Welcome to Al-Furqan’s E-Database
The largest gateway of Islamic written heritage
matches
- Language
- XAlbanian
- XAmharic
- XArabic
- XAzeri
- XBamum
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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.
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| Contact: | Potsdamer Straße 33, 10785 Berlin |
| Telephone: | 49 30 2660 |
| Date of establishment: | 1659 |
| Status: | Institutional |
| Status Details: | Public |
| Condition of access: | The MSS can be consulted in a special section. |
| Total number of Islamic MSS: | ca. 11,730 (ca. 7200 Arabic; ca. 40 Kurdish; ca. 40 Malay; ca. 900 Persian; ca. 1500 Turkish; 54 Urdu). |
| Description of Collection: | W. Ahlwardt, in 1887, counted 6450 volumes of Arabic MSS in 13 different collections. But since then a number of additional collections have been acquired; and they are still growing fast through gifts and purchases. Thus, no exact numbers can be given; perhaps some 9700 Islamic MSS are now in Berlin (a mere estimate because the later acquisitions often have not been identified as yet; thus, they may be ascribed to other cultures eventually). An exact count of the number of MSS in one particular collection, and a comparison with another, is impossible also (especially in a big library like the Staatsbibliothek of Berlin) because the numerous authors often have not distinguished between “work”, or “treatise”, and “manuscript” (which often contains several treatises). The MSS are in held in exemplary conditions, in a special, well guarded section of the library. All fields of Islamic studies are covered. The MSS come from all periods of Islamic history (obviously with the exception of the first three [centuries]); but the great majority is not very old (the more recent acquisitions especially often appear to be hardly more than occasional commercial products). A few, however, are quite old and rare. In the re-united Berlin the former Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz in the western part of the city has recently been entrusted also with the MSS formerly kept in East Berlin. See Die orientalische Abteilung der Preussischen Staatsbibliothek.By Gotthold Weil. In: Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen; 37, 1920, pp. 57–66. Deutsche Staatsbibliothek 1661–1961. Vol. 1: Geschichte und Gegenwart. Die Handschriften-abteilung: Von der Gründung der kurfürstlichen Bibliothek bis zum Beginn des 19. JahrhundertsBy Hans Lülfing.Leipzig: Deutsche Staatsbibliothek. Der Plan für die Einrichtung der Orientalischen Abteilung in der Deutschen Staatsbibliothek und ihre heutigen Funktionen. Zum 50jährigen Bestehen der Abteilung.By K. Schubarth-Engelschall. Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen 83, 1969, pp. 129–135. Die Erschliessung der Bestände der Asien-Afrika-Abteilung der Deutschen Staatsbibliothek, Berlin.By E.-M. Freytag & H. Keller.Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen 92, 1978, pp. 276–279. Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz. Kostbare Handschriften und Drucke.Wiesbaden: Reichert. 205pp. Erwerbung von Handschriften zum islamischen Recht an der Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Berlin).By K. Schwarz. Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Juristisches Bibliotheks- und Dokumentationswesen: Mitteilungen 10, 1980, pp. 122–123. Türkische Handschriften in der Staatsbibliothek.By K. Schwarz. Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz: Mitteilungen 14, 1982,pp. 148–153. Die Sammlung türkischer Handschriften in der Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Berlin/West).By K. Schwarz.Acta Orientalia (Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae) 37, 1983, pp. 111–120. Turkish manuscripts: cataloguing since 1960 and manuscripts still uncatalogued. Part 1: The Berlin catalogue.By E. Birnbaum.Journal of the American Oriental Society 103, 1983, pp. 413–420. 25 Jahre Katalogisierung der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland (1957–1982).By D. George.Staatsbibliothek Preussische Kulturbesitz: Mitteilungen 15, 1983, pp. 156–165. Orientabteilung.By H.O. Feistel.Preussischer Kulturbesitz. 25 Jahre in Berlin: Sammeln—Forschen—Bilden. Aus der Arbeit der Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz 1961–1986. Berlin: Mann, (Jahrbuch Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Sonderband 3) pp. 207–210. |
| Notes: | The library was founded in 1659 as “Churfürstliche Bibliothek”. Divided as a result of World War II; the Staatsbibliothek formerly in East Berlin recently combined with the Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz (formerly in West-Berlin), as before. |
| Published Catalogues: | 31 |
| Unpublished Catalogues: | 1 |
| Online access: | staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/ |
| Published Catalogues Total: 31 | 1871 |
1885 | |
1887 | |
1887 – 1899 | |
1888 | |
1889 | |
1906 | |
1908 | |
1912 | |
1921 | |
1927 | |
1949 | |
1964 | |
1968 – 1980 | |
1968 – 1981 | |
1968 | |
1970 | |
1971 | |
1974 | |
1976 – 1994 | |
1976 – 1987 | |
1979 | |
1980 | |
1981 | |
1981 | |
1981 | |
1982 | |
1984 | |
1987 | |
1989 | |
1990 | |
| Unpublished Catalogues Total: 1 | Handwritten records of acquisition. |
| Union Catalogues & Surveys Total: 8 | 1949 – 1956 |
1957 – 1958 | |
1961 | |
1965 | |
1966 | |
1973 | |
1979 | |
1992 | |
| Bibliographical appendix Total: 13 | 1927 |
1938 | |
1949 | |
1958 | |
1959 | |
1967 | |
1967 | |
1971 | |
1981 | |
1982 | |
1984 | |
1984 | |
1990 |
Cities surveyed
Libraries surveyed
Catalogues surveyed
