Islamic Manuscripts Research Articles

Nineteenth-century Islamic Manuscripts and Printed Books: Revisiting a survey of the Michael Abbott Collection, State Library Victoria

The Michael Abbott Collection of Islamic manuscripts and printed books was donated to State Library Victoria (SLV) in 2012 and comprises Qur’ans and religious texts. An initial collection survey in 2014 documented a variety of materials and techniques, but also highlighted challenges in describing Islamic bindings using existing bookbinding terminology. The Michael Abbott Collection is unique within the broader SLV collection, which is largely concentrated on the history of Western book production and trade, reflecting the primary cultural background and professional expertise of SLV specialist library and conservation staff. Subsequently, the author attended an Islamic Bookbinding Workshop at the Islamic Arts Museum of Malaysia in July 2017, presented by Dr Karin Scheper, where participants deepened their understanding of binding structures, regional variations and conservation approaches. The workshop has provided a crucial frame of reference for the Michael Abbott Collection, and revealed some Indonesian manuscript traditions, from where the majority of manuscripts originated. Revisiting the survey in 2018 identified previously overlooked structural features that have been reconsidered within the context of the collection. This is a case study of ‘revisitation’ in conservation practice, responding to the challenges of preserving dissociated cultural collections and acquiring knowledge to give original observations greater depth and meaning.

A new light on the Sufi network of Mindanao (Philippines)

ABSTRACTThis article attempts to fill the gap in the very limited knowledge of the history of Islam and Muslim intellectual tradition in Mindanao in the 19th century. It particularly deals with a set of primary sources of Islamic manuscripts recently found in the Lanao area of Mindanao, southern Philippines, which formerly belonged to a Maranao ulama, Aleem Ulomuddin Said, who inherited the manuscripts from his father, Sheikh Muhammad Said bin Imam sa Bayang (1904-1974). This manuscript collection contains several texts written in Malay, Arabic, and Maranao languages on various fields. I will argue that these manuscripts indicate the close contact Muslim communities of Mindanao developed during the 18th and 19th centuries with their Malay colleagues, especially those in Aceh and Banten. It also confirms their network with the wider Islamic world, more specifically with Mecca and Medina through the Shaṭṭārīyah Sufi order. The manuscript content in this collection confirms that the 19th century Mindanao Muslim authors referred to both Arab and Malay sources. This not only underlines the importance of the Malay scholars but also suggests that the development of the Islamic intellectual tradition in Mindanao came rather late in the 19th century.

Islamic Calligraphy in the Special Collections of the Romanian Academy Library in Cluj-Napoca / La calligraphie islamique dans les collections speciales de la Bibliotheque de l’Academie Roumaine de Cluj-Napoca

Minor art in the West, calligraphy was revered in the Islamic world, developing in amazingly diverse and original ways and revealing the aspiration to devise a radically non-mimetic visual construction to exalt and spread the Divine Word in a culture that frowns on making an image of the divine and its creation. Paper and the emergence of bureaucratic elite prompted the development of sophisticated calligraphic styles with six standardized cursive scripts, the nature of the text or the prospective readers determining the type of writing employed for literary, religious, or administrative works. The Islamic manuscripts and books in the Romanian Academy Library of Cluj-Napoca, the legacy of the celebrated scholar Timotei Cipariu, illustrate a wide repertoire of styles, once again demonstrating the inherent potential of Islamic calligraphy for developing a variety of versatile ornamental forms, while remaining true to its key role to communicate facts and express thoughts and feelings.

