Welcome to Al-Furqan’s E-Database
The largest gateway of Islamic written heritage
matches
- Language
- XAlbanian
- XAmharic
- XArabic
- XAzeri
- XBamum
- XBelorussian
- XBerber
- XBosnian
- XChagatai
- XChaghatay
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- Subject
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- XPolemics
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- XTurkish studies
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- XVeterinary
- XWarfare
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- XZoology
‘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: | Suq al-Layl, Mecca |
| Telephone: | 02/5741812 |
| Date of establishment: | 1379/1959 |
| Status: | Institutional |
| Status Details: | Public library (governmental) |
| Condition of access: | Open to all readers. MSS can be consulted within the library. Photographic copies can be made after obtaining authorization from the Ministry of Ḥaij and Endowments. The library is open throughout the week except Thursdays and Fridays. |
| Total number of Islamic MSS: | 1,200. |
| Description of Collection: | The library has suffered from neglect in the past. Now, under the patronage of the Ministry of Ḥajj and Endowments, it is in better condition. MSS in need of binding have been bound. However, some MSS require repair and periodic decontamination. The MSS cover various fields: copies of the Qurʾan, recitation, tafsir, Qurʾanic sciences, Ḥadith and related sciences, jurisprudence, doctrine, Arabic language sciences, literature, history, biography and Sufism. A limited number of MSS deal with astronomy, arithmetic, medicine and geography. Most MSS were copied between the 10th and 13th centuries AH, but there are some from the 8th and 9th centuries. There is a rare collection of ornamented Qurʾans in fine calligraphic hands. The holdings of the library include some famous private collections of Mecca which have been donated to it, such as that of Shaykh Muḥammad Majid al-Kurdi (d. 1349 AH). Rarities include Mabariq al-anwar fi sharḥ Mashariq al-Anwar by ʿAbd al-Laṭif al-Ḥanafi (dated 832 AH) and Bahjat al-Nufus wa-Taḥliyatuha wa-bayan ma Laha wa-ma ʿalayha by ʿAbd Allah ibn Saʿd al-Andalusi (Maghribi script). See: Maktabat Makka al-Mukarrama. By ʿAbd al-Laṭīf ibn Duhaysh.ʿĀlam al-Kutub, 6 iv, 1406/1985, pp. 491–493. Makkah al-Mukarramah Library. By Abdul Latif Ibn Dohaish [ʿAbd al-Laṭīf Ibn Duhaysh].Pakistan Library Bulletin 18 ii–iii, 1987, pp. 7–11. See also 1988 article and monograph by Ibn Duhaysh (under General Libraries at Makkah al-Mukarramah. By Abdul Latif Ibn Dohaish [ʿAbd al-Laṭīf Ibn Duhaysh].Pakistan Library Bulletin 19 i, 1988, pp. 21–25. Al-maktabāt al-khāṣṣa fi Makka al-Mukarrama.By ʿAbd al-Laṭīf ibn Duhaysh.Mecca, 1408/1988. 56pp. |
| Notes: | See published World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts. 1992 - 1994, Vol.3, p 19. |
| Published Catalogues: | 3 |
| Unpublished Catalogues: | 1 |
| Published Catalogues Total: 3 | 1968 |
1994 | |
1994 | |
| Unpublished Catalogues Total: 1 | The library has an internal catalogue in the form of a register which gives: title, author, number of folios, dimensions, date of copying (if known), shelfmark and brief remarks. |
| Union Catalogues & Surveys Total: 21 | 1919 |
1926 | |
1936 | |
1941 | |
1947 | |
1955 | |
1958 | |
1968 | |
1968 | |
1973 | |
1976 | |
1976 | |
1977 | |
1977 | |
1979 | |
1979 | |
1980 | |
1983 | |
1983 | |
1984 | |
1990 | |
| Bibliographical appendix Total: 11 | 1967 |
1978 | |
1980 | |
1982 | |
1982 | |
1983 | |
1983 | |
1984 | |
1985 | |
1986 | |
1986 |
Cities surveyed
Libraries surveyed
Catalogues surveyed
