Islamic Manuscript Culture in Palestine
Ghazzah : Maktabat al-Yāzijī
A history of Gaza from antiquity to the beginning of the British Mandate. The lifetime work of ‘Uthman al-Tabba‘, a Palestinian historian and librarian who rebuilt the Great ‘Umari Mosque Library of Gaza after its destruction in the British invasion (and which was destroyed yet again in December 2023). Contains biographies of figures, genealogical data on families, and information on libraries, mosques, and other institutions in Gaza.
A history of Gaza from antiquity to the beginning of the British Mandate. The lifetime work of ‘Uthman al-Tabba‘, a Palestinian historian and librarian who rebuilt the Great ‘Umari Mosque Library of Gaza after its destruction in the British invasion (and which was destroyed yet again in December 2023). Contains biographies of figures, genealogical data on families, and information on libraries, mosques, and other institutions in Gaza.
التراث العربي المخطوط في فلسطين
al-Turāth al-ʻArabī al-makhṭūṭ fī Filasṭīn
by
al-Turāth al-ʻArabī al-makhṭūṭ fī Filasṭīn
by
Publication Date: 2000
al-Qāhirah : al-Munaẓẓamah al-ʻArabīyah lil-Tarbīyah wa-al-Thaqāfah wa-al-ʻUlūm, Maʻhad al-Makhṭūṭāt al-ʻArabīyah
The published proceedings of an international conference hosted by the Institute of Arabic Manuscripts in Cairo in 2000, discussing manuscript culture and history, cataloging projects and strategies, and distinctive collections in Palestine.
The published proceedings of an international conference hosted by the Institute of Arabic Manuscripts in Cairo in 2000, discussing manuscript culture and history, cataloging projects and strategies, and distinctive collections in Palestine.
تاريخ القضاء والإفتاء في بيت المقدس
Tārīkh al-qaḍāʼ wa-al-iftāʼ fī bayt al-maqdis
by
Publication Date: 2015
al-Riyāḍ : Markaz al-Malik Fayṣal lil-Buḥūth wa-al-Dirāsāt al-Islāmīyah
A birds-eye history of the judicial administration of Jerusalem and other Palestinian cities in the Mamluk and Ottoman period, with reference to court records and manuscript libraries in Jerusalem. Contains detailed appendices on judges, muftis, court scribes, and other legal officers.
Publication Date: 2017
Rām Allāh: Markaz al-Abḥāth, Munaẓẓamat al-Taḥrīr al-Filasṭīnīyah
A brief survey of manuscript collections and selected archeological excavations in Palestine from antiquity to the present-day, including an overview of lost manuscript collections and strategies for preservation.
Publication Date: 2018
İstanbul : Bağcılar Belediyesi
The published articles of a 2018 conference held in Istanbul on the intellectual history and manuscript culture of Ottoman Palestine, with a focus on libraries, scholars, schools, Sufi lodges, legal administration, and manuscript collections. Contains articles in Turkish, English, and Arabic.
The published articles of a 2018 conference held in Istanbul on the intellectual history and manuscript culture of Ottoman Palestine, with a focus on libraries, scholars, schools, Sufi lodges, legal administration, and manuscript collections. Contains articles in Turkish, English, and Arabic.
Al-Najaf al-Ashraf: Al-Maṭbaʻat al-Ḥaydarīyah
One of the most important and comprehensive histories of Jerusalem and Hebron from the early 16th century, written by the local historian and scholar Mujir al-Din al-Hanbali (d.1522). Covers a wide range of topics, including pre-Islamic histories, the spiritual significance of sites within Jerusalem, accounts of pious men and women, the establishment of colleges and Sufi lodges, as well as the histories of political and legal administration.
One of the most important and comprehensive histories of Jerusalem and Hebron from the early 16th century, written by the local historian and scholar Mujir al-Din al-Hanbali (d.1522). Covers a wide range of topics, including pre-Islamic histories, the spiritual significance of sites within Jerusalem, accounts of pious men and women, the establishment of colleges and Sufi lodges, as well as the histories of political and legal administration.
Cairo: Wizarat al-Thaqāfah, Markaz Taḥqīq al-Turāth
A multi-volume history of the late Mamluk period from the late-14th to mid-15th century C.E., focused primarily on Egypt and the Levant.
A multi-volume history of the late Mamluk period from the late-14th to mid-15th century C.E., focused primarily on Egypt and the Levant.