Graphic Devices and the Early Decorated Book ed. by Michelle P. Brown, Ildar H. Garipzanov, and Benjamin C. Tilghman

Reviewed by: Graphic Devices and the Early Decorated Booked. by Michelle P. Brown, Ildar H. Garipzanov, and Benjamin C. Tilghman Michael Edward Stewart Brown, Michelle P., Ildar H. Garipzanov, and Benjamin C. Tilghman, eds, Graphic Devices and the Early Decorated Book( Boydell Studies in Medieval Art and Architecture), Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2017; hardback; pp. 316; 76 colour, 7 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. £60.00; ISBN 9781783272266. Christianity is a religion of signs. Early Christians indeed believed that God could puncture the barriers between heaven and earth to reveal his will through visual messaging. Little wonder then that sacred books for these believers were objects comprised of more than just mundane words on a page, but divinely inspired entities—where the designer could deploy graphic symbols, letters, gems, and even texture and colours to imbue the text with deeper spiritual meaning—which, if interpreted properly, offered the 'reader' a precious taste of the sacred plane. Yet, as the editors of this volume argue, modern scholars tend to ignore 'the visual nature of writing even in lavishly decorated late antique and medieval books, preferring to "look through" writing to the meaning it contains' (p. 2). Seeking to counter this 'logocentrism', the fourteen inspiring chapters examine the symbolic meanings of ornament from a variety of methodological angles and theoretical perspectives to decipher the 'rafts of underlying meaning' (p. 3) in this graphicacy over a wide spectrum of cultures. What follows is a brief summation of the chapters that I particularly appreciated. Chapter 1 opens in a recently Christian mid-fourth century Roman Empire to discuss the calligraphic monogram found on the dedication page of the Calendar of 354. Ildar Garipzanov argues that the creator of our calendar, Furius Dionysius Filocalus, wielded techniques like those used by modern graphic designers, which employ contours to create visualized concepts. Capitalizing on the links between drawing and writing, Furius crafted a monogram for its recipient, the Roman noble Valentius, that not only reflected contemporary trends in personal monograms, but also steeped his image in Christian and Neoplatonic messaging to appeal to Valentius's appreciation of Christian and pagan learning. Lawrence Nees's chapter on quire marks in Frankish and Islamic manuscripts in the seventh and eighth centuries shows how graphicacy can be used to tackle important historiographical issues from hitherto untried perspectives. Deftly guiding the reader through the heated debates surrounding the date, production, and contents of the earliest Qur'ans, Nees suggests that richly decorated verse markers are a feature of Qur'ans dating from the eighth century or possibly earlier. By comparing them to similar marks found in seventh-century Latin manuscripts, Nees argues that by 700 ce there was a thriving production of 'richly decorated manuscripts […] of which we have only fragments today' (p. 97). Moreover, he sees in this sharing of techniques evidence of far more entangled Islamic and Christian worlds in the seventh and eighth centuries than is usually suggested. I found Cynthia Hahn's chapter on the sign of the cross 'as both metaphor and metonym' (p. 101) particularly rich. She demonstrates that by the Middle Ages the cross as a sign had developed a 'tremendous flexibility of meaning' (p. 102). [End Page 186]Early Christians emphasized Christ's victory on the cross, a triumph that not only thwarted the Devil, but allowed God's grace to descend upon the earth. In a Roman world, where crucifixion was a particularly disgraceful death, Christ's victory also offered a more palatable message for prospective converts. This might explain aspects of the emperor Constantine's conversion, where famously before the battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 he had witnessed a vision of a shining cross in the sky accompanied by the words hoc signo victor eris, 'by this sign you will conquer'. Constantine's successors had adopted and adapted this Christian imagery. For humbler Romans, wearing a crucifix or making the sign of the cross granted the power to avert evil or bad luck. For medieval intellectuals astronomy and theology went together. As Hahn concludes, 'the cross of the early Middle Ages serves as the ultimate graphical sign. It forms letters and words, it shapes actions and bodies, but...

