| Synopsis |
A journey of adventure and discovery in search of ancient manuscripts buried in the sands of the Sahara reveals - if need were - that Islam has always been a Faith of love and not of evil.
A thousand years ago, deep in Mauritania's Sahara, a few cities flourished around oases of the great desert.
They were the centre of the trade routes that caravans of camels carved in the sands between the Maghreb and West Africa.
These cities were not only the crossroads of a blooming commerce but, in the course of the centuries, they became also centres of spirituality and culture.
Scholars, and their books, were in fact travelling together with the caravans and they taught disciples on their way. They brought to life the itinerant Universities of the Sands and they stopped over in the oases.
Today these cities have been declared World-wide Heritage of Humanity and retain their structure and architecture perfectly adapted to cope with the desert climate. They also host thousands of manuscripts stored up year after year for centuries, making them the "Jurassic Park" of the ancient culture of the nomads of the desert.
Apart from Astrology, Travel accounts, Mathematics, the books concern the Koran and its interpretation. From these manuscripts dating from the year 1000 to almost present days it clearly appears that Islam never professed hate and even less so suicide and assassination.
The film will follow the trip of an actor playing the researcher in the old caravan routes with detective-movie style. His adventures and misadventures in the difficult tracks of the Sahara. His dreams and his discoveries will bring us to re-constructions of the ancient past of the caravans and their load of goods and books.
In this one-hour programme, we will also:
- Marvel at the many revelations included in the manuscripts.
- Show the scholars of the past and present teaching disciples under canvas and the stars of the Sahara.
- Describe the landscape of the desert, the oases, and the architecture of the cities of the
sands.
- Find out how the researcher, as a detective, discover and interpret old manuscripts of the Universities of the Sands.
- Discover and reconstruct the History of the past described in the books.
- Learn why Chinguetti - one of the cities of the desert - is considered one of the seven
sacred sites of Islam.
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: ANDREA MAGGI
STATUS: RESEARCH
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