Manuscripts Documentation News

The positive echo resonating from the implementation of the pilot project of the documentation of Islamic and Scientific Manuscripts as well as its captivating multi-lingual deliverables has resulted in collaboration requests to CultNat, as an executing agency, from various institutions to enhance the continuum of the series entitled "The Contributions of Islamic and Arab Civilizations to ….." by documenting new topics and digitizing manuscripts archived unknowingly to the world of scholars and researchers.

Phase two of the project is based on two different collections. The first incorporates astronomy and time reckoning and will be conducted at al-Azhar Library, one the world's oldest living institutions. Astronomy was chosen due, not only, to the sufficient number of manuscripts in their vaults and their rapid degenerating condition but also to the importance of the topic as well as the lasting and unequivocal mark in the annals of astronomy left by Arabs and Muslims such as Yaqub ibn Tariq, al-Kwarizmi, al-Farghani, al-Sufi, al-Biruni, and al-Tusi. The second collection is mathematics and mechanics from an already identified private collection available on microfiche.

The contributions of the Arab and Islamic civilizations to astronomy

In the context of CULTNAT’s interest in Cultural Continuity, especially in the field of Science, and in the light of the importance of Electronic Documentation of Manuscripts in highlighting the effective role undertaken by the Arabs and Muslims in maintaining such Cultural Continuity; and in view of the fact that preserving World Heritage always was – and still is – one of UNESCO’s principal interests and concerns CULTNAT has entered into a Cultural Partnership Contract with UNESCO for the preparation of a collection of publications aiming at acquainting the World with Arab and Islamic contribution to the advancement of Science.
And one of the most recent published works was a book titled "The contributions of the Arab and Islamic civilizations to astronomy", including precious manuscripts from Al-Azhar Library. This book was published in three different languages: Arabic, English and French in three separate volumes.