Islamic Manuscripts Art in Arabic and Persian Schools: The Artistic and Aesthetic Values

Manuscripts are known for their historical role as explanatory drawings for medical and literary manuscripts. However, the Muslim artist had initially recourse to this Art to speak about his reality including the daily life aspects and his spiritual world. Despite the richness of Islamic manuscript paintings and the prevalence of this Art practice by Muslim artists throughout several periods and eras, both the public and scientific interest are still very limited. This current research aims to determine the artistic and aesthetic values of the manuscript paintings in both Arabic and Persian schools. The goal is to contribute to appreciating manuscript paintings, revitalize the interest and develop their aesthetic and artistic aspects. Through this research we also discuss and analyze the differences between Arabic and Persian schools through selected models from both of them.

The Arts and Crafts of Literacy: Islamic Manuscript Cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa ed. by Mauro Nobili and Andrea Brigaglia

Reviewed by: The Arts and Crafts of Literacy: Islamic Manuscript Cultures in Sub-Saharan Africaed. by Mauro Nobili and Andrea Brigaglia Evyn Kropf KEY WORDS Manuscript studies, Islamic history, African history, Sub-Saharan Africa, Islamic manuscripts, Arabic script, ʻajamī, literacy, literary traditions, manuscript production, circulation, reception, materiality, writing materials, watermarks, layout, marginalia, writing practices, authorship, copyist techniques, contemporary manuscript production Mauro Nobili and Andrea Brigaglia, eds. The Arts and Crafts of Literacy: Islamic Manuscript Cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa. Studies in Manuscript Cultures12. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017. 367 pp., color illustrations. ISBN: 9783110541403. Open access version available online: https://www.degruyter.com/viewbooktoc/product/488161. T his collective volume providesa compelling treatment of Islamic literacy in sub-Saharan Africa as embodied and embedded in a rich heritage of manuscript book production, circulation, and reception. In choosing this focus on sub-Saharan manuscript cultures, the authors follow directly the holistic approach put forward by Graziano Krätli, Ghislaine Lydon, and contributors in The Trans-Saharan Book Trade: Manuscript Culture, Arabic Literacy and Intellectual History in Muslim Africa(Leiden: Brill, 2011). This approach advocates for an expansive study of manuscripts that eschews a narrow focus on textual elements and instead considers their contents within the material, technological, economic, cultural, and intellectual dimensions involved in their manufacture, dissemination, appreciation, consumption, and preservation. The volume opens with Mauro Nobili's introduction, in which he makes a compelling case for holistically interrogating sub-Saharan Islamic literary sources for African history and Islamic history despite the complex marginalization of these sources in favor of African oral traditions and the "dominance" of the Arabo-Persian Islamicate center. This "old and deep literate tradition" (4) in Arabic and in 'ajamī(African languages written in Arabic characters) as embodied in thousands of manuscripts, has much to [End Page 417]contribute to the history of Islamic knowledge in general and to challenging the traditional paradigm which views sub-Saharan Africa as "a continent of 'oral societies'" (7). The eleven contributions that follow explore sub-Saharan manuscripts and literary traditions from a range of perspectives. The essays of Michaelle Biddle and Andrea Brigaglia explore the materiality and production of manuscripts via their writing materials. Expanding on the seminal work of Terence Walz while complementing more recent work by Natalia Viola, Biddle offers a valuable contribution refining the typology of watermarked papers used in sub-Saharan manuscripts, particularly papers that can be associated with the Galvani mills. While the majority of papers used in sub-Saharan manuscripts are of European manufacture and bear watermarks and countermarks, most do not appear in existing watermark catalogs and databases. This substantially limits their utility for dating otherwise undated manuscripts. Working from a corpus of nearly 1,300 manuscripts, of which fewer than forty-eight bear an explicit dating, Biddle was able to determine that the vast majority of papers are of Italian manufacture (coming mainly from an area north of Venice) and that most date from the second half of the eighteenth century to the early decades of the twentieth century. Her detailed treatment of the ubiquitous Galvani papers allows for more precise dating based on countermark, watermark, and whether hand-or machine-made. Brigaglia presents an intriguing analysis that associates the wooden tablet (or writing board) utilized in traditional Qur'anic education in northern Nigerian Muslim societies (and elsewhere in Africa) with a complex ritual of initiation based on the reenactment of the Qur'anic revelation. Brigaglia argues that, beyond serving as a tool for the transmission of Qur'anic knowledge, the wooden tablet is the central component of a complex array of symbols supporting an educational and initiatory process. Indeed, the entire cycle of the preliminary stage of Qur'anic education operates in a dense complex of analogies that allow the Muslim pupil to symbolically identify with the Prophet Muhammad at the descent of the Qur'an and establishment of the Muslim community. The essays of Dmitry Bondarev and Susana Molins Lliteras explore the important marginal and interlinear spaces of West African manuscripts. [End Page 418]Bondarev discusses the insights that codicological features such as layout can provide with regard to the broader intellectual and cultural contexts in which manuscripts...

