Al-Aqsa Arabic Manuscripts Going Online


Top of page from 1347 CE copy of Miftah al-‘ulum of al-Sakaki in the al-Aqsa Mosque Library

The British Museum is sponsoring a project to digitalize Arabic manuscripts in the al-Aqsa Mosque library of Jerusalem. Details below and at their website:

EAP521: Digitisation of manuscripts at the Al-aqsa Mosque Library, East Jerusalem

The main goal of this project is to preserve the historical manuscript collection housed at the Al-aqsa Mosque Library in Jerusalem. The Al-aqsa Library located at the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem serves as a primary research center for Islamic studies and as a reference library for scholars and students from Jerusalem and other Palestinian cities. The library’s rare and most valuable collection consists of approximately 2000 manuscripts. The manuscripts were acquired by the Al-aqsa Library from prominent scholars, private collections, and from libraries in Palestine that have ceased to exist. The materials selected for this project represent 119 manuscript titles in the most immediate need of preservation.

EAP521/1: Al-Aqsa Mosque Library Collection of Historical Manuscripts [12th century-19th century]

“This manuscript collection contains 119 Arabic language titles that span over several Islamic periods from the 9th century CE to the end of the Ottoman rule in Palestine at the beginning of the 20th century. Most of the manuscripts relate to aspects of the Islamic religion, but also cover Arabic literature, the Arabic language, logic, math and Sufism and provide a unique insight into centuries of Arabic culture in Palestine. The numbers of pages of original material represent double pages, often librarians of islamic manuscripts use one number for every two pages. ”

Digitisation is planned primarily as a means of preservation in order to create high-quality archival digital copies of the original source materials that are at risk of deterioration. Environmental factors, wear and tear of manuscripts due to poor storage conditions, the lack of security at the library, and the unstable political situation in Jerusalem contribute to the sense of urgency and make digitisation of these unique manuscript materials a top priority.

The materials selected for digitisation include a collection of 119 rare manuscripts that span over several Islamic periods from the 12th to the 19th century AD, constituting approximately 33000 pages. The selection includes the manuscripts from the collections of well-known Palestinian scholars, such as Fayd Allah al-‘Alami and the Shaykh Khalil al-Khalidi and from the private collection of Shaykh Muhammad al-Khalili, who died in 1734. The latter collection was acquired by Al-aqsa Mosque Library in the 1970s. Prior to that, the collection was in the possession of the descendents of the shaykh and was moved frequently from place to place, which led to its considerable physical deterioration. The manuscripts selected for digitisation cover a wide range of subjects, including theology, Quran and its interpretation, Islamic law, Arabic language and literature, astronomy, medicine and history. The collection documents the history and cultural heritage of the region and its people.

The project will address the preservation challenges at the Al-aqsa Mosque Library by creating archival quality digital copies of the manuscripts and conserving the original source materials. Two sets of archival digital master files will be created as a result of this project – one set with be deposited with the Al-aqsa Mosque Library, the other with the British Library. Item-level descriptions for each manuscript will be produced in accordance with the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme listing guidelines. In addition, the digitisation project intends to create multiple derivative copies to widen access to these rare materials to scholars, students, and the general public, and make the collection more visible and accessible. Creating derivative copies of these unique materials should further assist the library in the preservation efforts.

The digitisation project provides an opportunity to preserve these historical manuscripts and share them with a wider community of scholars and students. The selected manuscripts are particularly rare as they represent the only known copies of these unique titles. The project will help to preserve these historical materials for current and future scholars.