Newsletter No. 18

Newsletter No. 18

Winter 2019

Al-Furqān

Islamic Heritage Foundation

Glorious Past, Brighter Future

Newsletter

Issue No. 18

In this Issue: Visits Cooperation Agreements Lectures Training Courses Conferences Recent Publications Book Review Highlights In Memoriam Al-Furqān and Its Centres Winter 2019

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Newsletter No. 18

Winter 2019

Table of Contents

Al-Furqān

Message from the Chairman Visits Cooperation Agreements Lectures

Islamic Heritage Foundation

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Newsletter Issue No. 18, Winter 2019

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“Women of Science, Medicine and Management in Muslim Civilisation”,

by Prof. Salim Al-Hassani ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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“Critical edition of Kitāb al-‘Ibar by Ibn Khaldūn: plan, vision, and results”, by Prof. Ibrahim Chabbouh 10

Publisher:

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“Reuse Fragments in Arabic Manuscripts”, by Prof. Konrad Hirschler

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“The Maghrib in the Mashriq”, by Prof. Maribel Fierro

Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation

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“The theory of resources and objectives of preserving the Sunnah from the Intrusive Thoughts”, by Prof. Lakhdhar Lakhdhari 14 .........................................................................................................................................

“The Critical Edition of Texts between Different Narrations, the Importance of Auditions, and Multiple Versions”, by Prof. Bashar Awwad Maʻrouf 16

Board of Directors

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Training Courses

Chairman

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“Editing Manuscripts on Literature and Language”

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“Codicological and Palaeographical Aspects of Islamic Manuscripts, with 20 a Special Focus on Manuscript Notes”

H.E. Ahmed Zaki Yamani

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“The Objectives of Islamic Law in Light of the Noble Prophetic Sunnah(2)”

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Conferences

Members Prof. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu Prof. Mohamed Salim El-Awa Mr. Sharaf Yamani

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“The Noble Qur’ān from Revelation to Compilation”(2)

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Recent Publications

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“Introduction to Editing Arabic Manuscripts”

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“Editing Manuscripts on Literature and Language”

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“Kitāb al-Iʿtimād fī al-Adwiyah al-Mufradah” (The Reliable Book on 30 Simple Drugs), by Ibn Al-Jazzār, edited by Ibrahim Ben Mrad” .

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Managing Director

“Nuṣrat al-Fatrah wa-ʿUsrat al-Fiṭrah” (The History of the Seljuks), 30 by al-Kātib al-Aṣfahānī, edited by Issam Mustafa Okleh ....................................................................................

Mr. Sali Shahsivari

“The Journey of Muħammad Al-Jūdī (Muftī of Kairouan) to Ħajj (including a notebook with his study achievements and transmissions (Ijāzāt))”, by Muħammad Al-Jūdī al Qayrawānī, edited by Al-Mahdi 31 Eid Al-Rawadieh

Address

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“Views and Experiences in Dealing with Heritage Texts from Ibn 31 Khaldūn’s Book al-ʿIbar and Others” by Ibrahim Chabbouh

22A Old Court Place

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“Encyclopedia of Makkah Al-Mukarramah and Al-Madīnah Al-Munawwarah”, vol.9

London, W8 4PL England – UK

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“Maqāṣid Rules”, by Ahmad Al-Raissouni

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“Objectives of Islamic law in Light of the Noble Prophetic Sunnah” (1)”, 32 edited by Ahmad Al-Raissouni ............................................................... ...............................................................................................................................................................

“Objectives of Islamic law in Light of the Noble Prophetic Sunnah” (2)”, 33 edited by Ahmad Al-Raissouni

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3130 1530 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7937 2540

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“Arts in the Light of Maqāṣid Al-Sharī‘ah”, edited by Ibrahim El-Bayomi Ghanem

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“The Theory of Resources and Objectives in Preserving the Sunnah from Intrusive 34 Thoughts”, by Lakhdhar Lakhdhari

Email: info@al-furqan.com

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Distributors of Al-Furqān’s Publications Book Fairs Highlights

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www.al-furqan.com

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“25 Years Documenting the Role of the Two Noble Cities”

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In Memoriam

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Mohamed Fareed El-Shayyal In the custody of Allāh

Al-Furqān and Its Centres

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Newsletter No. 18

Winter 2019

Message From the Chairman It is with delight that I deliver the 18th issue of Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation’s Newsletter into the hands of our cherished readers. This coincides with 25 years since the founding of the Centre for Compiling the Encyclopaedia of Makkah Al-Mukarramah and Al-Madīnah Al-Munawwarah, rising to a state of maturity of which we are rightly proud. We relish this renewed opportunity to inform you of the Foundation’s activities, diligent efforts, and achievements in the spheres of Islamic heritage and civilization in 2019. The last year truly represented a year of forward leaps and bounds, constant toil and novelty, illustrated by the variety and quantity of our events and activities; these marked the Foundation’s enduring effort to fulfil its grand mission of preserving our nation’s rich and glorious heritage.

We ask Allāh, the Almighty, to grant us success and keep our course steady, and hope that our esteemed readers find this newsletter to be both highly beneficial and intellectually stimulating.

Since its inception, Al-Furqān Foundation has continued to advance its mission to conserve and serve our nation’s rich and glorious heritage. This is of paramount importance in representing our nation’s civilizational legacy, fruit of its intellectual creativity, record of its knowledge, and individual granular memory. All these elements are the backbone of its cultural identity, constituents of its strength, and the foundation for its revival; without which, it would dissolve, disintegrate, and decay. Despite the many challenges, the Foundation works with little fanfare, dedicating its own efforts and resources to the study of Islamic manuscript heritage, as well as conscientiously documenting the role of the two noble cities – Makkah and Madinah – in enriching and publishing this heritage, and attempting to revive the objectives of Islamic law (Maqāṣid); this noble jurisprudence that underpins the pillars of this heritage.

In this regard, and seeking to stimulate the critical edition movement, the Centre for Study of Islamic Manuscripts organised a training course titled, “Editing Manuscripts on Literature and Language”, on 4-9 March 2019 at Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania Institute in Rabat. This opened with a public lecture by Prof.

Ibrahim Chabbouh titled “Critical edition of Kitāb al-‘Ibar by Ibn Khaldūn: plan, vision, and results”. Furthermore, on 25-29 March 2019, the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin witnessed a training course titled “Codicological and Palaeographical Aspects of Islamic Manuscripts, with a Special Focus on Manuscript Notes”, organised by the Centre in collaboration with the Freie Universität Berlin and the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. On the eve of this course, Prof.

Konrad Hirschler delivered a lecture titled “Reuse Fragments in Arabic Manuscripts”. The Centre also organised the second international conference on manuscript Qur’ān copies (maṣāḥif) entitled “The Noble Qur’ān from Revelation to Compilation”, on Saturday and Sunday, 9-10 November 2019 in Istanbul.

As part of its seasonal lecture series, Al-Furqān Foundation also organised three public lectures at its London Headquarters. The first

by Prof. Salim Al-Hassani, and titled “Women of Science, Medicine and Management in Muslim Civilisation”, was delivered on Wednesday evening, 27 February 2019. The second, held on 3 April 2019, was

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by Prof. Maribel Fierro, titled “The Maghrib in the Mashriq”. The third was delivered by Prof. Bashar Awwad Marouf on 23 October 2019, and titled “The Critical Edition of Texts between Different Narrations, the Importance of Auditions, and Multiple Versions”.