Annotated Bibliography: “Arabic Papyrology and Diplomatics” New publications 2018 and addenda 2017: Liebrenz, B., “An Arabic Letter (ca. AH 6th/12th CE c.) Concerning the Pro- duction of a Manuscript of Ibn Sīnā’s al-Šifā,” Journal of Islamic Manuscripts 9.1 (2018): 32–38

Annotated Bibliography: “Arabic Papyrology and Diplomatics” New publications 2018 and addenda 2017: Liebrenz, B., “An Arabic Letter (ca. AH 6th/12th CE c.) Concerning the Pro- duction of a Manuscript of Ibn Sīnā’s al-Šifā,” Journal of Islamic Manuscripts 9.1 (2018): 32–38

The Arts and Crafts of Literacy: Islamic Manuscript Cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by Andrea Brigaglia and Mauro Nobili

The Arts and Crafts of Literacy: Islamic Manuscript Cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by Andrea Brigaglia and Mauro Nobili

Clashing Symbols in Timbuktu

In 2007, the Ahmed Baba Institute opened its doors in the storied Malian city of Timbuktu. Named for one of Timbuktu’s favored sons—the Islamic scholar Ahmed Baba (1556–1627)—its shelves were fittingly laden with centuries-old Islamic manuscripts, assembled from across the Maghreb, testaments to Timbuktu’s historical status as a center of religious and cultural thought. With a glimpse to the past, many activists sought to resurrect Timbuktu to its former glory. “We want to build an Alexandria for black Africa,” declared the institute’s director, Mohamed Dicko, in a 2007 interview with the New York Times.As activists worked to showcase the lengthy history of African Islam—highlighting the faith’s incorporation of African intellectual thought, culture, and elements of traditional worship—the Baba Institute would soon come under assault from Islamic extremists who sought to reassert “pure” Islamic values. In a series of tragic events spanning from mid-2012 through January 2013, notions of religious “purity” led to the destruction of many of Timbuktu’s historic shrines and placed the city’s storied manuscripts under dire threat. This essay argues that Timbuktu’s historical and symbolic status as a fountainhead of African Islamic heritage made the city a prime target for jihadists who sought to promote a universal “pure” Islam, untainted by outside influences. Beyond identifying and contrasting ideologies, I will offer some reflections about the relationship of religion and culture, arguing for an understanding of religion that is not opposed to the cultures of those who worship it.

Materials and techniques of Islamic manuscripts

Over 50 works on paper from Egypt, Iraq, Iran and Central Asia dated from the 13th to 19th centuries were examined and analyzed at the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies. Forty-six of these were detached folios, some of which had been removed from the same dispersed manuscript. Paintings and illuminations from five intact manuscripts were also examined and analyzed, although not all of the individual works were included. The study was undertaken to better understand the materials and techniques used to create paintings and illuminations from the Islamic World, with particular attention paid to the diversity of greens, blues and yellows present. The research aimed to determine the full range of colorants, the extent of pigment mixing and the various preparatory drawing materials. The issue of binding materials was also addressed, albeit in a preliminary way.

