Welcome to Al-Furqan’s E-Database
The largest gateway of Islamic written heritage
‘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.
Late Arabic Scientific Commentaries: Their Role and their Originality : Works of Shams al-Dīn al-Khafrī (1550 C.E./956 A.H.) - English version
The book at hand focuses on the importance of scientific commentaries, especially manuscripts on astronomy, authored between the thirteenth and the sixteenth century. Dr Saliba demonstrates that particular commentaries were distinguished by the introduction of new scientific thinking, and also a level of astronomical mathematical sophistication that outmatched any of the earlier works that were produced within the Islamic civilisation, and, in some instances, even surpassed the contemporary scientific works that were produced in Europe at the time. Dr Saliba attributes the lack of scholarly attention to late scientific commentaries to a number of reasons, most prominently: the difficulty in reading late commentaries, absence of explanatory illustrations, and a perpetuated misconception that following the classical or golden age of Islam, there was nothing worth studying in terms of cultural output.
Shared Knowledge
The Critical Edition of Manuscripts between Text Verification and Commentary
The Arabic Manuscripts in North Africa and Sub-Saharan Countries
Ibn al-‘Adīm al-‘Uqaylī and his "History of Aleppo"