Mali's Judicial System: The Qadis Who Ruled by Law
The Mali Empire: The Richest Civilization in History — Fexingo HistoryPlay episode
Show notes
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the legal backbone of the Mali Empire: its system of qadis, or Muslim judges, who administered justice from the Niger Delta to the Sahara's edge. Drawing on Ibn Battuta's Rihla and the Tarikh al-Sudan, they examine how Mansa Musa and his successors integrated Islamic jurisprudence with Mande customary law. Lucas details the role of the qadi al-qudat (chief judge) in Niani, the qadi's court in Timbuktu where al-Aqib ibn Mahmud ibn Umar later built the Sankore mosque, and the famous case of the qadi who sentenced a respected merchant for hoarding grain during a famine. Luna asks about conflicts between sharia and traditional Mande practices, and Lucas explains how judges navigated issues like slavery, marriage, and trade disputes. The episode also covers the training of scholars at Sankore, the importance of written legal opinions (fatwas), and how the empire's stability relied on a predictable rule of law that attracted traders from across the Sahara. A donation segment ties the value of justice then to supporting ad-free history now. #MaliEmpire #MansaMusa #Qadis #IslamicLaw #TarikhAlSudan #IbnBattuta #Timbuktu #Sankore #Niani #Sharia #MandeCustomaryLaw #QadiAlQudat #Fatwas #LegalHistory #WestAfrica #History #FexingoHistory #Podcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