Transfer of Knowledge in Twentieth-Century Muslim Ethiopia: The Library of <i>al-Šayḫ al-Ḥāǧǧ</i> Ḥabīb from Wällo

Although Muslims in Ethiopia are a large part of the total population, nevertheless, their literary tradition and their cultural heritage have, until the present, hardly been studied by the academic community. The present article aims to shed light on the Islamic manuscript tradition in Ethiopia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by focus-ing on several codices owned by al-Šayḫ Ḥabīb, a renowned scholar and respected walī from Wällo, in north-eastern Ethiopia.

Stories of Sūrah Al-Kahf in Islamic Miniatures

The research aims to recognize the influence of mentioned historical stories at Quran on the artistic thoughts of the miniaturists in Islamic Manuscripts of medieval epoch and later 17 th century. Questioning if all four fundamental narrations of Sūrah Al-kahf had illuminated on papers of manuscripts or not, with giving chosen examples of miniatures explaining their details, investigating the compatibility of those details with divine text at verses of the Sūrah. The verses presented 4 main narrations; theme of The Companions of the Cave Ashabu Al-Kahf leis between verses 9 –26, theme of the rich and the poor or the owner of 2 gardens that leis between verses 32 – 44, theme of Moses and Al-Al-Khiḍr that leis between verses 60–82, theme of Dhul-Qar-nayn with Gog and Magog between verses 83–98 from the same Sūrah. Although Sūrah Al kahf has another 5 th story of Iblis and Adam but this one is already repeated more times in other verses and chapters while the above 4 mentioned ones are only appeared across verses of Sūrah Alkahf which is the main topic of this article. Not only previous investigations had been introduced stories of Quran, but also full versions of manuscripts presented with Prophets' narrations like Syir Al-nabi [1] and manuscript of Falnameh [2] . While it is assured that no research focusing on stories of Sūrah Al-kahf, as it has been enjoyed various advantages and remarkable rewards at Muslim belief which gave it especial promotion on social thoughts and traditions. This encourages otherwise discussing history of Qur’an texts' reception and presentation through gate of Islamic miniature in the mentality of Muslim miniaturists in the medieval epoch. Study bases on verses of the sūrah narrating those stories and illustrated manuscripts gave the interest to its episodes with analyzing its compatibility with the divine texts. Keywords: Quran, Sūrah Al-kahf, Islamic Miniatures, Illustrated Manuscripts, Islamic painting, Art History, Historical stories, Religious texts.

Research Trends in Islamic Studies on Journal of Research and Development and Training Center Ministry of Religious Affairs: Using Co-Words

Since published in 1976, no studies about the development of the theme or subject of the journal articles published by Research and Development and Training Center Ministry of Religious Affairs, that are useful to see the development of science on religious social fields. Based on that, the aim of this paper is to find out research trends in Islamic studies on journal articles published by Research and Development and Training Center Ministry of Religious Affairs in 2005 – 2014. This study uses analysis of co-words with exploratory quantitative approach. This approach explores areas that have not been studied previously. The whole issue of the journal article Research and Development and Training Agency Ministry of Religious Affairs, published in 2005 - 2014 are used as the unit of analysis in this study. The article studied consisted of 1,107 articles contained in four journals. The results showed Subject (descriptor) most appear on clustering over a span of 10 years (2005-2014) are the Islamic Education and Concord. This suggests that the study of Islamic Education and Concord almost throughout the year. Besides, this subject in accordance with the mission of Ministry of Religious Affairs and strategic plan of Research and Development and Training Agency. The distribution of other subjects such as Islamic Manuscripts, Religion, InterReligious Forum, Pornography, Jihad, Islamic Sects, Civil Society, Quran, Conflict, Muslim Scholar, Zakat are popular subjects that became a topic of research over a span of ten years. This subject does not always show up every year and the number of articles are smaller.

