While earlier episodes explored Mansa Musa’s gold, his pilgrimage to Cairo, and the economic impact of his spending, this episode turns inward to Niani and Timbuktu. We examine the arrival of Abu Ishaq al-Sahili, a learned Andalusian poet and architect who joined the Malian court in 1325. Lucas and Luna trace how al-Sahili’s expertise in mud-brick construction transformed West African architecture, giving rise to the iconic Sudano-Sahelian style seen in the Djinguereber Mosque. Through primary accounts from al-Umari and Ibn Khaldun, we reconstruct the debate over whether al-Sahili was a master builder or a symbolic figurehead. The conversation explores the engineering challenges of building with banco, the role of toron beams, and how these structures became enduring symbols of Mali’s sovereignty and Islamic scholarship. This story reveals not just a man, but the fusion of Andalusian technique and Mandinka tradition that defined the empire’s golden age.