Websites
Online Catalogues of Islamic Manuscripts
18/01/08 14:03
I'm not sure why it isn't available from TIMA's main online catalogues page, but the University of Michigan site links to this wiki page from the TIMA site, revealing a slightly bigger list of online manuscript resources.
Umich's Bibliographic Resources
18/01/08 14:03
The University of Michigan's Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies provides this website with numerous downloadable PDF's that catalogue various types of bibliographical resources, Middle Eastern periodicals, manuscript catalogues, dictionaries, and more.
For a small, non-comprehensive, but still useful hand reference on the main catalogues of manuscripts libraries and collections (especially in the West), download this PDF from their site.
The Near Eastern Division also provides this list of links to numerous other websites, including a number that provide or discuss Islamic and Middle Eastern manuscripts.
For a small, non-comprehensive, but still useful hand reference on the main catalogues of manuscripts libraries and collections (especially in the West), download this PDF from their site.
The Near Eastern Division also provides this list of links to numerous other websites, including a number that provide or discuss Islamic and Middle Eastern manuscripts.
Manuscripts & references on al-Ghazali website
18/01/08 13:54
Courtesy of Mr Muhammad Hozien, the al-Ghazali website provides a plethora of information, links, and valuable downloads...regarding the works of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī in the first instance (including the entire Itḥāf al-sādah al-muttaqīn bi sharḥ iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn of Murtaḍa al-Zabīdī), and many other topics. Of the latter, a page devoted to manuscripts and manuscript collections provides a cursory overview of collections to the beginner, as well as downloadable PDF versions of Kashf al-ẓunūn of Kātib Çelebī, al-Aʿlām of Zirklī, Muʿjam al-muʾallifīn of Kaḥḥāla, and the Arabic translations of Brockelmann, Sezgin, and more.The site is readable in numerous languages, and really is a great online asset to medievalists and students of Arabic.
Free online self-study course in Arabic paleography
03/01/08 13:53
Also provided by Professor Jan Just Witkam on his site is an online self-study course in Arabic paleography, apparently based upon the course Dr Witkam provides himself at Leiden. The course is meant to assist the student in differentiating between different Arabic scripts, and becoming accustomed to deciphering the the copyist's hand.
The page has 27 examples of various scripts, ranging from Europe's oldest known extant paper book from the 3rd century hegira, to the often-difficult-to-read older naskhī and maghribī scripts.
The professor outlines the following steps to proceeding:
Many thanks to Dr Witkam for this invaluable site that he has put together over the past few years, and particularly for this course, which went live online in the fall of 2007.
The page has 27 examples of various scripts, ranging from Europe's oldest known extant paper book from the 3rd century hegira, to the often-difficult-to-read older naskhī and maghribī scripts.
The professor outlines the following steps to proceeding:
- Read the biographical description of the manuscript (provided on the first page by Dr Witkam).
- Compare the image of the manuscript with Dr Witkam's own proposed transliteration. Get accustomed wih the peculiarities of this hand.
- Transcribe in the same way a considerable portion of the part of the manuscript which has not been transliterated. Start where the given transliteration ends. See how far you come.
- Note remarkable or unusual ligatures and make a list of these.
- Make an inventory of all signs and peculiarities which are different from modern practice.
Many thanks to Dr Witkam for this invaluable site that he has put together over the past few years, and particularly for this course, which went live online in the fall of 2007.
The Arabic Papyrology Webclass (Spring 2008): Early Letters
31/12/07 13:52
Via The Papy List:
The Arabic Papyrology Webclass (Spring 2008): Early Letters
During the last years, there has been a heated debate about how far we should trust the literary sources on Umayyad and Early Abbasid history. Alternatively, we might use original letters preserved from that time. In this on-line webclass, each week (or two weeks), we will read an unpublished Arabic letter from eighth century Egypt.
Dates: Spring semester 2008, 18th of February - 26th of May, 2008, Mondays, 12-14 h (Swiss time, time might be changed). Participants: MA and PhD students in Arabic and Islamic studies, scholars interested in Arabic documents, persons in charge of Arabic manuscript collections, etc. Requirements: a computer (download of two plug-ins); internet access; earphones; microphone (internal or external). Communication will be through your browser. No installation of applications or special fonts. You will be sent a scan of each letter in advance. Estimated time for preparation: 1-2 hours/week. Teaching language: German or English, depending on participants. Fees: CHF 250.- (scholarships on request).