Penang and Its Networks of Knowledge eds. by Peter Zabielskis, Yeoh Seng Guan and Kat Fatland

Reviewed by: Penang and Its Networks of Knowledge eds. by Peter Zabielskis, Yeoh Seng Guan and Kat Fatland Ahmad Murad Merican Penang and Its Networks of Knowledge Peter Zabielskis, Yeoh Seng Guan and Kat Fatland (eds) Penang, Areca Books, 2017 This book had its origins in 'The Penang Story: A Celebration of Cultural Diversity' launched in 2001. The project culminated in The Penang Story International Conference in April 2002. Since then, Penang has been the focus of much interest. Over almost two decades, narratives on Penang have proliferated. Penang and Its Networks of Knowledge represent this continued interest and advocacy on the citystate, its diasporas and proximities. In the Introduction, 'Penang's Networks of Knowledge and Practice', Peter Zabielskis, one of the editors, enlightens us on the volume. It is an interesting fusion of collegiality of 'old friends of Penang, who, in various and separate ways over the years, have found Penang—the place, its people, its history and its culture'. There is an intellectual, interdisciplinary engagement among the writers, who see many things about Penang 'to which they regularly return in their thoughts and writing'. The volume sees Penang as an island in motion, in ways of thinking and doing. The volume is appropriately about 'the hybridity and in-between-ness'. There are 11 chapters narrating their encounters in their various and multiple outcomes. These chapters represent a splendid link to the past, and to a broader geography and culture that was, and of what we see today in the various avatars we call Penang. The overarching theme is the exchange of ideas and knowledge that has carved Penang in the regional and global map. The volume opens with the chapter by historian Barbara Watson Andaya titled 'Gathering "Knowledge" in the Bay of Bengal: The Letters of John Adolphus Pope, 1785–1788'. Central to the chapter is information from the letters of John Pope who, at the age of fourteen, became Third Officer on an English country ship, the Princess Royal. It was suggested that this 'information order', the framework to amass the 'knowledge' considered necessary to support political and economic power, could also foster cross-cultural communication. Andaya emphasizes the importance of the accumulation of knowledge on the region by English country traders operating in the Malay archipelago between 1750 and 1820, and also by the East India Company officials. But it was in the young John Pope (1771–1821) who, at the age of fourteen, was asked to collect 'knowledge' about places he visited and to relay it back to interested parties in India. Through his letters, Pope, as described by Andaya, fits the profile of an 'orientalist', but that term conveys little of the pleasure he derived from his interactions with the Malays on 'Pulau Penang'. Chapters 2 and 3 respectively delve into knowledge networks associated with the Penang College Général by historian Anthony Reid; and Evangelical Christianity and the Brethren Movement in Penang by Jean DeBernardi. In the latter, the writer investigates the Evangelical and Brethren movements in Penang [End Page 171] and the networks of people, ideas and practices they helped create. Reid's story is of network of knowledge—religious in character with a bent on the College Général 'as Penang's greatest contribution to Asian "network's of knowledge".' Arguably so if one looks at it from a Eurocentric perspective. Given the volume's orientation, there is but a certain import that this review intends to highlight—that of indigenous Malay Muslims, discussed in several chapters, and disparately captured throughout the volume. Of much interest is 'Indian Ocean Connections: Illuminated Islamic Manuscripts from Penang' by Annabel Teh Gallop, Lead Curator of Southeast Asia, British Library, London. This chapter, based on an earlier version presented at The Penang Story Conference 2002, speaks of a 'Penang style' of Islamic manuscript art. She describes two manuscripts and subsequently explores the Indian Ocean context in which they were produced. Is there a 'Penang style'? Gallop suggests the possibility that the Qur'an in the Penang State Museum could have been decorated by an artist with Penang connections whose style was rooted in the colours, shapes and forms of the Western fringes of...

