Islamic Manuscript Association

Islamic Manuscript Association
Name	Islamic Manuscript Association
Formation	2003
Type	Non-profit organization
Purpose	Preservation, cataloguing, conservation, digitisation
Headquarters	London
Region served	Global
Languages	English, Arabic

Islamic Manuscript Association is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation, conservation, cataloguing, digitisation and study of manuscript heritage from the Islamic world. Founded in London with programmes spanning the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and beyond, the Association collaborates with libraries, museums, universities, archives and cultural institutions to safeguard collections related to Islamic history, Islamic law, Sufism, Quranic studies and manuscript traditions. It operates at the intersection of heritage management, archival science and palaeography, working alongside scholars, conservators and librarians.

History

The Association was established in 2003 in London amid heightened attention to cultural heritage after events affecting collections in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan and Palestine. Early initiatives connected with institutions such as the British Library, the Bodleian Library, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Vatican Library and the Library of Congress, while regional partners included the National Library of Egypt, the Dar al-Kutub network, the National Library of Tunisia and the Al-Azhar Library. Key collaborations reached collections in Mazar-i-Sharif, Kandahar, Cairo, Fez, Istanbul and Samarkand. Influential advisory contacts involved scholars from SOAS University of London, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the American University in Cairo, the University of Tehran and the University of Karachi.

Major field projects responded to damage and displacement caused by the Iraq War, the Syrian Civil War, the Arab Spring uprisings and the Darfur conflict, coordinating emergency salvage with museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Over time, the Association’s work expanded to catalogue holdings linked to historical figures and movements preserved in collections relating to Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd, Al-Ghazali, Ibn al-Nafis, Rumi and Ibn al-Haytham.

Mission and Activities

The Association’s mission emphasizes preservation, access and capacity-building through hands-on conservation, training and knowledge exchange. Training programmes have been delivered with institutions including the Getty Conservation Institute, the World Monuments Fund, the Library of Alexandria, the National Archives (UK), the Smithsonian Institution and the Qatar National Library. Activities include preventive conservation, wet and dry repair techniques informed by precedents from the Early Arabic manuscript traditions, cataloguing according to standards used by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, and digitisation workflows aligned with the Digital Library of India, the European Library and the World Digital Library.

The Association organizes workshops, seminars and certificate courses in partnership with universities such as Columbia University, Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, New York University and the University of Toronto, fostering expertise in codicology, palaeography and conservation ethics.

Collections and Projects

Major projects have focused on manuscript collections in regional hubs and institutions: the holdings of the Topkapi Palace Museum, the libraries of Damascus, the manuscript troves of the Sultanate of Djenne, the libraries of Khartoum, the madrasa libraries of Fez and the private collections connected to families like the Al-Sabah and the Al-Saud lineages. Cataloguing projects have documented Qur'anic codices, Persian poetic miscellanies related to Hafez, Saadi Shirazi, Ferdowsi and Nizami Ganjavi, Ottoman administrative records tied to Suleiman the Magnificent, and medical manuscripts associated with Al-Biruni.

Digitisation projects partnered with initiatives such as Gallica, HathiTrust, Internet Archive and the Qatar Digital Library to produce open-access reproductions of manuscript materials including legal treatises linked to Malik ibn Anas, Abu Hanifa, Shafi'i, Ibn Taymiyyah and commentaries by Ibn al-Jawzi. Conservation fieldwork responded to flood-damaged collections in Pakistan and fire-threatened archives in Aleppo and Mosul.

Publications and Research

The Association produces manuals, technical briefs and essays used by conservators and cataloguers. Publications cite case studies involving collections from the Sanaa Manuscript Library, the Al-Qarawiyyin Library, the Matenadaran, the National Library of Iran, the Bureau of Manuscripts (Egypt) and the Institute of Ismaili Studies. Research outputs engage with scholars linked to the Royal Asiatic Society, the American Oriental Society, the British Academy, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, the Institute for Advanced Study and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

The Association’s catalogues and guides are referenced alongside monographs on codicology by authors studying hands and scripts such as Naskh, Thuluth, Kufic exemplars in repositories like the Süleymaniye Library, the Rumi Museum and the Chester Beatty Library.

Governance and Funding

The Association is governed by an international board comprising professionals drawn from institutions such as the British Museum, the National Library of Scotland, the Princeton University Library, the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Funding streams combine grants from foundations including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Arcadia Fund, the Ford Foundation, the Packard Humanities Institute and the Getty Foundation, supplemented by project grants from agencies like UNESCO, the European Union, the British Council and national cultural ministries of Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia and Malaysia.

Partnerships and Outreach

Outreach extends through partnerships with universities, archives and museums such as the University of Leiden, the St Petersburg State Library, the National Library of Russia, the Royal Library of Belgium, the State Library of Victoria and the National Library of Australia. Collaborative networks include the International Council on Archives, the International Committee for Muslim Cemetery Conservation, the Blue Shield International movement and regional consortia in West Africa, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa. Public engagement features exhibitions co-curated with the Ashmolean Museum, lecture series at the Barenboim–Said Akademie, and digitisation showcases with the Bodleian Libraries and the Princeton University Art Museum.

Category:Cultural heritage organizations