The Centre’s achievements in the area of publications included publishing the proceedings of the previous two training courses in collaboration with Dār Al-‘Ulūm, Cairo, in 2008 and 2009, titled “Introduction to Editing Arabic Manuscripts”. The Centre also published the proceedings of the training course titled “Editing Manuscripts on Literature and Language”. In the area of critical edition, the Centre published “The Journey of Muħammad Al-Jūdī (Mufti of Kairouan) to Hajj (including a notebook with his study achievements and transmissions (ijāzāt))”, authored by Muħammad b. Muħammad Ṣāliħ Al-Jūdī Al-Qayrawānī , and edited by Al-Mahdi Eid Al-Rawadieh. In the area of lectures, the Centre published “Views and Experiences in Dealing with Heritage Texts from Ibn Khaldūn’s Book al-ʿIbar and Others”, by Prof. Ibrahim Chabbouh.

In the realm of raising standards in Maqāṣid research, the Centre for Study of the Philosophy of Islamic Law organised the 15th Training Course on the philosophy of Islamic law, titled “The Objectives of Islamic Law in Light of the Noble Prophetic Sunnah (2): Methodology of understanding the Sunnah and its objectives”. This was held on 24-25 November 2019 in Tétouan, the Kingdom of Morocco. On the eve of the course, Dr Lakhdhar Lakhdhari delivered the lecture, “The Theory of Resources and Objectives in Preserving the Sunnah from the Intrusive Thoughts”, at the Faculty of Letters and Humanities, at Université Abdelmalek Essaadi, Tétouan. In the sphere of publications, the Centre published the book, “Maqāṣid Rules”, by Prof.

Ahmed Al-Raissouni, as well as the proceedings of the first and second training courses, “Objectives of Islamic law in Light of the Noble Prophetic Sunnah” (1) and (2), respectively, edited by Prof. Ahmed AlRaissouni. Furthermore, the Centre published the proceedings of the second symposium “Arts in the Light of Maqāṣid Al-Sharī‘ah”, edited by Prof. Ibrahim El-Bayoumi Ghanem, and the lecture by Dr Lakhdhar Lakhdhari, “The Theory of Resources and Objectives in Preserving the Sunnah from the Intrusive Thoughts”.

In turn, the Centre for Compiling the Encyclopaedia of Makkah Al-Mukarramah and Al-Madīnah Al-Munawwarah at Al-Furqān Foundation issued Volume 9 of the Encyclopaedia, beginning with the word entry “ḥalaqah”, and ending with “al-khuḍayrah”.

In addition to all these events, activities, and publications, the Foundation enjoyed many visits by organisations and individuals, and signed a cooperation agreement, as well as participating in a number of international fairs and events.

It gives me great pleasure to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to all those who contributed to these outstanding works and achievements, and am confident in the Foundation’s firm and steady progress towards securing its grand goals.

Allah is the Benefactor of all success, and to Him belongs all praise, at the dawn of every beginning and the dusk of every end…

Ahmed Zaki Yamani WWW.AL-FURQAN.COM

Newsletter No. 18

Winter 2019

Visits 06/03/2019 Visit to The National Library of Morocco, and meeting with the Director of the Library, Dr Mohammed El Ferrane, to discuss co-operation in areas of mutual interest.

The meeting was attended by Prof. Ahmed Chouqui Binebine, Director of the Royal Library.

not know existed, thanks to the collection of catalogues and digital images of manuscripts from Turkey held at the Library at Al-Furqān.

The students were keen to visit those libraries upon their return to Turkey. They also enquired extensively about the possibilities and opportunities for pursuing further studies in the UK and to what extent Al-Furqān could assist with providing guidance and advice on topics and gaps in current knowledge.

The visit culminated in a broad discussion of how Al-Furqān Foundation could assist these students in their future research, with the students collectively requesting to remain in touch about AlFurqān Foundation’s activities, particularly any occurring in Istanbul.

18/07/2019 Visit of the well-known artist, Mr Ali Omar Ermez, to AlFurqān Islamic Heritage Foundation.

02/08/2019 Visit of Shaykh Jasem bin al-Jaaber, Chairman of the Fatwa Office at the International Union of Muslim Scholars, and Dr Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Thani, Lecturer at the Faculty of Sharia and Islamic Studies at the University of Qatar, to AlFurqān Islamic Heritage Foundation.

The visiting guests were accompanied by Dr Ahmed AlDubayyan, Director of the Islamic Cultural Centre in London.

30/07/2019 The visit of a group of students from Ilāhiyāt College at Kocaeli University (Turkey) Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation On Tuesday 30th July 2019, Al-Furqān Foundation hosted a group of mainly third-year undergraduates from the Ilāhiyāt College at Kocaeli University, Turkey. The head of the delegation was Dr Ali Cançelik, Assistant Professor of Ottoman Turkish Language and Islamic Turkish Literature at Kocaeli University.

The students were in London for the purposes of improving their English language skills. Whilst here they had undertaken a series of visits to many of the prominent tourist and educational attractions that London offers, in addition to visiting numerous centres, educational institutes and organisations concerned with the promotion of the Islamic heritage and scholarship in the UK. The students were given an introduction about the Foundation and its Library holdings as well as its Online Database by Dr Celeste Gianni, a member of the staff in charge of the Library & Exchange.

They displayed considerable interest in the Library at Al-Furqān Foundation, taking a particularly keen interest in the Sezgin collection and the Ottoman Turkish literature holdings.

During conversation and questions, many of them expressed interest in some of the fields well represented by the holdings of Al-Furqān Library, including works on Ḥanafī jurisprudence, Andalusian-Ottoman relations, sociology and the history of religions, among other interests.

Dr Ali Cançelik added that owing to this visit, many students had found out about the existence of libraries in Turkey that they did

18/07/2019 Visit of Dr Wael al-Harithi, Lecturer at Umm al-Qura University in Makkah al-Mukarramah to Al-Furqān.

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Newsletter No. 18

Winter 2019 The Managing Director of Al-Furqān, Mr Shahsivari, was honoured to deliver a welcoming speech at the opening ceremony of the International Conference “Light from the depths of centuries”, which took place on August 25, 2019 at the Imam Bukhari International Scientific-Research Center, in Khoja Ismail town in Samarkand, as he was honoured to give a presentation about “Uzbekistan’s Rich and Diverse Written Heritage, as Described in the World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts”, at the 1st Session of this Conference, entitled “The Art of Book and Book in Art: Maverannahr’s Handwritten Legacy”.

At the end of this visit, Mr Shahsivari was gifted a facsimile copy of the ‘Katta Langar’ Qurʾãn, i.e. a rare 8th century Qurʾãn, named after the Uzbek village that is its centuries-long home (from the 15th century).

08/08/2019 Visit of Dr Mohammed S al-Shahri, Director of the Department of International Cooperation at King Khalid University, AbhaKingdom of Saudi Arabia, to Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation.

24-27/08/2019 Participation of the Managing Director of Al-Furqān, Mr Sali Shahsivari, at the Cultural Heritage Week in Uzbekistan, under the motto “Uzbekistan – crossroads of roads and civilizations: empires, religions, cultures” At the invitation of HE Aziz Abdukhakimov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and Mr Firdavs Abdukhalikov, Chairperson of the Board of World Scientific Society for Study, Conservation and Promotion of Uzbekistan’s Cultural Heritage, the Managing Director of Al-Furqān, Mr Sali Shahsivari participated in the Cultural Heritage Week under the motto “Uzbekistan – crossroads of roads and civilizations: empires, religions, cultures”, which took place in Tashkent, Termez and Samarkand, from August 22 to August 27, 2019.

