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Starting during the colonial period, the process of discovering, assessing, and describing Arabic manuscript collections scattered across West Africa helped debunk the myth of a continent steeped in oral tradition and ritual. This, in turn, paved the way for a growing number of initiatives from the 1960s onwards, particularly in manuscript-rich areas in Mali, Mauritania, and northern Nigeria. Mainly focused on bibliographic description, content analysis, and preservation, these initiatives employed storage and reformatting technologies (microfilm and digitization), database management systems, and the Internet, to develop computerized catalogs and finding aids, create surrogate copies of selected manuscripts, and eventually make these resources available online, thus ensuring or expanding access to a wealth of previously unknown resources for the study of African history and culture. Considering the harsh environment, the problematic nature of the materials and their storage conditions, and the limited human, technological, and financial resources involved, it is remarkable how some of these projects managed to survey large swaths of the West African manuscript landscape, often making the results of their work permanently available. At the same time, a review of their accomplishments and shortcomings will help understand how many such initiatives failed to meet the expectations of their intended and potential users. Only by understanding these evolving trends and realities, and engaging information professionals with the appropriate knowledge and skills, will new initiatives to preserve and document West African manuscripts succeed in providing access to both intellectual content and material culture, rather than simply generating new digital dust.

Cet article nous propose la traduction d’un manuscrit, Miṣbāḥ al- Ẓalām fī wafayāt Aʿyān al-qarn al- ṯāliṯ ʿašar ilā al-rābiʿ ʿašar, rédigé entre 1967 et 1969 par Tānūdé b. al-Bukhārī b. Ilāǧāl al-Tinbuktī al-Agadazī. Conservé au Département des Manuscrits Arabes et Ajami (MARA) de l’Institut de Recherches en Sciences Humaines de l’Université Abdou Moumouni de Niamey, ce texte nous éclaire, sous forme de courtes notices biographiques, sur la formation et le parcours de plusieurs savants musulmans de la ville d’Agadez ayant principalement vécu entre le début du xixe siècle et les années 1920 (vers 1214-1344 de l’Hégire). This article offers us a translation of a manuscript, Miṣbāḥ al- Ẓalām fī wafayāt Aʿyān al-qarn al- ṯāliṯ ʿašar ilā al-rābiʿ ʿašar, written between 1967 and 1969 by Tānūdé b. al-Bukhārī b. Ilāǧāl al-Tinbuktī al-Agadazī. Preserved at the Department of Arabic and Ajami Manuscripts (MARA) of the Institut de Recherches en Sciences Humaines of the Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey, this text sheds light, in the form of short biographical notes, on the training and career of several Muslim scholars from the city of Agadez who lived mainly between the early 19th century and the 1920s (c. 1214-1344 AH).

International audience; After a presentation of research dealing with West African Arabic manuscripts, the author emphasizes that until recently this huge set of documentation has been barely touched, as is particularly visible in the field of scientific editions of sources.Such a deficiency may be due to colonial strategies regarding black islam. But one must emphasize the prejudice existing among many scholars – except a few mostly English-speaking pioneers – about texts that to them seem confusing, texts which cannot be understood without a deep knowledge of Arabic. This apprenticeship is not fostered among the africanists by French scientific institutions, whereas the arabists neglect peripheral islam.However, since 2009, a team of africanists and arabists, led by Georges Bohas, has edited nearly twenty texts, and translated several of them. The author draws up a short descriptive inventory of those documents, while emphasizing the advance in knowledge promised by them.; Après un rapide historique des études menées en rapport avec les manuscrits arabes ouest-africains, l’auteur constate que cet énorme gisement documentaire est encore à peine effleuré, en particulier en ce qui concerne l’édition scientifique de ceux-ci.On a expliqué ce retard par les stratégies coloniales face à l’islam noir. Il faut également souligner les préjugés des chercheurs – hormis quelques pionniers, la plupart anglophones – face à des documents qui les déroutent et dont l’exploitation exige une connaissance approfondie de la langue arabe, qui est peu encouragée chez les africanistes par les institutions scientifiques françaises, tandis que les arabisants négligent l’islam périphérique.Cependant, depuis 2009, une équipe d’arabisants et d’africanistes, dirigée par Georges Bohas, a édité près de vingt textes et traduit certains d’entre eux. L’auteur fait un rapide inventaire de ces documents et de leur contenu, en soulignant les avancées de la connaissance qu’ils promettent.

Après un rapide historique des études menées en rapport avec les manuscrits arabes ouest-africains, l’auteur constate que cet énorme gisement documentaire est encore à peine effleuré, en particulier en ce qui concerne l’édition scientifique de ceux-ci.On a expliqué ce retard par les stratégies coloniales face à l’islam noir. Il faut également souligner les préjugés des chercheurs – hormis quelques pionniers, la plupart anglophones – face à des documents qui les déroutent et dont l’exploitation exige une connaissance approfondie de la langue arabe, qui est peu encouragée chez les africanistes par les institutions scientifiques françaises, tandis que les arabisants négligent l’islam périphérique.Cependant, depuis 2009, une équipe d’arabisants et d’africanistes, dirigée par Georges Bohas, a édité près de vingt textes et traduit certains d’entre eux. L’auteur fait un rapide inventaire de ces documents et de leur contenu, en soulignant les avancées de la connaissance qu’ils promettent. After a presentation of research dealing with West African Arabic manuscripts, the author emphasizes that until recently this huge set of documentation has been barely touched, as is particularly visible in the field of scientific editions of sources.Such a deficiency may be due to colonial strategies regarding black islam. But one must emphasize the prejudice existing among many scholars – except a few mostly English-speaking pioneers – about texts that to them seem confusing, texts which cannot be understood without a deep knowledge of Arabic. This apprenticeship is not fostered among the africanists by French scientific institutions, whereas the arabists neglect peripheral islam.However, since 2009, a team of africanists and arabists, led by Georges Bohas, has edited nearly twenty texts, and translated several of them. The author draws up a short descriptive inventory of those documents, while emphasizing the advance in knowledge promised by them.

So far, studies of West African Arabic manuscripts have paid limited attention to scribes and their social environment. Fuuta Jaloo’s Islamic confederation emerged in the early 1700s as the brainchild of a group of scholars. Thanks to public policies and cultural innovations, its intellectual output and regional diffusion left indelible marks on manuscripts. The article illustrates how much information can be obtained from colophons, marginal notes, and other material elements. Analyzing several versions of a nineteenth-century treatise on astronomy, comments will be made on the diffusion and rendition of manuscripts in Fuuta Jaloo, Fuuta Toro and Maasina. 1