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‘Our Publications’ databank / collection
‘Our Publications’ collection is a bibliographic database of the Foundation's own publications. These works are the outcome of prominent research projects and events carried out by the three centres of the Foundation, i.e. the ‘Manuscripts Centre’, the ‘Mawsoa Centre’ and the ‘Maqasid Centre’.
This collection was added to the ‘Al-Furqan Digital Library’ to enrich the user research experience. The collection is continuously updated, and currently contains over 200 works in over 400 volumes. These cover both introductory and advanced topics discussed and presented by distinguished scholars in the field of Islamic written heritage.
It also includes many popular and heavily cited publications, as well as award winning works, such as the critical edition of al-Isfizāri’s book which deals with the field of mechanics, known as “the sciences of weights and mechanical devices” (‘Ilmay al-Athqāl wal-Ḥiyal). Other popular items include works by the late famous scholar Annemarie Schimmel, such as The Secrets of Creative Love (1998) and Islam and the Wonders of Creation(2003); and many other highly demanded references, including the unique Encyclopaedia of Makkah Al-Mukarramah and Al-Madīnah Al-Munawwarah.
Handlist of Manuscripts in the Centre de Documentation et de Recherches Historiques Ahmed Baba, Timbuktu - Mali
This catalogue describes in its five volumes 9000 manuscripts held in the Aḥmad Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research in Timbuktu, Mali. It is a centre specialised in collecting the manuscripts of West Africa and cataloguing, preserving and restoring them. The manuscripts are written in Arabic, Turkish, and African languages such as Hawsa and Fulani. As for the contents of the collection, it is characterised by a wide variety of topics, scientific and religious, such as manuscripts of the Qurʾān and is sciences, Ḥadīth and its sciences, jurisprudence and its origins , the science of grammar and morphology, uniqueness of God (tawḥīd) and creed, the Prophets biography and praises of him. It also includes sources on Sufism, dictionaries, collections of poetry, invocations and litanies by the Prophet. Some manuscripts cover topics on the natural sciences, mathematics, the science of calculation, metaphysical sciences such as magic, trusts (awfāq) and astrology.
| Volume | View Vol. 1 (1995) | (sold in set only) |
| View Vol. 2 (1996) | (sold in set only) | |
| View Vol. 3 (1997) | (sold in set only) | |
| View Vol. 4 (1998) | (sold in set only) | |
| View Vol. 5 (1998) | (sold in set only) | |
| Full Set | £91.80 |
|
| Date of establishment: | 1970 |
| Status: | Institutional |
| Status Details: | Public research library |
| Condition of access | Accessible only to students, researchers and visitors from foreign institutions. |
| Total number of Islamic MSS: | 2,174 (Arabic) |
| Description of Collection: | This collection is the largest and best organised in the country. Most of the MSS in the collection were purchased from individuals during the Centre's survey of MSS in Mali over the years. It has also received MSS in the form of donations from individuals, organisations and institutions; and it holds microfilms of MSS from private collections whose owners were unwilling to give them away. It appears that almost all the collections of the country are represented in this way. The Centre's collection has MSS ranging from the 11th to 20th centuries, including hundreds of rare and undated MSS. The rarities include the anonymous Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar Khalil, copied by ʿAbd al-Raḥman ʿAbd Allah, dated 1794; Tarikh al-fattash fi akhbar al-buldan wa-'l-juyush wa-akabir al-nas, undated, by Kaʿti Maḥmud b.al-Mutawakkil; Sharḥ Iḍaʾat al-dujunna, undated, by Al-ʿAlawi b. al-ʿAmsh; Kitab al-Fawaʾid al-jalila al-bahiya ʿalá 'l-shamaʾil al-Muḥammadiya, undated, by Muḥammad b. al-Qasim; Ḍiyaʾ al-ḥukkam by ʿAbd Allah b. Fudi, copied by Muḥammad b. Zarruq Asqufari, undated; Kitab Raḥmat al-umma fi ʾkhtilaf al-aʾimma by Al-ʿUthmani Muḥammad, dated 1087. The manuscripts are arranged according to subject-matter in card boxes, stored on glass-fronted wooden and metal shelves. They are housed in a spacious room. The majority of the collection is in perfect physical condition, but there are a few damaged MSS. The distribution of subject-matter is as follows: fatwásfigh 200; theology 165; Sufism 273; Ḥadith 196; Qurʾan and related subjects 230; mysticism 70; logic 228; grammar 180 Jihad 36; medicine 50; astronomy 94; history 96; poetry 89; uṣul 27; mathematics 25; sermons 65. |
| Notes: | See published World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts. 1992 - 1994, Vol.2, p 287. |
| Published Catalogues: | 3 |
| Unpublished Catalogues: | 1 |
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