To access these books, click here.
1700 Books on Palestine
Category Archives: Teaching Resources
Podcast on Gulf Almanac Lore
My podcast with Ahmed AlMaazmi and Tamara Fernando is posted online on the New Books Network.
Yemen Film 1973
This exquisite film was produced in 1973 and filmed in 1972, thus representing Yemen half a century ago. It is now available on Youtube. The filmmakers were Karen and Alain Saint Hilaire. The camera was a bolex ebm electric. It has filmed when Qadi al-Iryani was the head of government. There are scenes from the Tihama, Sanaa, Sa‘da, Ma’rib, etc, including many crafts, fishing, agriculture, a funeral, celebration of the end of the civil war and much more. It is well worth spending two hours to watch this archival film of a Yemen now largely past but not forgotten.
Researching Islamic Manuscripts
Mahmoud Zaki has assembled a major resource on sources for the study of Islamic manuscripts, including links to major digital collections and publications. It can be accessed here. This is an extraordinary resource for anyone working on manuscripts of the Islamic era.
Picturing the “Enemy”
My friend Karim Ben Khelifa, an award-winning photographic journalist who I met over a decade ago, has produced an extraordinary film (“The Enemy”) on his experience as a photographer of war and violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, the Democratic Republic of Congo and El Salvador, as well as 80 countries overall. On Youtube there is a talk he gave in 2019 about his work. including a number of his photographs. His amazing skill as a photographer is matched by his passion to show the reality of treating other human beings as enemies.
Karim has also taken photographs in Yemen over a decade ago. Some of these are archived on the New York Times blog. One of my favorites is the image of the mammoth mosque built in Sanaa by the late President Ali Abdullah Salih.
Of mice and manuscripts
For anyone who works on Arabic manuscripts or would like to know how that is done, this new website at Leiden University is a welcome introduction. Check it out here: https://mouse.digitalscholarship.nl.
Arabic Dictionaries Online
In 1981, while visiting Egypt for a consulting assignment with USAID, I purchased the old Cairo edition of the massive dictionary TÄj al-‘ArÅ«s of Murtaá¸Ä al-ZabÄ«dÄ« (d. 1790). This was in about 10 large and heavy volumes. For it and a few other books I bought a cheap suitcase and paid the porter who carried it from the taxi to the airline desk a large baksheesh. When I arrived back in New York, as I was entering the door of our home, the suitcase burst open and TÄj al-‘ArÅ«s was spread on the floor.
That was some 35 years ago, but now I have pdf files of the entire modern Kuwaiti edition courtesy of archive.org. While a scholar of Arabic used to either buy the physical book (I purchased a set of LisÄn al-‘Arab in Baghdad in 1979) or be based near a major library (I had the advantage of the Oriental Room of the New York Public Library), now all it takes is a click of a mouse and many megabytes of space to build up a library of Arabic dictionaries.
For those who are looking for Arabic dictionaries available online or in pdf format, here is a list. Others are welcome to suggest sources they know.
Online Arabic Dictionaries
• The first place to go for classical Arabic is al-BÄḥith al-‘ArabÄ« (http://www.baheth.info/), which is searchable by word in Arabic for the following dictionaries:
LisÄn al-‘Arab of Ibn Manẓūr (d. 1311 CE); MaqÄyyis al-lugha of Aḥmad ibn FÄris (d. 1004) ; al-SiḥÄḥ fÄ« al-lugha of IsmÄ‘īl ibn ḤammÄd al-JawharÄ« (d. 1003); al-QÄmÅ«s al-muḥīṠof al-FÄ«rÅ«zÄbÄdÄ« (d. 1329); and, al-‘UbÄb al-zÄkhir of al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad al-á¹¢aghÄnÄ« (d. 1252).
• The Arabic website al-Ma‘ÄnÄ« (http://www.almaany.com/) is an excellent source for Arabic definitions of Arabic terms.
