Category Archives: Islamic Texts

Islamic Medicine at Yale

Animals, Food and Drink, Gender and Sexuality, Islamic Sciences, Islamic Texts, Miniatures, Orientalism, Scholars


Ibn Sina’s (d. 1037 CE) Qanun, copied in Shiraz in 1645 CE

For anyone interested in the history of Islamic medicine, there are some rare editions of texts by famous Muslim scholars like Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Masawayh, al-Antaki, al-Damiri, and others, including a few 19th century French translations published in North Africa. These are available to view or as pdfs at Yale University’s library. Below is the press release about the collection:

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS RELEASE

This digitized collection of selected volumes of medical books and manuscripts, dating from 1300 to 1921, is drawn from the Medical Historical Library, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library. This collection reflects the Arabic and Persian intellectual efforts that translated, augmented, and transmitted Greek and Roman medical knowledge to Western societies during the Renaissance. It includes iconic works by authors such as Avicenna and al-Razi.

The Medical Historical Library, originally formed by the joining of three collections by bibliophiles Harvey Cushing, John Fulton, and Arnold Klebs, has over 120,000 volumes dating from the 12th to the 21st centuries. While primarily composed of works in Western medicine and science, a smaller selection of Arabic and Persian books and manuscripts are a “hidden collection” in the Library. Through the support of the Arcadia Fund, the Medical Historical Library was able to digitize Arabic and Persian books and manuscripts, as well as early translations in Latin, French, and English. Continue reading Islamic Medicine at Yale →

On Dar al-Kutub in Cairo

Egypt, Islamic Texts, Teaching Resources

A review of the manuscript collections viewable at the Bab al-Khalq branch of Dar al-Kutub wa-al-Wathaʾiq al-Qawmiyya (Egyptian National Library and Archives), Cairo, Egypt.

by Noah Gardner, Dissertation Reviews, January 6, 2014

Bab al-Khalq Square, Cairo, Egypt
Tel: +20 2393-8656; 2391-7843; 2391-7825
Fax: +20 2393-8759
www.darelkotob.gov.eg (functions sporadically)

Bab al-Khalq Reading Room hours:
Sunday – Thursday, 9 am to 4:45 pm
Closed Fridays, Saturdays, and national holidays.

The Egyptian National Library and Archives in Cairo makes available extensive holdings of printed books, serials, coins, papyri, documents, and other collections of interest to researchers; however, in this review I solely address working with its large and important collection of Islamicate manuscripts, much of which is accessible in microform at the library’s Bab al-Khalq branch. After giving a brief history of the library and its manuscript holdings, I discuss preparing to visit the library, reaching it once in Cairo, working with the printed catalogs and on-site electronic catalog, and viewing and obtaining copies of microfilms. As an appendix I include a list of the numerous printed catalogs dedicated to the collection, along with some tips for working with them. While some of my observations regarding the library’s systems are critical, I hope it will be understood that they come from the perspective of an avid user and admirer of the library, and are in no way intended to detract from the efforts of the highly dedicated staff, or to discourage would-be researchers.

History of the library and an overview of its manuscript holdings

The library was founded in 1870, during the reign of the Khedive IsmaÊ¿il Pasha. It originally was located in Darb al-Gamamiz, at which time it was called al-Kutubkhana al-Khidiwiyya (the Khedival Library). In 1904 it was moved to the purpose-built, monumental Neo-Mamluk-style building at Bab al-Khalq Square—on Port Said Street at the intersection of Ahmed Maher and Muhammad Ali Streets—which it shares with the Museum of Islamic Art. In the 1970s much of the library was relocated to a new building on the Nile Corniche. While the majority of the actual manuscripts are still stored at the Corniche Branch, the Bab al-Khalq building has been renovated in recent years, and now houses greatly improved conservation and storage facilities, a microfilm reading room, and a state-of-the-art exhibition area for select manuscripts. The library currently holds approximately 57,000 codices; the vast majority of these are in Arabic, though roughly 1,000 are in Persian and over 2,100 are in Ottoman Turkish. Since its founding the library has absorbed a number of smaller Cairene libraries and important private collections of manuscripts, such as those of Ahmed Pasha Taymur, Halim Pasha, Khalil Agha, and others, and the names of many of these collectors still serve as shelfmark headings. It is one of the largest and most important collections of Islamicate manuscripts in the world, and includes numerous manuscripts from the first four centuries anno hegirae, including what are claimed to be some of the earliest surviving Qurʾan manuscripts, as well as many thousands of later medieval and early modern codices on the full range of subjects common to premodern Islamicate learning and culture. Much, though not all, of the collection has been filmed and is available in microform. Those seeking a more complete history of the library and the manuscript holdings should consult Dr. Ayman FuÊ¿ad Sayyid’s excellent Dar al-Kutub al-Miá¹£riyya : TārÄ«khuhā wa-taá¹­awwuruhā (Cairo: Maktabat al-Dār al-Ê»Arabiyya li-al-Kitāb, 1996). Continue reading On Dar al-Kutub in Cairo →

Wellcome Library Arabic Manuscripts Online

Islamic Sciences, Islamic Texts, Miniatures, Teaching Resources


عجايب المخلوقات وغرايب المخلوقات الموجودات

The Arabic manuscripts collection of the Wellcome Library (London) comprises around 1000 manuscript books and fragments relating to the history of medicine. For the first time this website enables a substantial proportion of this collection to be consulted online via high-quality digital images of entire manuscripts and associated rich metadata.

