Tipaza: Islamic Manuscripts from Cambridge Digital Library

Islamic Manuscripts

أديـن بدين الحــــب أنّى توجـهـت
ركـائـبه

I embrace the religion of love wherever its caravans head"

(ابن عربي (٥٥٨-٦٣٨ هـ
Ibn ʿArabī (1165-1240 C.E.)

Detail from MS Nn.3.75

Cambridge University Library's collection of Islamic manuscripts dates from the origins of Arabic scholarship in Cambridge in the 1630s when the University founded a Professorship in Arabic and William Bedwell donated a Qur'an to the Library. Since that time the collection has grown in size and diversity to over 5,000 works, including the collections of Thomas Erpenius, J.L.Burckhardt, E.H.Palmer and E.G. Browne. These manuscripts shed light on many aspects of the Islamic world, its beliefs and learning.

The collection was further enriched over the centuries through the activities of scholarly collectors and skilled librarians, adding more depth to the already impressive range of manuscripts. Yet this extraordinary collection has remained relatively unknown outside Cambridge. Now we hope to draw better attention to its treasures through cataloguing and digitisation. We have collaborated with the Bodleian at Oxford and other research libraries to provide an online catalogue of the collection. We will be offering a selection of digitised manuscripts through the Foundations project and will seek funding for further digitisation.

Our initial release includes several examples of Qur'anic manuscripts. The holy Qur'an is the most significant text in Islamic civilisation. Continued reproduction of the unchanging Arabic text led to the development of many differing calligraphic styles. A very rich heritage of manuscript copies of the Qur'an survives and the library has an impressive collection.

See also

Several items from this collection will feature in BBC Radio 4's 'In Our Time - The Written World', to be broadcast in January 2012

al-Qurʼān (ajzāʼ) (MS Add.1125)
Fragments of a Hijazi Qurʼān probably written in the second century A.H. / eighth century C.E., containing verses from the Sura al-Anfāl (سورة الأنفال)... more
al-Qurʼān (ajzāʼ) (MS Add.1116)
Fragments of an Abbasid Qurʼān probably written in the third century A.H./ninth century C.E., containing verses from the sura ... more
al-Qurʼān (ajzāʼ) (MS Add.1138)
Fragments of an Abbasid Qurʼān (probably third century A.H. / ninth century C.E.),... more
al-Qurʼān (ajzāʼ) (MS Or. 770)
Fragments of an Abbasid Qurʼān, probably written in the third century A.H / ninth century C.E., containing verses from the suras... more
al-Qurʼān (ajzāʼ) (MS Add.1146)
Fragments of an Abbasid Qurʼān probably written in the second or third century A.H. / eighth or ninth century C.E... more
al-Qurʼān (ajzāʼ) (MS Add.1130)
Kufic fragments from an Abbasid Qurʼān (probably third century A.H. / ninth century C.E.),... more
al-Qurʼān (ajzāʼ) (MS Add.1135)
Fragments of an Abbasid Qurʼān probably written in the third or fourth century A.H. / ninth or tenth century C.E,... more
al-Qurʼān (MS Nn.3.75)
Illuminated Qurʾān from the library of Tippoo Ṣāḥib, presented to the University of Cambridge by the Court of Directors of the East India Company in 1806...
more