• For Arabic to English, the original text of Edward Lane’s (1863) An Arabic-English Lexicon is available as an online pdf at http://www.tyndalearchive.com/TABS/Lane/. It is also available as a download at archive.org and at http://www.studyquran.co.uk/LLhome.htm
Arabic Dictionaries in PDF
• Al-FayrÅ«zÄbÄdī’s al-QÄmÅ«s al-muḥīṠis at https://archive.org/details/QamusMuhit
• Ibn Manẓūr’s LisÄn al-‘Arab is at https://archive.org/details/lisan.al.arab
• Al-á¹¢aghÄnī’s al-Takmila wa-al-dhayl is at https://archive.org/details/TKMLH
• Al-ZabÄ«dī’s massive TÄj al-‘arÅ«s (Kuwaiti version) is at https://archive.org/details/taga07
• see also Dozy, R. (1881) Supplement aux Dictionnaires Arabes. Leiden Brill. at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6254645z
Arabic/English, English/Arabic, etc.
• Baretto, Joseph (1804) A Dictionary of the Persian and Arabic Languages. Calcutta : S. Greenway, India Gazette Press. Vol. 2 at https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofpers02barriala
• Johnson, Francis (1852) A Dictionary, Persian, Arabic and English. London: W.H. Allen. at https://archive.org/details/b22651366
• Penrice, John (1873) A Dictionary and Glossary of the Kor-ân. London: Henry S. King. at https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QYwq3ylpv6kC
• Richardson, John (1810) A Vocabulary, Persian, Arabic, and English; abridged from the quarto edition of Richardson’s dictionary is at https://archive.org/details/vocabularypersia00richiala
• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1882) English-Arabic Dictionary: For the Use of Both Travellers and Students. London: W. H. Allen and Co. at https://archive.org/details/englisharabicdi00steigoog
• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884) The Student’s Arabic-English Dictionary. London: Crosby, Lockwood and Son at https://archive.org/details/cu31924026873194
• Wehr, Hans (1960) Arabic-English Dictionary is available as a pdf at https://archive.org/details/Arabic-englsihDictionary
• Wortabet, William Thomson Arabic-English Dictionary is available as a pdf at https://archive.org/details/WortabetsArabic-englishDictionary
Arabic Dialect Dictionaries
• Ben Sedirah, Belkassam (1910) Petit dictionnaire arabe-français de la langue parlée en Algérie, contenant les mots et les formules employés dans les lettres et les actes judiciaires. Alger: Jourdan. at https://archive.org/details/petitdictionnair00abaluoft
• Biberstein-Kazimirski, Albert de (1860) Dictionnaire arabe-francais contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe : leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc. Paris: Maisonneuve: Éditeurs pour les langues orientales, Européenes et comparées. at https://archive.org/details/dictionnairearab02bibeuoft
• Cameron, Donald Andreas (1892) An Arabic-English vocabulary for the use of English students of modern Egyptian Arabic. London: Bernard Quaritch. at https://archive.org/details/arabicenglishvoc00cameuoft
• Crow, Francis Edward (1901) Arabic manual. A colloquial handbook in the Syrian dialect, for the use of visitors to Syria and Palestine, containing a simplified grammar, a comprehensive English and Arabic vocabulary and dialogues. London: Luzac and co.
at https://archive.org/details/arabicmanualcoll00crow
• Hinds, Martin and el-Said Badawi (1986) A Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic is available as a pdf at https://archive.org/details/ADictionaryOfEgyptianArabicArabicEnglish
• Landberg, Carlo (1901) Études sur les dialectes de l’Arabie méridionale. I: Ḥaá¸ramoÅ«t. Leiden: Brill. at https://archive.org/details/tudessurlesdial00unkngoog
• Landberg, Carlo (1909) Études sur les dialectes de l’Arabie méridionale. Datina. Leiden: Brill. https://archive.org/details/p2tudessurlesdia02landuoft
• Nishio, Tetsuo (1992) A Basic Vocabulary of the Bedouin Arabic Dialect of the JbÄli tribe (Southern Sinai). Tokyo : Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa. https://archive.org/details/basicvocabularyo00nish
• Rhodokanakis, Nikolaus (1908) Der vulgärarabische Dialekt im Dofâr (Zfâr). Vienna: Alfred Hölder. at https://archive.org/details/dervulgrarabis10rhod
Arabic Thesaurus
• Ibn Qutayba Adab al-kÄtib. Beirut: Mu’assisa al-RisÄla. at https://archive.org/details/tanmawia.com_15789
• Ibn SÄ«da, Al-MukhaṣṣÄá¹£. Beirut: DÄr al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya. at https://archive.org/details/mukhsasmukhsas
• KhuwÄrizmÄ«, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad (1866-1903) Liber Mafâtîh al-olûm: explicans vocabula technica scientiarum tam Arabum quam peregrinorum. Edited by G. Voten. Lugduni Batavorum: Brill. [in Arabic] at https://archive.org/details/b29006247
Specialized Arabic Terms
•Al-DamÄ«rÄ« (1908) Ad-Damîrî’s Ḥayât al-ḤayawÄn (A Zoological Lexicon). Translated by A. S. G. Jayakar. London: Luzac. Vol. 2, Part 1. at https://archive.org/details/addamrsaytalaya00damgoog
• Al-DamÄ«rÄ« ḤayÄt al-ḥayawÄn ms. at https://al-mostafa.info/data/arabic/depot/gap.php?file=m013645.pdf
• Fleury, V and Muammad Souhlal (1915) L’arabe pratique et commercial à l’usage des établissements d’instruction et des commerçants, lecture, écriture, grammaire, syntaxe, exercices d’application, conversation, lexiques, dictionnaire commercial. Alger: Jourdan.
