Vatican Library Houses Rare Islamic Manuscripts Reflecting Islamic Civilization’s Heritage

Vatican Library Houses Rare Islamic Manuscripts Reflecting Islamic Civilization’s Heritage
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The Vatican Library, renowned for its vast cultural and religious collections, holds a significant trove of rare Islamic and Arabic manuscripts, showcasing the rich spiritual and intellectual heritage of Islamic civilization. Despite the library’s strong association with Christian tradition, it preserves nearly 1,000 Arabic manuscripts within its extensive collection of over 150,000 works in various languages.

These manuscripts include intricately decorated Qur’anic copies from the Ottoman and Maghreb eras, rare texts from the Great Mosque of Zitouna in Tunisia dating back to 1488, and Andalusian works such as Abu al-Qasim ibn Bashkuwal’s Hadith treatise. Major theological and linguistic works like Al-Ghazali’s Jewels of the Qur’an and the Qamus al-Muhit dictionary by Al-Firuzabadi are also part of the collection.

The library holds 144 rare Qur’an manuscripts, many from North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, and the Middle East, including a unique 15th-century copy written in Hebrew script. To facilitate global scholarly access, the Vatican Library launched the digital platform DIGIVATLIB, providing high-resolution images and detailed catalogs of its manuscripts, including the Islamic texts classified under “Vat.ar.” This initiative enhances understanding of the pivotal role Islamic heritage has played in shaping human civilization.