I think Islam created the empire through its trading in gold and human flesh, after all, mansu Musa was one of the greatest traders of both gold and human flesh.
The Arabs were the first to create the trans sahara slave trade routes and with the advent of Mohammed, the routes practice and business were absorbed by Islam.
The Arab routes pre existed Christ.
Its this sphere of business that brought the Islamic culture, traditions, and infrastructure to Mali.
That’s the root and foothold of today’s problems in Mali.
slavery was the norm for 10,000+ years everywhere in the world until white men in America and Europe stopped it.
you are correct about Musa’s wealth — though I would note that his empire was created by his grand or great-grandfather who was supposed to have been of traditional west African religion. It may be that he was Muslim.
I would disagree about the statement “the Arab routes pre-existed Christ” — the “Arabs” as we know them only took over west of the Sinai after the Arab Empire. The Nabateans (proto-Arabs?) didn’t have the strength to get to Egypt.
But the trans-Saharan slave routes were there, yes. Berbers and Egyptians and Nubians and Kushites ran them