Welcome to Al-Furqan’s E-Database
The largest gateway of Islamic written heritage
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‘World Collections’ databank / collection
The ‘World Collections’ databank / collection holds the digitised outcome of the survey on the collections of Islamic manuscripts in the world, completed and published by the Al-Furqan Foundation in 1994, under the title “The World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts”.. This Survey is available in both the English and Arabic language.
This flagship project (the only one of this type to date) started in 1989, focusing on identifying and recording undocumented Islamic manuscript collections in the world, with the aim to support and instigate research into the field of Islamic manuscripts. A number of known scholars and experts contributed to this encyclopaedic work.
The Survey identified collections in 106 countries. It is a compilation of detailed independent studies, highlighting just over a million and a half Islamic manuscripts from just over 2,500 collections. These collections, in more than 40 languages, belong to public and private libraries in almost 1,300 cities. It gathered extensive information about these libraries, including details about their establishment and the status of their collections, unveiling in the process rare manuscripts. For example, the collection of manuscripts at the Institute of Oriental Culture (University of Tokyo) - that was acquired in 1987 - included several new and unique Islamic manuscripts. The noteworthy discoveries were two copies of Risala fi anwaʿ al-mashruʿat, a comprehensive work on the terminology of jurisprudence, by Luṭf Allah al-Kaydani (died 1349 AD /750 AH). These were significant findings, as they had not even been mentioned in the most renowned classical period references, such as Brockelmann's famous work Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur (GAL), Sezgin's Geschichte Des Arabischens Schriftums (GAS), and Kaḥḥala's Muʿjam al-muʾallifin.
A large number of the identified libraries have listed and included detailed descriptions about the manuscripts held in their collection, in a form of a document or publication. This publication is known as a ‘catalogue’; with most of them published and available for purchase. Another form of a published catalogue is one that was compiled by a group of libraries, known as ‘library consortium’. These libraries partnered to combine their collections into one unified published catalogue, known as a ‘union catalogue’.
Some libraries held collections that were not catalogued or documented. Others made an attempt to describe their collections in simplified lists and general documentations. These were usually not published and are known as ‘unpublished catalogues’.
A unique outcome of the Survey was the identification of all the various catalogues. Just over 5,500 catalogues of Islamic manuscripts were surveyed, including the listing of almost 700 union catalogues, and almost 1,000 unpublished catalogues.
All this information and much more is ready to be explored on theAl-Furqan Digital Library, under the ‘World Collections’ databank.
|
| Telephone: | 321 648 |
| Date of establishment: | 1927 |
| Status: | Institutional |
| Status Details: | Public library |
| Total number of Islamic MSS: | 198 (Arabic). |
| Description of Collection: | The collection contains Qurʾans and MSS on most of the religious and legal sciences, education, grammar, history, literature, logic, philosophy, principles of research, rhetoric, mathematics, Sufism and composition (waḍʿ). They were mostly written in the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries AH, but a few are from the 10th and 11th centuries. The collection is kept in a large hall which houses all the holdings of the library. The MSS are in a wooden cupboard with glass doors and are occasionally fumigated. Apart from that there is no conservation or repair work, and some MSS have been affected by worms. Among the important MSS of the collection are: (i) ʿUddat al-Ḥiṣn al-Ḥaṣin min Kalam Sayyid al-Mursalin, by Shams al-Din Muḥammad ibn Muhammad al-Jazari (d. 833 H), dated 879 H; (ii) Al-Fawaʾid al-Ḍiyaʾiya by ʿAbd al-Raḥman al-Jami, dated 945 H; (iii) Sharḥ Kamal Basha ʿala 'l-Sirajiya fi 'l-Faraʾiḍ by Kamal Basha-Zadah, dated 970 H; (iv) Durar al-Ḥukkam fi Sharḥ Ghurar al-Aḥkam by Mulla Khusraw, dated 995 H |
| Notes: | See published World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts. 1992 - 1994, Vol.1, p 226. |
| Published Catalogues: | 1 |
| Unpublished Catalogues: | 2 |
| Published Catalogues Total: 1 | 1956 |
| Unpublished Catalogues Total: 2 | Register (sijill) listing MSS nos. T1–T199 (lacking T45). |
Card catalogue including both printed & MS. material. This is in a state of disorder because there are no professional staff in the Library. |
| Union Catalogues & Surveys Total: 12 | 1858 |
1919 | |
1928 | |
1930 | |
1930 | |
1934 | |
1939 – 1942 | |
1947 | |
1957 | |
1976 | |
1986 | |
1989 | |
| Bibliographical appendix Total: 20 | 1949 |
1958 | |
1958 | |
1959 | |
1962 | |
1967 | |
1972 – 1973 | |
1974 | |
1977 | |
1978 | |
1982 | |
1983 | |
1983 | |
1984 | |
1985 | |
1986 | |
1987 | |
1988 | |
1989 | |
1991 |
Cities surveyed
Libraries surveyed
Catalogues surveyed
