The collection has approximately 1,300 manuscripts in Near Eastern languages, Arabic, Persian and Turkish. The Islamic Manuscripts Collection is classified as the Abdul Hamid, Tiflis, Yahuda, McGregor, and several other smaller collections (192 manuscripts in the Walter Koelz, Nuttall, Stephen Spaulding, Horace Miner, Heyworth-Dunne, Suleiman, Frank Schulte Collections). The Islamic Manuscripts Collection and its catalogue are maintained in the Special Collections Library on the 7th floor of the Hatcher Graduate Library. A photocopy of the old card catalogue and a handlist prepared subsequently are also available in the Near East Division (room 110E Hatcher Library)

Nearly one-third (about 312) of the manuscripts have been fully catalogued and are accessible in MIRLYN and OCLC (WorldCat) (link from UM only), the international bibliographic utility. The other manuscripts are described in a card-format handlist and a supplementary list, “Unaccessioned Volumes”, available in the Near East Division, room 110E, and the Special Collections Library, 7th floor, Hatcher Graduate Library.

To view a complete listing of the manuscripts that are fully catalogued in MIRLYN, there are several suggested searches:

Search in "BASIC SEARCH" with the keywords: manuscripts arabic arbor in MIRLYN; search in ADVANCED SEARCH with in "Field to search -- subject word(s)" manuscripts arabic arbor; or search in "BASIC SEARCH" -- subject begins with... Manuscripts, Arabic -- Michigan -- Ann Arbor. Additionally, a basic search in MIRLYN with "call number begins with..." ISL MS will result in a complete listing of the catalogued manuscripts..

Handlist of Recent Acquisitions

A handlist (prepared by Roberta Dougherty) of formerly unaccessioned Islamic manuscripts (assigned provisionally nos. 1–192) can be accessed through the links below:

" Manuscripts 1-53
" Manuscripts 54-159
" Manuscripts 160-192

UMIslamicMsSummary.html (prepared by Roberta Dougherty) presents a brief description and history of the collection.

The three files above together with the summary description and history document are also available in one PDF document. (An index to the unaccessioned collection—keyed to page numbers of a print version—is also available, but only in print at this time in the Special Collections Library or Near East Division.)

The languages included in the manuscript collections are the principal Islamic languages, Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, as well as a few other less well known languages, such as Chaghatay and Maranao.

The subjects covered by these manuscripts include:

• the Islamic sciences, namely,
  • Koran (texts, commentaries (Tafsir), commentaries on commentaries, and other works of criticism),
  • biography (Sirah),
  • Islamic traditions (Hadith),
  • theology (Kalam), and
  • Jurisprudence (Fiqh);
• philology,
• belles lettres,
• poetry,
• philosophy,
• geography,
• history,
• mathematics,
• astronomy and
• astrology.

The chronological span is 8th century AD (some Koranic fragments dating from just a century after the life of the Prophet and the beginnings of Islam) to the 20th. Among the manuscripts are numerous magnificently illuminated volumes.

You may view a small sample of images of the Islamic Manuscripts Collection.

(300 Kb jpeg) (1.2 Mb jpeg)