From History to Story: The Migration of Ibn Rushd’s Manuscripts East and West

Abstract

Documentation in the Arab-Islamic culture assigned a tributary to the efforts of its intellectual and scientific renaissance. This was evident in the flourishing of the paper market, and the diversity and popularity of manuscripts, until the passangers transfered them between the Islamic cities, east and west. However, many of these manuscripts faced trials due to the opposition of the Salafist thought to them, which led some manuscripts to migrate to the Arab East, Africa and Western Europe. In such locations, stories appeared of such manuscrits in which the imaginary is mixed with the reference, and in which heroes ventured with their lives to save them from such trials, and to preserve their content from loss and damage. They are stories whose goals are attributed to the glorification of tolerance and coexistence between religions and cultures. The researcher resorted to the historical narrative and structural approaches to identify the stories related to Ibn Rushd's manuscripts, and to reveal their artistic significance in terms of their systematic narrative unity that can be identified, described and analyzed. Findings showed that each manuscript has a story that fills the voids of its written history, broadens its reading horizons, and desires interest in it. Yet, when the story is told, it becomes a form of its symbolic renewal.