In addition to three international conferences (one in Tashkent and 2 in Samarkand), this Cultural Heritage Week was packed with many exciting cultural events which took place in four cities, as following: in Tashkent (August 22-23), in Termez (August 24), in Bukhara (August 24) and in Samarkand (August 25 and 26).

These events were attended by more than 200 world renowned scholars and orientalists, UNESCO experts, including the Director-General of UNESCO, Ms Audrey Azoulay, and more than 50 representatives of international media from 40 countries.

After the first two days of the International Conference, which took place in Tashkent on August 22 and 23, on Saturday, August 24, the guests were divided into two groups, according to scientific interests. A group of archaeologists and art historians headed to Termez, while experts on Islamic studies and handwritten heritage specialists went to Bukhara. On August 25 and 26, all the guests met again in the old and beautiful city, Samarkand.

17/09/2019 Visit by a delegation from the Republic of Uzbekistan The Managing Director of Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, Mr Sali Shahsivari, and the working team at AlFurqān welcomed Mr Firdavs Abdukhalikov, Chairman of the World Society for the Study, Preservation, and Popularisation of the Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan, and Chairman of the Board of the National Association of Electronic Mass Media, and the accompanying Uzbek delegation. Along with Al-Furqān Foundation staff, Mr Shahsivari warmly greeted the visiting Uzbek delegation, expressing his delight, and noting that it was a glad occasion to receive them at the Foundation’s HQ. Indeed, he felt honoured by this highly symbolic visit, and expressed the shared confidence that this was an important step towards cementing the relationship and collaboration between the two organisations.

In turn, the head of the Uzbek delegation praised the Foundation’s Managing Director and staff for their warm reception and generous hospitality. He added that the principal purpose of the visit was their interest in strengthening cooperation and relations

Mr Sali Shahsivari gave the visiting delegation a brief overview of the role played by Al-Furqān Foundation

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Introducing the visiting delegation to Al-Furqān Library’s special collections, and the Foundation's digital library, focusing on the manuscript collections relating to Uzbekistan

Mr Firdavs Abdukhalikov gave an overview about the World Society for the Study, Preservation, and Popularisation of the Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan

between the two organisations. Furthermore, they wished to become acquainted with the veteran experiences of Al-Furqān Foundation in the domain of protecting and promoting Islamic heritage. He also emphasised the importance of the shared interest between them in exchanging visits and experiences, as well as benefitting from the successful and pioneering endeavours of Al-Furqān Foundation in the area of protecting heritage; furthermore, exchanging a variety of scientific publications related to areas of shared interest, as well as catalogues, books, periodicals, and scientific publications; all of this, in the context of a strategic collaborative framework between the organisations.

During the introductory session of the extended meeting, the Managing Director, Mr Sali Shahsivari, gave the visiting delegation a brief overview of the role played by Al-Furqān Foundation.

In turn, Mr Firdavs Abdukhalikov gave an overview about the World Society for the Study, Preservation, and Popularisation of the Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan, by mentioning the most important projects and activities currently underway to protect their ancestral heritage, and to strengthen, encourage, and support scientific achievement through organising international conferences, seminars, and visits; drawing attention to the large number of rare sources relating to the cultural heritage of the Uzbek people, held in museums, scientific research institutes, exhibitions and archives in different countries around the world. Indeed, Uzbekistan is actively searching for these, with the aim of repatriating them to Uzbekistan, within the frame of a media project, “Uzbekistan’s Cultural Heritage”.

Mr Abdukhalikov also emphasized his interest in working together with Al-Furqān Foundation in the immediate term to develop joint projects and initiatives that establish and open new horizons in work to protect and enhance heritage.

The visit’s programme included introducing the visiting delegation to Al-Furqān library’s special collections, and the library’s digital portal, focusing on the manuscript collections relating to Uzbekistan, through a comprehensive survey of manuscript heritage.

On the occasion of this visit, the Foundation had organised a mini-exhibition of its publications in the building reception, comprising different materials relating to Uzbek heritage, including authored works, references, manuscript catalogues, and critical editions of books by al-Bukhārī, al-Tirmidhī, alZamakhsharī, Abū Mu‘īn al-Nasafī, Najm al-Dīn Kubrī, alMātrīdī, al-Naqshabandī, Ibn Sīnā, al-Fārābī, al-Farghānī, Abu alRayḥān al-Birūnī, al-Khawārizmī, al-Marghinānī, al-Samarqandī, al-Qafāl al-Shāshī, al-Rāzī, and others.

At the end of the visit, the Uzbek delegation leader gifted AlFurqān Foundation with the encyclopaedic work, “Architectural Epigraphy of Uzbekistan” (10 volumes).

In turn, Al-Furqān Foundation gifted the complete set of the “Encyclopaedia of Makkah Al-Mukarramah and Al-Madīnah AlMunawwarah” (9 volumes), a copy of the Qur’ān belonging to al-Sharīf al-Sayyid Muḥammad Fāḍil al-Mawlawī, known as Fadil Paşa Şerifovic, containing the seven canonical readings, as well as the book “The House of Khadija bint Khuwaylid (God bless her) in Makkah”, the collections of Ibn al-Haytham, al-Qūhī, and others in Analytical Mathematics between the 3rd and 5th centuries (5 volumes), the book “Geometry and Dioptricts in Classical Islam”, and the English version of “The Mechanical Corpus of al-Isfizari in the Sciences of Weights and Ingenious Devices”.

Mini-exhibition of Al-Furqān's publications, comprising different materials related to Uzbek heritage

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Newsletter No. 18

Winter 2019

Cooperation Agreements

17/09/2019 Participation of the Managing Director of Al-Furqān, Mr Sali Shahsivari, at the Media Event under the title “Unique Cultural Initiatives of the New Uzbekistan”

Memorandum of Understanding and Co-operation between Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation and the Imam Bukhari International Scientific-Research Center (under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan)

At the invitation of the Uzbekistan Embassy in London, and the World Scientific Society for Study, Conservation and Promotion of Uzbekistan’s Cultural Heritage, the Managing Director of AlFurqān, Mr Sali Shahsivari, participated at the Media Event under the title “Unique Cultural Initiatives of the New Uzbekistan”, which was organised in honour of the 28th Anniversary of State Independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan. This event took place on September 17, at the Travellers Club, in London.

In the margins of the International Conference entitled “Light from the depths of centuries”, which took place at the Imam Bukhari Center at Khoja Ismail town in Samarkand, on 25th August 2019, and which was part of the several activities within the Cultural Heritage Week “Uzbekistan – crossroads of roads and civilizations: empires, religions, cultures”, Mr Sali Shahsivari, Managing Director of Al-Furqān, and Dr Shovosil Ziyodov, Director of the Imam Bukhari International Scientific-Research Center, signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation between their respective institutions.

The Managing Director of Al-Furqān, Mr Shahsivari, was invited as guest of honour, and was given the floor for the opening remarks.

The event hosted an advisory conference with the participation of scientists, politicians, diplomats, representatives of the business community and media.

After the Media Event, the guests were invited to attend the formal reception organised on the occasion of the Independence Day, which took place in the evening, at the Embassy of Uzbekistan in London. The evening programme included speeches and a rich cultural programme, and was attended by a large number of guests.