Kuwayt: Manshūrāt Maʻhad al-Makhṭūtāt al-ʻArabīyah, al-Munaẓẓamah al-ʻArabīyah lil-Tarbīyah wa-al-Thaqāfah wa-al-ʻUlūm
A compilation of 11 critically-edited manuscripts on the spiritual significance of Jerusalem in the Islamic tradition. Sheds light on one of the most popular genres of writing in Islamic manuscript culture regarding Jerusalem.
A compilation of 11 critically-edited manuscripts on the spiritual significance of Jerusalem in the Islamic tradition. Sheds light on one of the most popular genres of writing in Islamic manuscript culture regarding Jerusalem.
Bayrūt, Lubnān: al-Maṣādir
A first-person travelogue documenting ʻAbd al-Ghanī ibn Ismāʻīl al-Nābulusī’s 45-day journey through Palestine in 1690, replete with references to madrasas, mosques, and tombs, in addition to biographies of Islamic scholars and saints, discussions of books and architecture, elegiac poetry, and discussions of many Qur'anic figures associated with the region.
A first-person travelogue documenting ʻAbd al-Ghanī ibn Ismāʻīl al-Nābulusī’s 45-day journey through Palestine in 1690, replete with references to madrasas, mosques, and tombs, in addition to biographies of Islamic scholars and saints, discussions of books and architecture, elegiac poetry, and discussions of many Qur'anic figures associated with the region.
Dimashq: Dār Kanʻān
An 8-volume compilation of Muslim and Arab travel accounts to Palestine, compiled from published books and manuscript sources. It begins with the 11th century travels of the Ismai’li scholar Nasir Khusraw (d.1088) and the Maliki jurist Abu Bakr ibn al- ‘Arabi (d.1148) and continues until the 1940s. Includes discussions of intellectual culture, scholarship, books, as well as accounts of architecture, economy, society, and so forth.
An 8-volume compilation of Muslim and Arab travel accounts to Palestine, compiled from published books and manuscript sources. It begins with the 11th century travels of the Ismai’li scholar Nasir Khusraw (d.1088) and the Maliki jurist Abu Bakr ibn al- ‘Arabi (d.1148) and continues until the 1940s. Includes discussions of intellectual culture, scholarship, books, as well as accounts of architecture, economy, society, and so forth.
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Publication Date: 2013-2015Istānbūl : Markaz al-Abḥāth lil-Tārīkh wa-al-Funūn wa-al-Thaqāfah al-islāmīyah, IRCICA
Ottoman court registers of Jerusalem (1545-1701) form a crucial source for the socio-economic, legal, and intellectual histories of the region, with information on endowments, schools, marriage and family, crime, construction, and a wide variety of topics. This series includes lists of court cases with summaries, topics, and the names of people, places, and institutions involved.
Publication Date: 1848
London: Henry G. Bohn
Description: A collection of 9 narrative travelogues ranging from the 8th century to the 17th century C.E. from European travelers to Palestine. One of dozens of such travelogues to pre-modern Palestine present in UCLA’s online and print holdings.
Description: A collection of 9 narrative travelogues ranging from the 8th century to the 17th century C.E. from European travelers to Palestine. One of dozens of such travelogues to pre-modern Palestine present in UCLA’s online and print holdings.
Publication Date: 1869
London: Virtue & co.
Description: An extended first-person description of bookbinding in Damascus, with references to Jerusalem and Malta, accompanied with illustrations detailing the physical characteristics of Islamic bindings. Written by Mary E. Rogers, a British woman who traveled to Palestine and Syria in 1855, and spent several years in the region.
Berkeley: University of California Press
Publisher’s description: Drawing on previously unused primary sources, this book paints an intimate and vivid portrait of Palestinian society on the eve of modernity. Through the voices of merchants, peasants, and Ottoman officials, Beshara Doumani offers a major revision of standard interpretations of Ottoman history by investigating the ways in which urban-rural dynamics in a provincial setting appropriated and gave meaning to the larger forces of Ottoman rule and European economic expansion. He traces the relationship between culture, politics, and economic change by looking at how merchant families constructed trade networks and cultivated political power, and by showing how peasants defined their identity and formulated their notions of justice and political authority.
Publisher’s description: Drawing on previously unused primary sources, this book paints an intimate and vivid portrait of Palestinian society on the eve of modernity. Through the voices of merchants, peasants, and Ottoman officials, Beshara Doumani offers a major revision of standard interpretations of Ottoman history by investigating the ways in which urban-rural dynamics in a provincial setting appropriated and gave meaning to the larger forces of Ottoman rule and European economic expansion. He traces the relationship between culture, politics, and economic change by looking at how merchant families constructed trade networks and cultivated political power, and by showing how peasants defined their identity and formulated their notions of justice and political authority.