at https://archive.org/details/larabepratiqueet00fleuuoft
• Dozy, Renard (1845) Dictionnaire Détaillé des noms des vêtements chez les Arabes. Amsterdam: Jean Müller. at https://archive.org/details/dictionnairedt00dozyuoft
• Fonahn, A. (1922) Arabic and Latin Anatomical Terminology. Kristiania: Jacob Dybwad. at https://archive.org/details/arabiclatinanat00fona
• IbrÄhÄ«m, Rajab (2002) al-Mu‘jam al-‘ArabÄ« li-asmÄ’ al-malÄbis. Cairo: DÄr al-MufÄq. at https://archive.org/stream/FP56847/56847#page/n0/mode/2up
• Mu‘jam muá¹£á¹laḥÄt al-‘ulÅ«m al-shar‘īyya. Saudi Arabia, 2017. Vol. 1 at https://archive.org/details/momsolshPDF
• Siddiqi, Abdussattar (1919) Studien über die Persischen Fremdwörter im klassischen Arabisch. Göttingen, Vandenhoeck. at https://archive.org/details/studienberdiep00sidd
• YÄqÅ«t, Mu‘jam al-buldan. at https://www.4shared.com
Exploring Arabic Texts:
There are many more sources available at archive.org if you put “Arabic language†in the search bar. Important sources for links to pdfs of Arabic language texts include the following:
• Arabic Collections Online (NYU Aby Dhabi): http://dlib.nyu.edu/aco/
• 4shared.com: https://www.4shared.com/
• Al-Madinah Inernational University Digital Library: http://dlibrary.mediu.edu
• al-Maktaba al-ShÄmila: http://shamela.ws/
• Mawqa‘ al-á¸Ä«yÄ‘: http://www.aldhiaa.com/arabic/book.php?sort=all
• al-Mostafa: https://www.al-mostafa.com/
• Waqfeya: http://waqfeya.com/category.php?cid=6
• See the list of sites at https://digitalorientalist.com/2015/01/16/full-text-online-arabic-sources-a-preliminary-list/
Advanced Course in Arabic Manuscript Studies
The Islamic Manuscript Association, in cooperation with Cambridge University Library and the Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation, is pleased to announce an advanced short course in manuscript studies, entitled Scholars, Scribes, and Readers: An Advanced Course in Arabic Manuscript Studies, which will be held at Cambridge University Library from 6 to 10 June 2016.
This intensive five-day course is intended for researchers, librarians, curators, and anyone else working with Islamic manuscripts. As an advanced course, it is particularly aimed at those who already have some experience in Islamic codicology and palaeography and all participants must have a good reading knowledge of Arabic. The course will focus on Arabic-language manuscripts from various regions, including historical Turkey, Iran, and India. It is hoped that this advanced course will allow participants to gain greater exposure to and familiarity with the vast array of practices encountered in Arabic manuscripts.
The workshop will consist of three days of illustrated, interactive lectures on selected manuscripts and two days of hands-on sessions focusing on a selection of manuscripts from the Cambridge University Library collection. The manuscripts selected for presentation by the instructor cover the whole range of scribal practices encountered in a variety of subjects/genres, geographical regions, and historical periods (see the programme for details).
Continue reading Advanced Course in Arabic Manuscript Studies