Signing of the Memorandum of Understanding

The Memorandum stipulated collaboration and exchange of scientific experiences in the area of preserving Islamic heritage, particularly the written heritage, through cataloguing, critical editing, publishing, researching the means to protect and preserve heritage, and employing all means to raise the level of civilizational awareness of work in these domains, as well as co-operating jointly in organising conferences, seminars, and training courses in the different fields relating to heritage, and the exchange of various scientific publications; each party also agreed to invite the other to its conferences and seminars.

06/12/2019 Visit of Dr Jasem Soltan, the Founder of al-Nahda Project, to Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation.

The Imam Bukhari International Scientific-Research Center

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Winter 2019

Lectures “Women of Science, Medicine and Management in Muslim Civilisation”

Following Mr Yamani’s opening comments, Mr Shahsivari gave some words of introduction regarding the guest speaker and the subject of the evening. Undoubtedly, there is growing concerning and a plethora of misconceptions regarding gender and women in society, and particularly in relation to Islam. This would prove to be an interesting topic to tackle, though one that has not been given its befitting share of study. The aims and objectives of the talk, Mr Shahsivari reminded are to “shed light on the richness of Islamic heritage and society and to underscore its diversity.”

Many women and men from all walks of life contributed to building the Islamic civilisation, and this talk hopes to “bring visibility to some outstanding women scientists, doctors and leaders.” In that light, it would deconstruct misconceptions and provide strong role models for women considering pursuing such careers, and with that, Mr Shahsivari introduced the guest speaker, Professor Salim Al-Hassani.

by Prof. Salim Al-Hassani As part of its seasonal lecture series, Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation organised a public lecture on Wednesday, 27 February 2019. The lecture was titled “Women of Science, Medicine and Management in Muslim Civilisation”, and was hosted at the lecture theatre in Al-Furqān’s London headquarters.

The lecturer was Professor Salim Al-Hassani, Emeritus Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Professorial Fellow in Humanities at the University of Manchester.

Mr Sali Shahsivari, the Managing Director of Al-Furqān, opened the evening by welcoming and thanking the guests, before inviting Mr Sharaf Yamani, Member of the Board of Directors of Al-Furqān, to deliver some opening remarks.

Mr Yamani began by extending a warm welcome from the Chairman of the Foundation, Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani.

He then went to assert that the role of women in the history of Islamic civilisation is a “pride” and that the Foundation has played a role in contributing to the scholarship and furthering the horizons of research with respect to this marvellous, albeit - at times - sensitive topic. These manifest in the publication of some works, including Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani’s The House of Khadijah bint Khuwaylid in Makkah al-Mukarramah: A Historical Study of Its Location, Building and Architecture.

Additionally, Sheikh Ahmad Zaki Yamani himself authored another book titled Woman in Islam, wherein one finds a concise but detailed portrayal of the societal position accorded to women in Islamic law and practice. Only in the last few weeks, the Foundation has published Ijāzat ʿUlamāʾ wa ʿᾹlimāt al-Ħaramayn al-Sharīfayn lī ʿUlamāʾ al-Amṣār (The Diplomas and Certificates of the Male and Female Scholars of Makkah and Madinah throughout History); a book that lists around one thousand such female scholars. Indeed, in Mr Sharaf Yamani’s words, “If ever you were inspired or motivated by any man in the history of the Islamic civilisation, you can make the assumption and know that these men were probably influenced by a woman.”

Mr Sali Shahsivari welcoming the guests

Professor Al-Hassani began by drawing attention to the contrasts in attitude and perspective towards women before and after the message of Islam. Many of the leading Greek philosophers—including Plato and Aristotle, both pioneers of Western civilization— “dehumanised” women, regarding them as low-level creatures. It is Professor Al-Hassani’s assertion that Islam provided an alternative perspective; and while several studies have investigated the contribution of Muslim women to various fields of knowledge, most notably the field of Ħadīth transmission (a wholly religious science), there remain few sources that highlight the role of women in the development of science, technology and medicine.

Professor Al-Hassani reminded the audience that what prompted him to explore this particular avenue was that two of his university supervisors, Professor Donald Cardwell (d. 1998) and Professor William Johnson (d. 2010) invited him to explore the glaring millennia interval between Greek science and that of the Enlightenment period. While undertaking this project, Professor Al-Hassani came across by some 600 names, covering the span of 600-1600CE, “all of whom would today be members of the Royal Society”. Of these 600 names, Professor Al-Hassani

Mr. Sharaf Yamani, Member of the Board of Directors of Al-Furqān, deliverering his opening speech

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Newsletter No. 18

Winter 2019

noted that a number of them were women, or, even if they were men, those men’s names were intimately related to a woman. The best example of this was one of a manuscript belonging to the 11th century famed polymath and scientist, al-Biruni, wherein he writes, “Thanks to Allah. Had it not been for Rayhana, I would not have been able to accomplish my work.”

Islamic manuscripts have been critically edited). In light of this, Professor Al-Hassani advanced a theory: there are a fair share of manuscripts whose author’s names have been “scrubbed out”. It is Professor Al-Hassani’s view that these authors may have been female and that this exercise of obliterating or tampering with the manuscript is owing to the creeping negative influence of Greek and other civilisations on the Muslim mind. Secondly, if it were good enough for Muslim women to tackle the most innermost sanctuary—the study and memorisation of the Qurʾãn and the scribing and transmission of Prophetic Ħadīth —it would appear to be more obvious that they worked on temporal and secular fields, such as chemistry and astronomy and the like. “But where are they?” It is just a matter of knowing which kinds of questions to ask and where to look.

Prof. Salim Al-Hassani delivering his lecture

While stressing that scholarship on women and science has advanced very little, and reminding the audience of the size of the task ahead in uncovering and unravelling the possibilities to be found in the millions of manuscripts, Professor Al-Hassani took the audience on a journey providing the names and professions, and occasionally the names of works written by Muslim women.

These included Sutayta al-Maħamalī of Badghad and Labona of Cordoba - both renowned for their mathematical abilities; Mariam al-ʿIjliyah and Faŧimah al-Majriŧiya, who were said to have built astrolabes; the al-Fihrī sisters, Faŧimah and Mariam, who both embarked on major philanthropic projects, twinning the religious and the educational; Rufayda al-Aslamiyyah who was occupied in the sphere of medicine; and others, such as Sitt al-Mulk, Shajarat al-Durr and Sulŧana Raziya, who were engaged in the world of politics and leadership.

Part of the audience

He concluded by reminding the audience that there is no guarantee that his theses will be proven, but that the underdeveloped state of research demands sponsorship and support, and that he has managed to display some glimmers of hope this evening.

The lecture concluded with an engaging question and answer session.

Concluding his talk, Professor Al-Hassani outlined two fundamental points. Firstly, searching for these names was a difficult, arduous task. It was, in his words, akin to “searching for a needle in a haystack.” This was owing to the considerable number of manuscripts yet to be pored over and edited (according to some estimates, less than 1% of the known

?

Part of the audience

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Newsletter No. 18

Winter 2019

“Critical edition of Kitāb al-‘Ibar by Ibn Khaldūn: plan, vision, and results”

by Prof. Ibrahim Chabbouh On Monday, 4 March 2019, in the lecture theatre at Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania Institute in Rabat, a public lecture titled “Critical edition of Kitāb al-‘Ibar by Ibn Khaldūn: plan, vision, and results” was delivered by Professor Ibrahim Chabbouh. This lecture— organised by the Centre for Study of Islamic Manuscripts at Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation—was distinguished by the attendance of a large number of scholars, doctoral students, researchers, and representatives of cultural bodies.

