Islamic manuscripts: al-Furqan Board of Directors
Introduction
Islamic manuscripts (MSS) constitute a particularly important part of Islamic heritage. As Islam rapidly spread out of Arabia bringing into its fold wide areas in Asia and Africa, Islamic civilisation began to flourish and Arabic became widely spoken throughout the expanding world of Islam. This was more so in centres of learning.
Advancements were made in almost all aspect of human life. Scholars in all fields received moral and material encouragement and support from various groups and institutions. Travel for learning was an important part of a scholar's education.
As printing has not been invented yet, books, discourses, and essays had to be written and copied by long hand. An author would dictate his book at his circle of teaching, where scores of students and scholars would be writing down. Such manuscripts were carefully preserved and handed down from generation to generation.
Works of particular importance were sought after and copied. Works by famous scholars were copied time after time in different areas and generations. There were also professional copiers, many of whom excelled in their art. Thus, there could be many copies of the same book in the same town or city.
On the other hand, wars, natural disasters, negligence and elements of wear and tear led to the disappearance of either whole libraries or individual manuscripts. At the time of the invasion of Baghdad by the Tartars who came from Central Asia in the 13th century, hundreds of thousands of manuscripts were deliberately thrown in the Tigris river. Even in the 21st century, the invasion of Baghdad claimed the Awqaf library among its victims as the library was burnt down in the early days of the American invasion of Iraq.
Despite all these elements, it is estimated that three million Islamic manuscripts survive today. These are normally held either in private collections or public libraries. They are always highly valued by their holders. Some private holders may remain unaware of the value of what they have in their collections; yet they are often reluctant or unwilling to share information. It should be said that manuscripts could range from text books to voluminous works by distinguished scholars.
Many factors are taken into consideration when assigning value to a particular manuscript. These include the writer: is it written by the author, one of his students who sat in his circle as he dictated it, or a copier in a later generation and the status of that copier. Another factor is the number of readings or listening recorded on it. It has been customary for a student to record that he read the manuscript to his teacher, or heard him reading it. If a manuscript bears the personal stamp, or stamps, of its successive owners, the status of that owner, or owners, is taken into consideration in establishing its authenticity. If the owner was a scholar in his own right, it appreciates in value. The date when the manuscript was written is another factor, as are its overall condition and completeness.
What this means in effect is that there are some hidden treasures in many manuscript collections, including those held by public libraries. The only way to establish the value of such manuscripts and uncover hidden treasures is by cataloguing these collections. A properly catalogued collection is like the display at the front of a jeweller’s shop, where you are able to see individual pieces before enquiring about the value of any particular piece.
Realizing this, the al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation chose to concentrate a considerable part of its efforts on cataloguing different collections of manuscripts, particularly in areas where such collections are at risk and are unlikely to receive funding support. It developed its own cataloguing card, which is a model for detailed cataloguing that can be used by other libraries. Furthermore, al-Furqan Foundation held training courses in cataloguing, because this is a specialized area that is not taught today in any university. So far, six international courses were held in different parts of the world. Another is planned for December 2009 in Amman, Jordan.
Another important area is editing manuscripts. Here, the term ‘editing’ acquires a special meaning. The role of a manuscript editor is to prepare the manuscript for publication in book form, producing a text as faithful to the author’s text as possible. Since manuscripts are written by long hand, and long storage might affect their conditions, this is not an easy task. Therefore, the editor tries to obtain photocopies, or microfilm or digital copies, of all the existing copies of the work. Some of these may be incomplete, but useful nevertheless. He then compares the copies he has to choose one as a master. He then transcribes the manuscript on his computer, adding footnotes each time there is variation between different copies. He annotates the manuscript with footnotes, explaining what is unclear, and adding biographical notes on the people mentioned in the work.
Different masters of this art have different approaches and methods. Training in this area has been given when a postgraduate student is editing a manuscript for a Master or PhD degree. The academic supervisor guides the student along. Only recently al-Furqan Foundation ventured into this area to organize a training course. Two such courses were held in collaboration with Dar al-Uloom faculty at the University of Cairo in 2008 and 2009.
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Board of Directors of al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation
Founder
The Yamani Cultural Foundation
Board of Directors:
Chairman:
Members:
Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu
Mr. Sharaf Yamani
Executive Director