This has been made possible by a pioneering partnership between the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Wellcome Library, and King’s College London, with funding from the JISC Islamic studies programme.

These manuscripts are part of the Wellcome Library’s Asian Collection, which comprises some 12,000 manuscripts and 4,000 printed books in 43 different languages. The Islamic holdings include Arabic and Persian manuscripts and printed books, and a small collection of Ottoman manuscripts and Turkish books. The core of these collections relates to the great heritage of classical medicine, preserved, enlarged and commentated on throughout the Islamic world, stretching from Southern Spain to South and South-east Asia.

Democracy … the West … and Islam: Part One

"Arab Spring", Development, Islam: Introduction, Islamic History, Qur'an, Yemen


Yemeni man voting; photo by Hani Mohammed/AP

By Samira Ali BinDaair, Sanaa, Republic of Yemen

This essay is an attempt at shedding some light on the relationship between democracy, Islam and the Western world and in the process dispelling some of the misconceptions about the chasm between Islam and democracy. It is nowhere easy for the entire society to have unanimity on any given issue let alone such a complex one as what constitutes good governance and the best political system to be adopted. The Arab world has tried it all but I would like to point out that any system when transplanted and adopted without the necessary conditions for its success is bound to fail, leading to the condemnation of the system rather than analysis of the causes of failure in implementation.
Democracy as a pure concept

I would like to start with the concept of democracy which some Muslims have rejected on the basis of its emanating from the West within secular governments and secular ideas. However, if one examines the concept in its pure form it simply means rule of the people by the people for the people. To demystify it further, what it simply boils down to is that people have a voice in national affairs and choice of their leader and by virtue of the same fact are able to remove the leader through general consensus and legal means if the leader proves to be incapable of living up to the responsibilities entrusted to him/her. Continue reading Democracy … the West … and Islam: Part One →

Damascus after the Muslim Conquest

Archaeology and Antiquities, Books You Should Read, Islamic History, Islamic Texts, Syria

[The following is a link to an interview with Professor Nancy Khalek on her recent book, Damascus after the Muslim Conquest: Text and Image in Early Islam
Oxford University Press, 2011]

by Matthew Long, New Books in Islamic Studies, September 6, 2013

A top five finalist for the Best First Book in the History of Religion Award, Damascus after the Muslim Conquest (Oxford University Press, 2011) by Nancy Khalek, professor of Religious Studies at Brown University, is a study of the city of Damascus, the seat of power for the Umayyad dynasty. More specifically, this book explores the interaction between the recently arrived Muslim Arab rulers and the Byzantine-Christian peoples who made up the majority of the population in Syria. Khalek employs both traditional historical texts, such as Ibn ‘Asākir’s Tārīkh Dimashq, along with art and architecture from the region. She displays a mastery of both the Muslim and Christian sources, discerning the value of their historicity but highlighting the narrative and iconographic significance that can be extrapolate from those sources. During her study of the stories and art, the narratives and iconography reveal that the Muslim and Christian cultures of Syria were in a type of dialogue with each other. She takes care to avoid stating this was a replacement one culture or one borrowing from anther, but instead wishes to portray a blending of these cultures; a blending whose legacy lived on for centuries. Khalek’s work is truly a significant contribution to the field of Islamic Studies and an indispensable interdisciplinary study for both its use of a variety of lesser known source material and its re-imagining of Umayyad history in Syria.

Thought Police: What were they thinking?

CyberOrient, Ethics, Islamic Law, Qur'an, Saudi Arabia, Wahhabi


Celebrating Saudi Arabia’s National Day

In case you missed it, September 23 was Saudi Arabia’s National Day, the oil-driven nation’s 4th of July. Not surprisingly many people, proud of their country, took to the streets to celebrate. But what is good for the state is not necessarily seen as good for the faith, especially in the conservative Wahhabi/Salafi variety that weds tribal origin with a dogmatic theology. The tension between a strict form of Islamic practice and the diversity that instills cultural practices has always been a problem, perhaps even more so with the wealth economy that the current generation of Saudi youth has grown up in. In 1927 King Abdul Aziz established the Committee for Promotion of Virtue and The Prevention of Vice. In short this is known as the “religious police.” For those less familiar with Islamic doctrine, this relates back to the classic Quranic principle of al-amr bi- al-maÊ¿ruf wa-al-nahy Ê¿an al-munkar, generally translated as commanding right and and forbidding wrong. There is a long history about the use of this penchant phrase, analyzed in detail by Michael Cook in his Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought (Cambridge University Press, 2010), a work of over 700 pages.

Abdullah Hamidaddin has written an interesting commentary on a recent tragedy on the Saudi National Day in which a car of religious police chased a vehicle that apparently was thought to contain two drunken men. In the chase the car careened off the road, killing the driver and his brother. The religious police fled the scene, but the chase was captured on a cell phone video. When the video was posted to social media, there was an outcry to rein in the zealous religious police. In this case it turned out the men had not been drinking.

What were these “thought police” thinking? I say “thought” rather than “religious” police, because the very nature of the committee leads to a kind of witchcraft mentality. Continue reading Thought Police: What were they thinking? →

Al-Aqsa Arabic Manuscripts Going Online

Islamic Sciences, Islamic Texts, Israel, Palestine, Qur'an, Traditions (hadith literature)


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. Continue reading Al-Aqsa Arabic Manuscripts Going Online →