Prof. Ibrahim Chabbouh delivering his lecture

al-‘Abbās Aḥmad al-Ḥafṣī, and furthermore, recited his panegyric lāmiyyah ode, dedicated to his patron, to mark the occasion.

The event was chaired by Professor Ahmed Chouqui Binebine, Director of the Bibliothèque Royale (al-Khizānah al-Malakiyyah) in Rabat, and member of the Board of Experts at the Centre for Study of Islamic Manuscripts at Al-Furqān Foundation. At the outset, Professor Binebine offered a synopsis of the lecture topic, and summarised the lecturer’s lifetime scientific achievements.

He then migrated to Egypt for his own reasons, where he was honoured by being employed in its Madrassahs and the Khānqāh, and subsequently served several times as a Mālikī school of jurisprudence judge. He was then appointed Chief of Justice (Qāḍī al-Quḍāt), while at the same time, he continued to teach Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), and his Muqadimah – as al-Sakhawī reported.

In 791AH, he faced a huge political test that caused him to retire to Ceuta, and go about revising his work, al-Tārīkh, by adding the part on “al-‘ajam” or the non-Arabs, after it had been limited to the Arabs and Berbers (the term, “al-‘ajam” refers to all those nonArabic-speaking Muslim peoples). As such, the entire map of the Muslim world was now at his fingertips, and he dwelt profoundly on the description of its people’s conditions. Indeed, he produced novel and significant results in the classification of Islamic history, namely that: the Islamic state was founded on the four RightlyGuided Caliphs, where Mu‘āwiyyah could rightly be classed among them, had he not been excluded by virtue of becoming one of those caliphs dominating by force (mughālabah), rather than people’s choice. Furthermore, Mu‘āwiyyah also established a hereditary caliphate, in the like of monarchs and Roman Caesars.

This marked the starting point for conflict and dispute, with the development of a new concept that the caliphate must be restricted to the descendants of Prophet Muḥammad, called Āl-al-Bayt.

Prof. Binebine offered a synopsis of the lecture topic, and summarised the lecturer’s lifetime scientific achievements

The lecturer, Professor Ibrahim Chabbouh, reflected on his extensive experience, stretching over three decades, spent critically editing Ibn Khaldūn’s renowned text on history titled Al-‘Ibar wa dīwān al-mubtada’ wa al-khabar fī ayām al-‘arab wa al-‘ajam wa albarbar wa man ‘āṣarahum min dhawī al-sulṭān al-akbar.

This conflict persisted until 136AH, when Banū al-‘Abbās’ supporters prevailed, taking control of the caliphate. From that moment, the Muslim nation was divided into three: (i) Banū al-‘Abbās and those independent states aligned to them by virtue of recognising them, and thus established their government within their orbit, even if by association—these were denoted by Ibn Khaldūn as “duwal al-tabi‘ah”

Professor Chabbouh began by exploring the influence of historical events on Ibn Khaldūn, focusing on how these shaped the authorship of this grand work. Key highlights covered in the lecture related to the following events and their influence: Most of the book’s content and records pertaining principally to the Berbers, and their fusion with the Arabs was gathered during the author’s formative years in Tunis, where he was witness to the influence of Banū Hilāl. It was closely followed by material collated during the Maghreb phase, where he was in close proximity to the affairs of sovereign nations, and participated in both the public and private aspects of state. The book’s compilation phase began in 776AH when he secluded himself in the Banū Salāmah Citadel in Taghzout, where he resided for four years (until 780AH).

He was then obliged to search for sources for his work that were only to be found in the urban centres of the time. He therefore returned to Tunis, where Abū al-‘Abbās Aḥmad al-Ḥafṣī invited him to complete the work. Consequently, in around two years, he wrote what he called Turjumān al-‘Ibar, which he gifted to Abū

Part of the audience

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Winter 2019

or client states; (ii) those who considered themselves closest in lineage to Āl-al-Bayt, and hence, believed themselves to be more worthy of the caliphate, i.e. the Alawiyyūn, represented by the Adārisah, Zaydiyyah, Fatimiyyūn, Qarāmiṭah, etc., which he denoted “al-muzāḥimūn” or jostling competitors; and (iii), the Ummayads of al-Andalus, who had previously controlled the caliphate, which he termed “al-munāzi‘ūn” or disputers. He organised the book’s chapters, based on this perspective, in a way that contrasted to the approach of all the historians in their general histories.

Manuscripts”, delivered by Prof. Konrad Hirschler, lecturer at the Institute of Islamic Studies at Freie Universität Berlin.

The event was chaired by Dr Christoph Rauch, Head of the Oriental Department of the Berlin State Library.

After the welcoming words by Dr Barbara Schneider-Kempf, Director of the Berlin State Library, and Mr Sali Shahsivari, Managing Director of Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, the floor was given to Professor Konrad Hirschler to deliver his lecture.

In the second aspect of his lecture, Professor Chabbouh expanded on his long experience in collecting and studying copies of Kitāb al‘Ibar. He pointed out that, over the span of 35 years, he had found more than 300 extant pieces of the book in both public and private libraries in the East and the West. Indeed, some of these carried corrections, commentary, and annotations in the author’s own hand.

He had subjected these to deep codicological examination, extracting countless subtle points (nukat) and useful remarks (fawā’id), and mapping the relationships between these surviving texts in an elegant way. He also pointed to the praiseworthy effort dedicated to transcribing the book correctly from original texts, with precise collation of manuscripts, while preserving the novel approaches devised by Ibn Khaldūn. These included illustrating the genealogy of the states and the tribes he mentions in the work, and creatively inventing letters that represented non-Arabic phonetics, as needed by non-Arab and Berber words. All these were preserved by the editor in his polished publication of the critical edition, which he also enriched with brief, beneficial, and intellectually stimulating comments.

Dr Barbara Schneider-Kempf, Director of the Berlin State Library, welcoming the guests

In his lecture, entitled “Down the rabbit hole: Reuse Fragments in Arabic Manuscripts”, Prof. Hirschler highlighted the fact that, producers of Arabic manuscripts systematically reused fragments of discarded writings. This material included recent documentary material (such as contracts, decrees and petitions), but also material that was clearly archaic at the point when it was reused.

After the lecturer concluded his presentation, extensive discussion ensued, with important questions posed on those topics raised in the lecture.

Mr Sali Shahsivari, Managing Director of A-Furqān greeting the audience

Questions from the audience

Furthermore, he presented samples of reuse practices in manuscripts produced in the Syrian and Egyptian lands during the Middle Period, especially the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

The samples showed that manuscript producers systematically had recourse to fragments that referred to different pasts in terms of materiality (parchment in a manuscript tradition that since long had transitioned to paper), of script (ancient Maghribi script that was entirely alien to the local manuscript cultures) and of language (such as Hebrew, Syriac and Georgian). Producers built these striking spolia into their new books in highly visible ways; they generally functioned as title pages and they were the first item a reader would encounter when picking up the book. The subsequent trajectories of the new books, that in turn underwent material modifications, show that, in the following centuries, users took these spolia seriously and preserved the antiquarian fragments in often surprising ways.