London: I.B. Tauris
Publisher’s description: In this magisterial cultural history of the Palestinians, Nur Masalha illuminates the entire history of Palestinian learning with specific reference to writing, education, literary production and the intellectual revolutions in the country. The book introduces this long cultural heritage to demonstrate that Palestine was not just a 'holy land' for the four monotheistic religions – Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Samaritanism – rather, the country evolved to become a major international site of classical education and knowledge production in multiple languages including Sumerian, Proto-Canaanite, Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew and Latin. The cultural saturation of the country is found then, not solely in landmark mosques, churches and synagogues, but in scholarship, historic schools, colleges, famous international libraries and archival centres.This unique book unites these renowned institutions, movements and multiple historical periods for the first time, presenting them as part of a cumulative and incremental intellectual advancement rather than disconnected periods of educational excellence. In doing so, this multifaceted intellectual history transforms the orientations of scholarly research on Palestine and propels current historical knowledge on education and literacy in Palestine to new heights.
Publisher’s description: In this magisterial cultural history of the Palestinians, Nur Masalha illuminates the entire history of Palestinian learning with specific reference to writing, education, literary production and the intellectual revolutions in the country. The book introduces this long cultural heritage to demonstrate that Palestine was not just a 'holy land' for the four monotheistic religions – Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Samaritanism – rather, the country evolved to become a major international site of classical education and knowledge production in multiple languages including Sumerian, Proto-Canaanite, Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew and Latin. The cultural saturation of the country is found then, not solely in landmark mosques, churches and synagogues, but in scholarship, historic schools, colleges, famous international libraries and archival centres.This unique book unites these renowned institutions, movements and multiple historical periods for the first time, presenting them as part of a cumulative and incremental intellectual advancement rather than disconnected periods of educational excellence. In doing so, this multifaceted intellectual history transforms the orientations of scholarly research on Palestine and propels current historical knowledge on education and literacy in Palestine to new heights.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
Publisher’s description: In the late medieval period manuscripts galore circulated in private collections and in educational libraries in the cities of the Middle East. Yet very few have left a documentary trail or have survived as an easily identifiable compact corpus. Writing their histories, understanding their social settings and comprehending their intellectual profiles is therefore a challenge.This book discusses the only known private book collection from pre-Ottoman Jerusalem for which we have a trail of documents. It belonged to an otherwise unknown resident, Burhān al-Dīn; after his death, his books were sold in a public auction and the list of objects sold has survived.This list – edited and translated in this volume – shows that a humble part-time reciter of the late 14th century had almost 300 books in his house, evidence that book ownership extended beyond the elite. Based on a corpus of almost fifty documents from the Ḥaram al-sharīf collection in Jerusalem, it is also possible to get a rare insight into the social world of such an individual. Finally, the book gives a unique insight into book prices as it will make available the largest such set of data for the pre-Ottoman period.
Publisher’s description: In the late medieval period manuscripts galore circulated in private collections and in educational libraries in the cities of the Middle East. Yet very few have left a documentary trail or have survived as an easily identifiable compact corpus. Writing their histories, understanding their social settings and comprehending their intellectual profiles is therefore a challenge.This book discusses the only known private book collection from pre-Ottoman Jerusalem for which we have a trail of documents. It belonged to an otherwise unknown resident, Burhān al-Dīn; after his death, his books were sold in a public auction and the list of objects sold has survived.This list – edited and translated in this volume – shows that a humble part-time reciter of the late 14th century had almost 300 books in his house, evidence that book ownership extended beyond the elite. Based on a corpus of almost fifty documents from the Ḥaram al-sharīf collection in Jerusalem, it is also possible to get a rare insight into the social world of such an individual. Finally, the book gives a unique insight into book prices as it will make available the largest such set of data for the pre-Ottoman period.
Catalogue of the new corpus of documents from the Ḥaram al-Sharīf in Jerusalemby
Publication Date: 2024
Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter
Publisher’s description: The documents from the Ḥaram al-sharīf in Jerusalem constitute one of the most important corpora from the pre-Ottoman Middle East covering broad areas of social, political, cultural and economic history. The first documents from the Ḥaram al-sharīf in Jerusalem were discovered in the 1970s and described by Donald Little (Catalogue of the Islamic Documents, Beirut/Wiesbaden 1984). In recent years, approximately 100 new documents have been discovered that are described in this catalogue. This catalogue sets the new corpus in relation to the ‘old’ corpus and highlights its potential for future scholarship. The main part is a description of all documents, including size, materiality, summary, editions of beginning/end of document as well as a list of personal names, place names and names of witnesses. The volume also includes the edition of ten fascinating documents (five Persian, five Arabic) with high-quality reproductions of the originals. Finally, the volume includes a list of all Ḥaram al-sharīf documents edited so far.
