Explore Worldwide Islamic Documentary Heritage

Islamic documentary heritage represents the inheritance of Islamic culture and historic memory transmitted through generations. It plays a fundamental role in defining and documenting Islamic identities and achievements in varied spheres (literacy, literature, politics, sciences, etc.) around the world.

Al-Masaalik Wa Al-Mamaalik, written in Arabic by Mohammad Farsi Istakhri, is a book that presents an accurate description of the socio-economic, cultural, and political conditions of Islamic lands – from India to Africa – supplemented by maps.

Istakhri describes the countries he travelled to, including Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Zanzibar, and documents information that was not widely known at the time. It’s one of the most important geographical books from the 10th century CE.

Batu Bersurat Terengganu, also known as the Inscribed Stone of Terengganu, in Terengganu, Malaysia constitutes the earliest evidence of Jawi writing (based on Arabic alphabets) in the Malaya Muslim world of Southeast Asia. 

With the advent of Islam in the Southeast Asian region, in the 10th or 11th centuries, a life based on the teachings of Al-Quran and Hadith became widespread in Southeast Asia. Together, with the use of the Jawi script, as seen in the Terengganu Stone, it heralded a new age of literacy.

Persian Ibn Sina (980-1038), often known as Avicenna, is considered by European medical historians to be one of the most renowned scientists of Islam. He also offered contributions to other fields such as psychology, geology, mathematics, chemistry,  astronomy, and logic.

Avicenna is one of the most famous people of all time. His work is invaluable, its significance transcends the boundaries of time and culture, and are still widely used by Turkish and foreign scholars. His portrait is hung in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Paris.

The manuscript collection of the Gazi Husrev-Beg Library in Bosnia and Herzegovina covers various fields originating in different parts of the Islamic world. Especially in important centers of learning such as Mecca, Medina, Cairo, Baghdad, and Istanbul. The oldest preserved manuscript was copied in 1105.

The collection, often distinguished by outstanding calligraphy and decoration, is the most valuable Islamic manuscript collections in the Balkans area, as similar ones had been mostly been destroyed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995).

The Compendium of the Turkic Dialects, also known as Diwan Lughat al-Turk, is the richest source for the language and ethnography of the Turks in the 11th century during a period when they were becoming the dominant military and political force in the Muslim world. 

The Compendium is a remarkable document of Islamic civilization in the areas of grammar and lexicography, and ethnography and cartography - due to its inclusion of a celebrated world map (mappa mundi ) showing the distribution of the Turkic peoples at that time. It’s a cultural treasure for the Turks, Uzbeks, Uygurs, and other Turkic and Iranian people of Central Asia.

Kitab al-ibar, wa diwan al-mobtadae wa al-khabar, also known as the History of Ibn Khaldun, by Arab sociologist and historian Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), is a fifth volume of a treaty.

The treaty is held at Quaraouiyyine Mosque in Morocco and covers: social and political history, the emergence of the constitution, and the decline of states. It’s considered as a pioneering work in sociology, history, and political philosophy for Arab Muslim countries in particular.

Evliya Çelebi's Book of Travels, also known as Seyahatname, is the longest and fullest travel account in Islamic literature. It’s an extensive description of the Ottoman Empire and its hinterlands, and an account of the author's peregrinations over roughly 40 years (1640-1680).

Seyahatname provides an insight into Ottoman perceptions of the world, not only in obvious areas like geography, topography, administration, urban institutions, and social and economic systems but also in such domains as religion, folklore, dream interpretation, and conceptions of self.

Mathematics, medicine, and astronomy were core disciplines of Islamic science during the Ottoman Empire (1285- 1923), with many works written in Turkish, Arabic, and Persian. The manuscript collection from this Institute specializes in math, astronomy, and astrology.

The works on astronomy and astrology at the Kandilli Institute are crucial for scholars and experts in subjects relating to the Ottoman Empire, the Islamic world, and for Western scholars in this field.

The Correspondence of the Late Sultan of Kedah (1882-1943) constitutes the only available evidence of the Malay Sultanate prior to the advent of western-style colonialism. 

The Kedah Correspondence shows the waning influence of the Palace in the 19th and 20th centuries and the precarious life of a State in transition that is no longer able to control its destiny due to the need to submit to foreign powers far superior in might.