“Reuse Fragments in Arabic Manuscripts”

by Prof. Konrad Hirschler In the margins of the International Training Course on: “Codicological and Palaeographical Aspects of Islamic Manuscripts, with a Special Focus on Manuscript Notes”, which took place from 25th until 29th March 2019, at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Germany, which was organised by the Centre for the Study of Islamic Manuscripts at Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, in co-operation with the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and the Freie Universität Berlin, on Monday 25th March 2019, and in order to provide a platform for the wider audience who are interested in the Islamic heritage and culture, the three institutions organised a public lecture under the title “Reuse Fragments in Arabic

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Winter 2019 contributions in the world of arts and culture, science and medicine, law, and indeed love and war”.

With Al-Andalus’s enduring legacy, we continue to see the fruitful contributions made in that world—a world that has earned a somewhat mythical status, a dreamland culture of sorts—in which, he said, “members of three religious communities—Jew, Christian and Muslim—collectively created a culture in which they lived in common, and to which they contributed.”

After the lecturer concluded his presentation, extensive discussion ensued, with important questions posed on those topics raised in the lecture.

In light of this, Mr Yamani highlighted that the Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation itself has recently undertaken the editing and publication of major contributions from al-Andalus, such as the Ibn ʿAbdul-Barr’s Ħadīth commentary work, alTamhīd, and, he ended by giving the audience the glad tidings that the Foundation will soon be publishing al-Tamhīd’s sisterwork, al-Istidhkār.

Part of the audience

Mr Sharaf Yamani's welcoming speech

Prof. Konrad Hirschler delivering his lecture

Following Mr Yamani’s opening comments, Mr al-Timimi gave some words of introduction regarding the guest speaker.

He highlighted the facts that: Professor Fierro has devoted the majority of her academic work to the study and unearthing of all that relates to the Andalus. She has written extensively on the political, religious, and intellectual history of al-Andalus and the Islamic West, and on Islamic - particularly Mālikī - law, among many other topics. She has published critical editions of Andalusian works, and has written substantially on Ibn Rushd’s Bidāyat al-Mujtahid and the Almohad pedagogical project. He ended by sharing an anecdote: in a copy of the late Moroccan ʿAllama Muhammad Bensharifa’s book, Ibn Rushd: Sīrah Wathāʾiqiyyah, he had stumbled across his dedication to Dr Fierro, whom he referred to as, “sulŧānat al-ʿilm wal-baḥth” (the Sultana of scholarship and research).

“The Maghrib in the Mashriq”

by Prof. Maribel Fierro As part of its seasonal lecture series, Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation organised a public lecture on Wednesday, 3 April 2019. The lecture was titled, “The Maghrib in the Mashriq”, and was hosted at the lecture theatre in Al-Furqān’s London headquarters. The lecturer was Professor Maribel Fierro, Research Professor at the Institute of Languages and Cultures of the Mediterranean (CSIC – Spain).

Mr Tariq al-Timimi, in charge of the Content & Editing at the Foundation, opened the evening by welcoming and thanking the guests, before inviting Mr Sharaf Yamani, Member of the Board of Directors of Al-Furqān, to deliver some opening remarks.

Professor Fierro’s talk was divided into three parts: firstly, a broad overview of the Maghrib in relation to the Mashriq: geography, politics and representation; secondly: the Maghrib in the Mashriq: the ‘best-sellers’, and finally, ‘How and why works produced in the Maghrib or written by Maghribis made it in the Mashriq’. Each of these subthemes was detailed at length, with the provision of further references and studies for those interested. One of the significant conclusions found, based on

Mr Yamani began by extending a warm welcome from the Chairman of the Foundation, Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani. He then introduced the topic of the lecture, saying that: “Whether one regards it as an historical period or a geographic area, the Andalus is widely held as one of the most important chapters in humanity. Indeed, many historians consider it the true golden age of Muslim civilisation and one that gave birth to unparalleled

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Winter 2019 The above showed that the Andalusian best-sellers focused on the Qurʾãn, the Prophetic biography, books on creed and the basic pillars of Islam, grammar, medicine, mathematics, literature and politics. Based on statistical figures, Professor Fierro was able to demonstrate that around three centuries into the conquest of Andalus (711), the works found to be circulating in the Andalus were overwhelmingly legal writings and books of poetry; however, what was peculiar, perhaps, was that, of the ten best-sellers, six were written in the 12th-13th centuries under Almoravid and Almohad rule. Besides this, she noted how four Almohad scholars earned huge fame in the Mashriq, namely, Ibn Tufayl (d. 581/1185), Averroes (d. 595/1198), Maimonides (d.1204) and Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (d. 638/1240).

Mr Tariq al-Timimi offered a synopsis of the lecture topic, and summarised the lecturer’s lifetime scientific achievements

She ended by highlighting that works produced during this period - some best-sellers themselves - were marked by their encyclopaedism and their reliance on didactic poems. The motive behind this particular style however was that the Almohads were interested in creating for themselves credible religious authority, and to train a new class of students and heirs of future rule.

data analysis of a huge number of extant biographical works, is that Maghribis were noted for their keen interest in Qur’ānic modes of recitation, the writing of texts on creed (an almost exclusively Andalusian genre at one point) and Sufism.

The lecture concluded with a very engaging question and answer session.

Moving on to the ‘best-seller’ list (those books which had been most copied, cited, abridged, commented on and possibly plagiarised), Professor Fierro highlighted the top ten Andalusian works that have been found elsewhere in the Muslim world, including the number of manuscripts found of each. These top ten books, were, in order: 1. Al-Shifā’ by Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ (d. 544/1149) 2. Ḥirz al-amānī fī wajh al-tahānī or al-Qaṣīda al-shāṭibiyya by alShāṭibī (538/1143-590/1194) 3. al-Alfiyya by Ibn Mālik (d. 672/1274) 4. Kitāb al-jāmiʿ li-mufradāt al-adwiya wa-l-aghdhiya by Ibn alBayṭār (576/1180 or 583/1187-646/1248) 5. Rutbat al-ḥakīm by Maslama b. Qāsim (295/908-353/964)

Part of the audience

6. Al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qur’ān by al-Qurṭubī (d. 671/1273) 7. Kashf al-asrār ʿan ilm (ḥurūf) al-ghubār by al-Qalaṣādī (¿815/1412? -891/1486) 8. Sirāj al-mulūk by al-Ṭurṭūshī (c. 451/1059-520/1126 9. Urjūzat al-wildān or al-Muqaddima al-qurṭubiyya 10. al-Ājurrūmiyya by Ibn Ājurrūm (672/1273-723/1323)

Prof. Maribel Fierro delivering her lecture

Copy of Al-Shifā’ by Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ

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“The theory of resources and objectives of preserving the Sunnah from the Intrusive Thoughts”

of these rulings based on the guiding principles, even if there was no partial witnessed evidence against the judged or the sentenced, as the negation of the particular does not require the negation of the general.

by Prof. Lakhdar Lakhdari

He emphasized that the authenticity of the Qurʾān was bound to a nation of illiteracy that was not affected by either the ambiguity of eloquence or that of inference. This authenticity could maintain itself due to the fact that it stands on facts about the universe and the legislative ones. Other reasons for this sustainability are the customs, methods and traditions which were decreed during the time of revelation. Dr Lakhdari also emphasized that the observer of the history of legislative discourse can undoubtedly confirm the clarity of the minds of the perceivers and the vastness of their imagination in such a way that we found not a single companion returning to the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him in order to understand something of the Qurʾān, except in the places referring to Divine concealments or authorising explanations.

