Al-Umari}}, translated in {{harvnb|Levtzion|Hopkins|2000|p=268}}</ref>

Musa made his pilgrimage between 1324 and 1325, spanning 2700 miles.{{sfn|Gomez|2018|p=4}}<ref>{{Cite book|title = Worlds Together Worlds Apart|last = Pollard|first = Elizabeth|publisher = W.W. Norton Company Inc|year = 2015|isbn = 978-0-393-91847-2|location = New York |page = 362}}</ref><ref name= Bakewell>{{cite book|last1= Wilks| first1= Ivor| chapter= Wangara, Akan, and Portuguese in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries|editor1-last= Bakewell |editor1-first= Peter John|title=Mines of Silver and Gold in the Americas| date= 1997| publisher= Variorum, Ashgate Publishing Limited |location= Aldershot| page= 7| isbn= 9780860785132}}</ref> His procession reportedly included upwards of 12,000 [[slave]]s, all wearing [[brocade]] and Yemeni silk{{sfn|Cuoq|1985|p=347}} and each carrying {{convert|4|lb|abbr=on|order=flip}} of gold bars, with heralds dressed in silks bearing gold staffs organizing horses and handling bags.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

Musa provided all necessities for the procession, feeding the entire company of men and animals.<ref name=Goodwin110 /> Those animals included 80 [[camel]]s, which each carried {{convert|50|–|300|lb|abbr=on|order=flip}} of gold dust. Musa gave the gold to the poor he met along his route. Musa not only gave to the cities he passed on the way to Mecca, including [[Cairo]] and [[Medina]], but also traded gold for souvenirs. It was reported that he built a [[mosque]] every Friday.<ref name="Bell 1972"/> [[Shihab al-Din al-'Umari]], who visited Cairo shortly after Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca, noted that it was "a lavish display of power, wealth, and unprecedented by its size and pageantry".<ref>The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa By Patricia McKissack, Fredrick McKissack Page 60</ref> Musa made a major point of showing off his nation's wealth.

Musa and his entourage arrived at the outskirts of Cairo in July 1324. They camped for three days by the [[Pyramids of Giza]] before crossing the Nile into Cairo on 19 July.{{efn|26 Rajab 724}}{{sfn|Levtzion|Hopkins|2000|p=355}}{{sfn|Gomez|2018|pp=114,117}} While in Cairo, Musa met with the [[Mamluk Sultanate|Mamluk sultan]] [[al-Nasir Muhammad]], whose reign had already seen one ''mansa'', [[Mansa Sakura|Sakura]], make the Hajj. Al-Nasir expected Musa to prostrate himself before him, which Musa initially refused to do. When Musa did finally bow he said he was doing so for God alone.{{sfn|Gomez|2018|p=116}}

Despite this initial awkwardness, the two rulers got along well and exchanged gifts. Musa and his entourage gave and spent freely while in Cairo. Musa stayed in the [[City of the Dead (Cairo)|Qarafa district]] of Cairo and befriended its governor, ibn Amir Hajib, who learned much about Mali from him. Musa stayed in Cairo for three months, departing on 18 October{{efn|28 Shawwal}} with the official caravan to Mecca.{{sfn|Levtzion|Hopkins|2000|p=355}}{{sfn|Collet|2019|p=111}}

Musa's generosity continued as he traveled onward to Mecca, and he gave gifts to fellow pilgrims and the people of [[Medina]] and Mecca. While in Mecca, conflict broke out between a group of Malian pilgrims and a group of Turkic pilgrims in the [[Masjid al-Haram]]. Swords were drawn, but before the situation escalated further, Musa persuaded his men to back down.{{sfn|Collet|2019|pp=115–122}}

Musa and his entourage lingered in Mecca after the last day of the Hajj. Traveling separately from the main caravan, their return journey to Cairo was struck by catastrophe. By the time they reached [[Suez]], many of the Malian pilgrims had died of cold, starvation, or bandit raids, and they had lost much of their supplies.{{sfn|Gomez|2018|p=118}}{{sfn|Collet|2019|pp=122–129}} Having run out of money, Musa and his entourage were forced to borrow money and resell much of what they had purchased while in Cairo before the Hajj, and Musa went into debt to several merchants such as Siraj al-Din. However, Al-Nasir Muhammad returned Musa's earlier show of generosity with gifts of his own.{{sfn|Gomez|2018|pp=118–120}}

On his return journey, Musa met the [[al-Andalus|Andalusi]] poet [[Abu Ishaq al-Sahili]], whose eloquence and knowledge of jurisprudence impressed him, and whom he convinced to travel with him to Mali.{{sfn|Hunwick|1990|pp=60–61}} Other scholars Musa brought to Mali included [[Maliki school|Maliki jurists]].<ref>{{harvnb|Al-Umari}}, translated in {{harvnb|Levtzion|Hopkins|2000|p=261}}</ref>

According to the ''[[Tarikh al-Sudan]]'', the cities of [[Gao]] and [[Timbuktu]] submitted to Musa's rule as he traveled through on his return to Mali.<ref>{{harvnb|al-Sadi}}, translated in {{harvnb|Hunwick|1999|p=10}}</ref> It is unlikely, however, that a group of pilgrims, even if armed, would have been able to conquer a wealthy and powerful city.{{sfn|Fauvelle|2022|p=79}} According to one account given by [[ibn Khaldun]], Musa's general Saghmanja conquered Gao. The other account claims that Gao had been conquered during the reign of [[Mansa Sakura]].<ref>{{harvnb|Ibn Khaldun}}, translated in {{harvnb|Levtzion|Hopkins|2000|p=334}}</ref> Mali's control of Gao may have been weak, requiring powerful mansas to reassert their authority periodically,{{sfn|Levtzion|1973|p=75}} or it might simply be an error on  the part of al-Sadi, author of the ''Tarikh''.{{sfn|Fauvelle|2022|p=79}}