A CURRICULUM DESIGN FOR EDUCATING CONSERVATORS OF ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPTS

To meet the pressing need for more training for conservators in developing countries dealing with Islamic manuscripts, a curriculum design was prepared. This details the skills and information needed and organizes instruction into modules that can be taught as a total program or semiindependently with adaptation to many different circumstances in different settings. The modules are augmented by specified objectives, possible instructional activities and assessment strategies.

Scribal Practices in Arabic Manuscripts from Ethiopia: The ʿAjamization of Scribal Practices in Fuṣḥā and ʿAjamī Manuscripts from Harar

This paper focuses on Arabic scribal practices in a corpus of Ethiopian Islamic manuscripts from the region of Harar ascribed to the period from the eighteenth to the early nineteenth century. Two different aspects will be considered, namely the characteristic realization of specific graphemes and the methods for the justification of the text. The observations take into account the perceived sacred dimension of the texts, from copies of the Qurʾān to ʿAjamī works, and the different level of standardization of their written manifestations. This approach is intended to highlight the results of the cultural interplay between the scribal models acquired and their local reinterpretation in order to identify reference models and determine the criteria at the base of the processes of ʿAjamization of these scribal practices. I hope that the characteristics described in this article will represent the starting point for comparative studies of scribal practices between different Ethiopian regions and with other regions of the Islamic world.

Kashf al-Gharā’ib: Terjemahan atas Kitab Munfarijah Karya Imām Muḥaqqiq Abī Yaḥyā Zayn al-Dīn Zakarīyā

An effort to preserve and utilize manuscripts in this archipelago, especially religious manuscripts, is very important due to, at least, two reasons. Firstly, there has been abundant important information pertinent to religious phenomena in the manuscripts. Secondly, physical condition of the manuscripts has been increasingly fragile. Following the process of choosing the manuscript, the author has selected one of the manuscripts preserved in the State Museum of North Sumatra. This study employs the theory of philology, literature and history in analyzing the manuscript. Analyses are focused on the language used, the cultural background of the manuscript, and the social history of the region where it has been written. The findings of this study tell us that the manuscript, named Kashf al-Gharā’ib, is a classical Islamic manuscript which still has been well preserved at the State Museum of North Sumatra. It contains the scientific information of fiqh (Islamic law), especially discussing about the way of worshipping the God. The manuscript also consists of religious poems and problems of adab (ethics). Of the three topics discussed in this manuscript, I give considerable attention on worship and ethical issues.

Muslim Societies’ Ambivalence to Arabic: Reasons, Manifestations and Consequences