On the eve of the Second Course on “The objectives of Shariʿa in the light of Sunnah: The Methodology of revealing and applying the Shariʿa Objectives via the Prophet’s Sunnah”, a public lecture titled “The theory of resources and objectives of preserving the Sunnah from the the Intrusive Thoughts”, delivered by Dr Lakhdar Lakhdari, took place on Tuesday 23rd April 2019, in Dean Muhammad alKittani Hall at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Abd al-Malik al-Saʿdi, Tetouan - Morocco.

The lecture was attended by representatives of the Al-Furqān Foundation, including Mr. Sali Shahsiwari, the Managing Director, and Mr. Mohamed Drioueche; representatives of the Al-Maqāṣid Center for Studies and Research, including Dr. Hussein Al-Mous, Deputy Director, and Dr. Muhammad Awwam; a group of professors from the Department of Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Arts in Tetouan, including Dr. Mustafa Al-Maktouni, Dr. Muhammad Al-Samadi, Dr. Abd alWahid Bushdak and Dr. Hisham Tahtah; and around 120 PhD and Masters students.

Dr Lakhdari pointed out that the successive occurrence of judgements by time creates the need to canonize the methodological and deductive axioms in order to refute misconceptions. Thus, the codification of the Sunnah - after the first Muslim generation - and the protecting of both its texts and chains of narrators from any impurities was a vital task undertaken by rulers and scholars. The non-codification of a certain tradition of the Prophet, he added, did not mean that it never existed; for being unperceived does not mean non-existent. He then stressed the significance of deductive

This event started with a recitation from the Holy Qurʾãn, followed by welcoming speeches presented by Dr. Abdul Wahid Boshdak, on behalf of the Islamic Studies Department; Mr. Sali Shahsivari, on behalf of Al-Furqān Foundation; and Dr. Hussein Al Mous, on behalf of the Al-Maqāṣid Center .

After that, Dr Lakhdar Lakhdari delivered his lecture.

Prof. Lakhdar Lakhdari delivering his lecture

methodologies from the Sunnah of the Prophet, and the presentation of the intended Objectives through their Qurʾānic evidence and the efforts of the early elite. In this regard, he spoke about documentation of narrated sayings and practices according to the doctrines of the school of Ħadīth.

Welcome speeches by the organisers of the event

Dr Lakhdari began by explaining the correlation between documenting the various sciences in different successive epochs, whether good or corrupt; and how the body of rulings grow depending on the collective temperament of the people and alternating between modest and tyrannical. This, Dr Lakhdari pointed out, necessitates the combination of these scattered rulings into complete works, and the authentication

Then, Dr. Lakhdari talked about the academic efforts exerted in the service of the Sunnah according to the following levels:

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First: the efforts of Ħadīth scholars The scholars of Ħadīth paid enormous attention to the Prophetic narrations (in terms of adding grammatical indicators - ‘ħarakãt’, editing, and contextual occasions), in terms of acceptance or rejection, and how the scholars selected the keywords that reflect the objectives and the occasions.

Second: the efforts of Usul scholars: Dr Lakhdari covered this point extensively. First, he highlighted the variation of the terminology and methodology in approaching the Sunnah. He praised the scholars’ utmost care in dealing with both Ħadīth chains and texts, and reviewed the various conditions laid down by them in order for narrations to be accepted. He then discussed the Zahiri, Hanafi and Maliki methodologies in detail.

Part of the audience

- gradual progression to ultimate Maqāṣid.

- arranging of Maqāṣid books and topics.

Thirdly: Maqāṣid (Objective) Approach:

Among the topics proposed by the lecturer (the Objective of Protection, Motivational Objective, the Objective of Property Preservation, the Objective of Reconstruction, the Objective of Fulfillment of Oaths, the Objective of Honoring Rituals and Laws...). The first objective (i.e. the Objective of Protection) was chosen to elaborately demonstrate the rearrangement of Sunnah according to the classification method of Maqāṣid, as he broke it down into clear entities and chapters that correspond to how it was practiced through the noble Ħadīths.

Dr Lakhdari described this approach, and how it takes the scholar from the realm of acquiring knowledge to that of applying it, where the scholar is equipped with the legal methods to achieve what he aims for. Thus, these methods fulfil their functional objectives as they honour themselves and honour those who fulfil them.

In this regard also, Dr. Lakhdari spoke of the ways to infer the objectives according to al-Shaṭibī, Muhammad al-Ṭaher Ibn ʿAshour, and others. These ways are:

The lecture lasted about an hour and a half, and was followed by an open discussion, in which, both teachers and students took part.

a. Tools of exploration (Arabic language, customs, reasoning, acquaintance through coexistence, acts of devotion)

Eventually, this scholarly assembly closed with a sincere expression of profound thanks and praise to all who made it a success: the organizers, Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Abd al-Malik al-Saʿdi, in Tetouan - Morocco, the speaker and other distinguished professors and student researchers.

b. Socially accepted customs c. Total Descriptions. d. Rating and occasions. e. Features of excellence.

Questions from the audience

Then Dr Lakhdari explained the Maqāṣid methodology of Sunnah classification, which is a novel, useful and interesting approach consisting of:

Part of the audience

- the extraction of partial Maqāṣid, by using tools of exploration.

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“The Critical Edition of Texts between Different Narrations, the Importance of Auditions, and Multiple Versions”

Second: examining the importance of the auditions recorded on the handwritten copies by eminent scholars, and whether these confer extra weight to the manuscript copy in terms of correctness of the information within, as well as determining its position vis-à-vis other copies, whether superior or otherwise. In addition, exploring the difference between audition of books by scholars, and a scholar reading and then adding commentary to a book, whether to correct or signal disagreement; and the resulting benefits of both these actions.

by Prof. Bashar Awwad Maʻrouf As part of Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation’s seasonal lecture series, the Centre for the Study of Islamic Manuscripts organised a public lecture under the title “The Critical Edition of Texts between Different Narrations, the Importance of Auditions, and Multiple Versions”, delivered by Professor Bashar Awwad Ma‘rouf. The lecture took place on Wednesday, 23 October 2019 at the lecture hall in Al-Furqān’s London headquarters.

Third: the ways of dealing with the multiple versions of the same book in the process of conducting critical edition, and the best approach to be adopted. Indeed, the author in the age of manuscripts—as is the case today—may have revisited his work, with further content addition, deletion, and refinement. While some copyists transcribed the early versions, others transcribed the later ones, and as a result, manuscript copies would differ in containing more material or less. This required the critical editor to adopt a clear position in this respect.

The session was moderated by Mr Mohamed Drioueche, Head of Projects & Publications at Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, who welcomed the audience and invited Mr Sharaf Yamani, Member of Al-Furqān’s Board of Directors, to deliver his welcoming speech. Mr Sharaf began by conveying the greetings and welcome of H.E. Shaykh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Chairman of Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation. He also thanked the evening’s guest, the learned Professor Bashar Awwad Ma‘rouf, for honouring the Foundation by delivering his lecture. He then gave a brief summary of this pioneering lecture’s topic, and an overview of the lecturer’s scientific journey.

Prof. Bashar Awwad Maʻrouf delivering his lecture

Professor Bashar Awwad Ma‘rouf was successful in providing effective solutions to these complicated problems, stemming from his extensive and deep experience, spanning more than a half century in the critical edition of heritage texts, which resulted in publishing over 300 volumes, representing his authored works and critical editions.

