In a recent interview with Emine Taskiran, a journalist with Zaman, a Turkish newspaper, I responded to queries about the coup in Mali and the destruction of ancient shrines in Timbuktu. (blog.politics.ox.ac.uk)
Sharia has obliterated a way of life, brutalized a populace, rendered tourist - friendly areas such as Timbuktu inhospitable, and even razed ancient shrines and artifacts for insufficient deference to Allah. (businessinsider.com)
Many of the places that have been attacked and destroyed are ancient shrines housed in the mosques of these cities, many of them dating back to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. (blog.politics.ox.ac.uk)