Literacy has been an essential part of Islam since its inception (Lydon 2010). Indeed, the first verse that was revealed of the Holy Quran demanded that the Prophet Muhammad and the first chapter revealed was called al-Qalamor the Pen (Lydon 2010). This dispositioned Muslims to seek knowledge even if it were located in China. The words of Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, who advised Muslims to learn Arabic so as to sharpen their wisdom, resonate strongly with this Islamic disposition and indicate that the invocations of Allah echoed through the young and growing Muslim nation. In fact, the efforts of Muslims to transform these entreaties to read and to learn Arabic into a way of life fashioned a significant body of written works that covered scientific, literary and practical topics (Lydon 2010).In this regard, Lydon (2010) identifies that Muslim leaders, were quite distinguished from the leaders of other faith groups because they were devoted to equipping Muslims with Arabic, especially the recently converted. This ought to be seen as the earliest grassroots literacy campaign, which solidified Arabic's position as a Lingua Franca of the Muslim civilization for hundreds of years (Lydon 2010). Consequently, Lydon (2010) notes that while Islam developed a distinct pedagogical framework, its mission to promote Arabic literacy led to an inherent flexibility that resulted in the development of various teaching methods. For example, the renowned scholar Ibn Khaldun notes that in Muslim Spain, West Africa and Morocco students acquired Arabic literacy through the mastering of whole words whereas in Cairo and other parts of the Middle East this was done by learning individual letters of the alphabet (Lydon 2010).This is highly telling of the Muslims' active attempts to optimize acquisition and their commitment to entrenching knowledge of Arabic. Accordingly, the Muslim civilization was at the cutting-edge of many linguistic sciences such as, phonology, lexicography and grammar. Indeed, Arabic linguistics became an established science that attracted innovation and scholarship by the 800s CE (Meri 2006). Corpus collection, error analysis, random data collection and field research were common pursuits among the linguistic community of Al-Khalil Ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi, a lexicographer and philologist extraordinaire, best known for his codex Kitab al-'Ayn (Meri 2006).Naturally, with such attentions to advancing Arabic prevalent in the society, the early Muslims developed a curriculum for Arabic. Hall and Stewart (2010) surveyed West African Islamic manuscripts from 1625 - 1925. It was concluded that the presence and absence of particular texts in various collections was strongly indicative of an empirical process of text selection that determined which texts were to be studied by students and which were more suited for scholars. Accordingly, these texts constituted an essential curriculum for Arabic, in which lexicography, syntax, phonology, rhetoric and prosody were set subjects with recommended readings associated with them.Unfortunately, the apple seems to have fallen very far from the tree. Literacy in some parts of the Arabic-speaking Muslim world is as low as 40% (Hammoud 2006). In fact, the most literate Arabic-speaking nations toy with an 80% literacy rate (Hammoud 2006). However, more importantly, it would seem that non-Arabic speaking Muslim societies are far less inclined to learn Arabic today than in the past. For although, some would argue that the preservation of Islam is dependent on the continued promotion of Arabic (Ahmad 2001), the reality is that Arabic has lost its position as a Muslim lingua Franca with the rise of the Ottoman Empire. The position of Arabic among Muslims has been further weakened by various factors, such as the rise of English as the new lingua Franca; the huge translation movements of religious Arabic texts; the rise of nationalism and globalism. As such the question about the place of Arabic in Islamic Education in the non-Arab Islamic world is a pressing one. …

Marks of many hands

ABSTRACTAnnotation is a paratextual element of Malay manuscripts that has been little studied. This preliminary investigation draws on recently digitised material to survey the varieties of annotation in both literary and kitab manuscripts, highlighting the significant differences between the two manuscript corpora. The main categories of annotation in literary manuscripts include ownership marks, doodling and probatio pennae, warnings about the contents of the texts, pictorial annotation, and, rarest of all, readers’ responses to the text. However, annotation is found in far greater quantities in kitab manuscripts, suggesting that the surau or similar religious establishment was the more definitively literate milieu – in spite of the central importance of oral instruction and of personal relationships between teacher and student. Annotation in kitab manuscripts consists mainly of scholarly glosses, including cross-references to other works or authorities, and translation into Malay, along with notes taken down by a student while being instructed by a teacher, and occasional more personal comments. The article concludes with a case study of annotation in a kitab compendium from the collection of Surau Syeikh Abdurrahman in Lima Puluh Kota, West Sumatra. Digitised as part of an Endangered Archives Programme project, the manuscript is heavily annotated in a number of hands. The earlier annotation, including scholarly references, translation glosses and ‘lecture notes’, is typical of kitab manuscripts and of Islamic manuscripts more generally. The most recent annotation, dating to the 1990s, reveals an apparent collapse in that pedagogic tradition, most likely related to the controversies of Minangkabau Sufism that occured over the manuscript’s life.

The Manuscripts that Never Were: In Search of the Tārīkh al-Fattāsh in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana1

Abstract:This article presents a fieldwork report conducted by the authors to locate certain manuscripts – namely copies of the chronicle titled Tārīkh al-Fattāsh – listed in recent catalogues of Islamic manuscripts from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana published by the al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation and prepared by Bābā Yūnus Muḥammad. Unfortunately, after ten days of enquiry in the two countries, it became evident that the catalogues are inaccurate and that at least some of the manuscripts described do not exist.