Publisher’s description: The documents from the Ḥaram al-sharīf in Jerusalem constitute one of the most important corpora from the pre-Ottoman Middle East covering broad areas of social, political, cultural and economic history. The first documents from the Ḥaram al-sharīf in Jerusalem were discovered in the 1970s and described by Donald Little (Catalogue of the Islamic Documents, Beirut/Wiesbaden 1984). In recent years, approximately 100 new documents have been discovered that are described in this catalogue. This catalogue sets the new corpus in relation to the ‘old’ corpus and highlights its potential for future scholarship. The main part is a description of all documents, including size, materiality, summary, editions of beginning/end of document as well as a list of personal names, place names and names of witnesses. The volume also includes the edition of ten fascinating documents (five Persian, five Arabic) with high-quality reproductions of the originals. Finally, the volume includes a list of all Ḥaram al-sharīf documents edited so far.
- Al-Jazzar Mosque Library, Acre (Endangered Archives Programme, British LIbrary)Digital images of 54 manuscripts held by the al-Jazzar Mosque Library in Acre. The manuscripts are written in Arabic, and one in Ottoman Turkish. The collection spans over several Islamic periods from the 14th century CE to the end of Ottoman rule in Palestine at the beginning of the 20th century. The manuscripts are held by the al-Ahmadiyya madrasa at the Mosque by the terms of waqf. The majority of the manuscripts relate to aspects of the Islamic religion, but also cover Arabic literature, the Arabic language, logic, mathematics and Sufism.
- al-Zāwiyah al-Uzbakīyah, Jerusalem (HMML Repository)Manuscripts of the Uzbek Cultural Center in Jerusalem, collected by the Naqshbandī shaykh ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz al-Bukhārī. Works on Sufism, law, and Arabic language, including significant collections in Persian and Turkic languages.
- Great Omar Mosque Library (al-Jāmiʻ al-ʻUmarī al-Kabīr), Gaza (HMML Repository)Collection of 211 manuscripts from the Great Omari Mosque in Gaza, including mostly Arabic texts on Islamic law, theology, and devotional practice.
- Islamic Manuscripts Collection "Warraq" (National Library of Israel)Contains 2,416 Islamic manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, dating from the 9th to the 20th centuries. The majority (1,186) are from the collection of the manuscript dealer Abraham Shalom Yahuda (1877-1951). About 600 were also collected from Palestinian homes and properties in the aftermath of the Nakba in 1948-49. These received the shelf mark "AP", for Abandoned Property,
- Issaf Nashashibi Library, Jerusalem (HMML Repository)Collection of the Issaf Nashashibi (Isʻāf al-Nashāshībī) Center for Culture and Literature, much of which was acquired from the Ḥusaynī family. Includes collections on Ḥanafī law and Sufism, primarily in Arabic.
- Khalidi Library, Jerusalem (HMML Repository)Collection of the Khalidi family, established as a library open to the public in 1900. Includes images of 1679 manuscripts, including extensive collections of Ḥanafī law and treatises on Sufism, grammar, and other topics, primarily in Arabic.
- Āl Budeiry Library, Jerusalem (HMML Repository)Collection of the Budeiry (al-Budayrī) family, a prominent Shāfiʻī family of Jerusalem. Includes both Shāfiʻī and Mālikī legal texts, treatises on Sufism, and prayer books, with a substantial number of texts collected from North Africa. Primarily in Arabic.
- Israeli Damage to Archives, Libraries, and Museums in Gaza, October 2023–January 2024A Preliminary Report from Librarians and Archivists with Palestine
- Libraries Under Occupation: A Conversation with Palestinian Librarians (Progressive Librarian, 2016)On June 26, 2016 Librarians and Archivists with Palestine (LAP) and the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) jointly sponsored the program “Palestinian Libraries Under Occupation” at the American Library Association conference in Orlando.
- The Great Book Robbery (YouTube)"Tells the story of 70,000 Palestinian books that were looted by the newly created state of Israel in 1948..” A 2911 Foundation Xela Films and Al Jazeera English production