Said al-Barouni set out on a mission to preserve the little-known history of his Muslim community in a modest cottage on the island of Djerba, Tunisia. He used artificial intelligence (AI) and technology to preserve ancient religious writings.
Since taking over his family’s six-generation collection in the 1960s, the 74-year-old librarian and adherent of the Islamic sect Ibadism has been in a race against time to preserve whatever Ibadi texts he can locate.
With a tarnished piece of paper in his gloved palm, he said, “Look what Djerba’s humidity has done to this one,” within a climate-controlled chamber.
Presently, the library has more than 1,600 antique Ibadi manuscripts and books from as early as 1357 on a variety of subjects, including astrology and medicine.
However, Barouni is currently working to compile more literature, which has been dispersed among families for generations after they gave up on openly practicing their faith.
Ibadis were regarded as Kharijites, an early divergent branch of Islam whose supporters were labeled heretics, because they disagreed on the succession after the Prophet Muhammad died in 632 AD.
They ran away to isolated regions of what is now modern-day Oman, home to the majority of Ibadis, as well as Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria.
They founded a capital in Tihert, which is now the city of Tiaret in Algeria, in North Africa. However, their newfound tranquility was short-lived, as the Shiite Fatimid dynasty stormed across the area in the tenth century and drove the Ibadis from their principal cities.
Author and Ibadism researcher Zohair Tighlet told AFP that “Ibadis took refuge on the island of Djerba, in the desert in Algeria, or in the difficult (to access) Nafusa mountains in Libya in order to preserve their existence.”
“To take on a never-ending war and disappear, like other minorities, or accept a state of invisibility and use it to begin a cultural rebirth,” he continued, was the choice they faced.
According to Barouni, the majority of their writings are now kept in family libraries.
“All families in Djerba have libraries, but a lot of the manuscripts were sold or exchanged among different people.”
Mounds of worn books fill the tiny conservation room while ozone machines hum along, keeping hazardous organisms like mould from growing and causing paper damage.
Barouni thinks that scanning and dusting the manuscripts for digital versions is “today’s only solution” for preserving the ancient texts.
Modern readers find it difficult to read antique Arabic cursive, therefore Barouni also began utilizing Zinki, an artificial intelligence program that can read and translate the manuscripts.
Zinki was established by Feras Ben Abid, a Tunisian software engineer residing in London who says the program makes a vast array of texts readable by the average reader accessible.
Additionally, it serves to “correct misconceptions some have had on certain topics,” such as Ibadi ancestry.
Since Ibadism holds that any Muslim, regardless of ancestry, can become the next leader once the prophet dies, it has traditionally angered both Sunni and Shia monarchs, such as the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, respectively.
Al-Barouni remarked, “They call us Kharijites, as if we were against the religion.” “But no, we were against tyrants.”
Ibadis, who identify as “democrats of Islam,” have a custom of giving a council of elders responsibility for managing social and political matters in the community “with the goal of preserving Ibadite society,” according to Tighlet.
The French protectorate of Tunisia resulted in the termination of that system.
Djerba, a sanctuary for minorities that was inscribed to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites last year because to its distinctive settlement layout, provided safety to those in modern-day Tunisia.
In addition, the resort island is home to one of the largest Jewish communities outside of Israel in the region, with over 1,500 adherents, as well as a Christian Catholic community.
Situated on their island in the Mediterranean, the Ibadis chose a peaceful and fresh life, adding to the contemporary cultural diversity of the region and making up two-thirds of its populace, according to Tighlet.
He “brought a particular urban theory, which was among the reasons the island was listed in UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites,” said the expert.
Their architecture frequently reflects their unassuming, white-washed lifestyle, which included no windows facing the outside world, modest minarets, and an unpretentious, low-key aesthetic.
Because of “both safety and symbolic reasons,” some of their mosques were constructed underground, while other temples were positioned along the island’s shore to keep an eye out for enemy ships.