Further information and registration: http://www.ori.uzh.ch/apw.
Deadline for registration: 4th of February, 2008.
--------------------------
Prof. Dr. Andreas Kaplony
Orientalisches Seminar, Universität Zürich
Wiesenstrasse 9, Büro H-05, CH-8008 Zürich
Tel. 0(041)44 634 07 36, Fax 0(041)44 634 36 92
www.ori.uzh.ch. kaplony at oriental.uzh.ch
The Checklist of Arabic Documents
09/12/07 13:50
The Checklist of Arabic Documents, prepared by Dr Petra M Sijpesteijn, Dr John F Oates and Dr Andreas Kaplony is downloadable as PDF or can be read as html in your browser. It's purpose (from the site):
The Checklist of Arabic Documents aims to facilitate and advance the use of Arabic documents. By providing this inclusive bibliography of editions of Arabic documentary texts - on papyrus, paper, parchment, leather, ostraca, wood, stone and bone - in monographs and articles, and setting out a standardized system of abbreviations for monographs of Arabic document editions, we hope it will serve to enhance the transparency of citations and improve the accessibility of editions, functioning as a useful point of reference for Arabists and non-Arabists, specialists and non-specials alike.
The Arabic Papyrology Database
09/12/07 13:48
The Arabic Papyrology Database states that its website is for:
(Via The Islamic Manuscript Association)
Proper papyrologists, historians, philologists, editors, professors, students: Specialists in Arabic studies, Islamic studies, history of the Middle East upt to the 10th/16th c., Islamic law, linguisits, historians in general - just anyone dealing with Arabic documents. Try it out!It includes a free virtual "arabic papyrology school" to help one grow accustomed to the nuances of Arabic paleography.
(Via The Islamic Manuscript Association)
Jan Just Witkam's "IslamicManuscripts.info" site
09/12/07 13:48
In addition to adding Professor Witkam's excellent site to the blogroll, I wanted to briefly point out the existence of the reference page of the site, in which numerous works -- in Arabic, English, and other languages, classical and modern -- are available for free download. In fact, the entire text of al-Tanahi's Madkhal ila Tarikh Nashr al-Turath al-ʿArabi, mentioned in a previous post on this blog, is available, as well as countless other texts. A treasure trove for the penniless, online Middle Eastern medievalist!
Romanization Tables from the Library of Congress
09/12/07 13:47
The Library of Congress provides a Romanization Table for Arabic in a friendly, downloadable PDF. While there will be little new for anyone with any sort of Arabic training, it does contain a helpful section on transliteration (here called "Romanization of Arabic orthographic symbols") methodologies, especially for those non-letter and vowel signs such as the hamzah, ayn, and other maddah, and others that seem to be often misused. Of course, the page includes the romanization tables of other languages.
TIMA: Bibliography on Islamic Papers, Book Structures, Pigments and their Conservation
09/12/07 13:47
The Islamic Manuscript Association is a relatively young organization (apparently largely organized and run by the Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation in conjunction with the Centre of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge), though their website is already full of information for people interested in manuscripts, codicology and paleography in the Muslim world. This page on the site, "Bibliography on Islamic Papers, Book Structures Pigments and their Conservation" is a nice starting point for those interested in conservation in the widest sense.
Service for Ottoman/Turkish archive & library access
03/12/07 13:51
The OttomanStudies.com website claims to to be able to assist in procuring manuscripts and materials from Turkish archives and libraries, as well as to provide other research assistance. From their site:
(Via The Islamic Manuscript Association)
- Translation of documents/written sources in Ottoman Turkish into English/Modern Turkish
- Scanning of Ottoman Turkish/Modern Turkish resources on specific topics and providing a report on the findings
- Carrying out research in archives/libraries and posting the findings to your address
- Getting copies of resources you have the references for or you have already scanned through and posting the copies to your address
- Exact translation of academic articles and papers in English/Turkish using the appropriate jargon
- Tutorial courses in Otoman Turkish
(Via The Islamic Manuscript Association)