Mr Sharaf Yamani welcoming the lecturer and the guests

After finishing his presentation, a long and in-depth discussion ensued, with important questions being asked on the topics raised in the lecture. The audience was graced by the presence of a number of scholars, researchers, and students.

Before inviting Professor Bashar Awwad Ma‘rouf to deliver his lecture, Mr Mohamed Drioueche gave a detailed presentation of the lecturer and the evening’s lecture.

The lecturer addressed three novel issues that had escaped the attention of researchers and critical editors:

The audience benefitted greatly from this pioneering lecture, and the follow-on discussion, due to the novel and useful opinions presented by the lecturer in his typically beautiful manner and gracious approaches to research and critical edition that are in harmony with the correct and ideal method of securing benefit.

First: differences in book order and content, between narrators of books authored in the second and third Hijri centuries; this, despite the author being one and the same, and the narrators being his most trustworthy and competent students. The lecturer attempted to explain this phenomenon in the authorship movement of Muslim Arabs, and elucidate its reasons, and outcomes. The lecturer presented the “Muwaṭṭa’ ” of Imām Mālik b. Anas (d. 179AH / 795CE) as an example, after he had gathered several extant narrations of this work, which differ in the order of volumes and chapters; the number of prophetic traditions (Ħadīth)—whether elevated to the Prophet (peace be upon him) (marfū‘) or attributed to a Companion (mawqūf); the fatwas issued by the Companions and the subsequent generation, alTabi’ūn; and the fatwas by Imām Mālik himself.

Part of the audience

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Training Courses “Editing Manuscripts on Literature and Language”

welcomed “Morocco’s guests”, whether scholars delivering the training, or course delegates benefiting from it. He concluded by expressing his continuing commitment to collaboration with AlFurqān Islamic Heritage Foundation in delivering all those projects contributing to serving knowledge and scholarship.

Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, in partnership with Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania Institute in Rabat, organised an international training course on “Editing Manuscripts on Literature and Language”. This was held in the friendly environs of Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania Institute in Rabat on 4-9 March 2019.

In turn, Mr Sali Shahsivari, Managing Director of Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, welcomed the respected scholars and researchers taking part in the training course. He thanked them for their gracious cooperation with the course organising committee, wishing them a pleasant stay in Rabat and continued success in their academic pursuits. He reminded them that this course was one of the most important outcomes of the scientific collaboration between AlFurqān and Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania Institute in Rabat. Moreover, it complemented Al-Furqān’s efforts in regularly organising training courses in critical edition, cataloguing, and philosophy of Islamic law around the world. He also expressed his immense satisfaction with the scientific partnership between the two institutions, and his sincere hope that it would continue and develop in the service of knowledge and scholars.

The course witnessed a significant scholarly presence from Morocco and beyond, and was delivered with the participation of eleven specialist scholars, namely: • Dr Ahmed Chouqui Binebine, Director of the Bibliothèque Royale (al-Khizanah al-Malakiyyah), Rabat • Dr Ibrahim Chabbouh, International Expert on Manuscripts • Dr Salah Jarrar, Lecturer at the Jordanian University • Dr Abbas Arhila, Lecturer in Higher Education, Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech • Dr Ibrahim Ben Mrad, Lecturer in Higher Education, The Tunisian University • Dr Anas Ouaggag, Lecturer in Higher Education, Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech • Dr Mohamed Tabarani, Lecturer in Higher Education, Faculty of Arabic Language, Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech • Dr Tariq Tatami, Research Scholar, Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania Institute, Rabat • Dr Abderrahmane Hibaoui, Research Scholar, Dar al-Hadith alHassania Institute, Rabat • Dr Mohammed Said Hinchi, Research Scholar at the Bibliothèque Royale, Rabat • Dr Abdel Aali Lamdabbar, Research Scholar at the Bibliothèque Royale, Rabat

Dr Salah Jarrar then spoke on behalf of the lecturers and researchers involved in delivering the course. He thanked the Kingdom of Morocco for its patronage of knowledge and scholars.

He also praised both organising institutions for their grand efforts, emphasising that this training course had truly become a magnet for

Prof. Salah Jarrar delivers a speech on behalf of the lecturers and thanks the two institutions for organising this course

researchers and students of knowledge.

The course opened with a lecture on “Critically editing literature and language manuscripts: Issues and examples” delivered

by Dr Anas Ouaggag, Lecturer in Higher Education at Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech. The lecturer presented and analysed the methodological steps to be followed by the researcher engaged in critically editing literature manuscripts, especially during the phase of gathering and studying the manuscript copies of the text of interest. He gave examples of this, including the great benefits contained within manuscript copies of the book, Maqāmāt al-Ḥarīrī, which must be employed in studying copies, and determining the transcription history of the Maqāmāt.

Dr Abdelhamid Achak opening the course and welcoming the attendees

The training course commenced on Monday morning, 04/03/2019, at Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania Institute in Rabat, with a recitation from the Noble Qur’ān, followed by the opening session.

Dr Abdelhamid Achak, Deputy Director of Dar al-Hadith alHassania Institute, expressed his delight at the launch of this “blessed course” that had become an attraction to researchers concerned with Islamic heritage from all over the world. He

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The lecture was followed by the first practical workshop of the training course, titled “Scientific standards in the selection of WWW.AL-FURQAN.COM

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het’s ”

Dr. Anas Ouaggag delivering his lecture

Dr Mohammed Said Hinchi with the partipants in a workshop on reading the text and exploring the script and symbols

manuscript copies suitable for critical edition”; these standards applied in the academic context, as well as personal or institutional scientific projects. The workshop was led by Dr Mohammed Said Hinchi, Dr Abdelali Lamdabbar, and Dr Abderrahmane Hibaoui.

This was followed by the third practical workshop, where the instructors addressed: “Reading the text, and exploring the script and symbols appearing within (Lesson One)”.

The third day of the training course, Wednesday 6 March 2019, began with a lecture by Dr Mohamed Tabarani titled “From the unknown hoarded knowledge (dhakā’ir) of the fourth century, the book, ishtiqāq asmā’ Allāh Ta‘ālā, by Abū Ja‘far al-Naḥās (d.

338AH)”. The lecturer demonstrated the importance of this book, and examined the authentication of attribution to the author; for this purpose, the texts contained within the book were analysed, and their use by the author assessed in terms of sound use and proper citation. He then mentioned a group of sources from which the author had quoted or had quoted him. He concluded the lecture by presenting curated beneficial content he had selected from the book.

Tuesday, 5 March, the second day of the course, opened with a lecture

by Dr Salah Jarrar on “Critical edition of the manuscript title and its attribution to the author”. He began by reminding the researchers of the peril of making a mistake in, or altering the title of the critically edited book, or in the attribution to the author; this is considered an irredeemable and fatal error in critical edition. He presented examples of this malaise, mentioning that the cause of this phenomenon may be traced to the manuscript itself, or the editor. He presented several challenging issues that the editor could face in this regard, such as: distinct works with similar titles, the same work having multiple titles, or distortion (taṣḥīf) in the title or author’s name, due to incorrect pointing, vocalisation or diacritical marking. He concluded his lecture by talking about the necessity of adhering to the methodological rules in authenticating a book’s title, and proving its attribution to the author; this could be done by examining those sources from which it had quoted or those that had quoted from it, leveraging knowledge and familiarity with the author’s writing pattern, vocabulary, etc., and finally, using modern computer programmes.

Subsequently, Dr Abbas Arhila delivered his lecture titled “Issues and problems in the introductions to some commentaries (shurūḥ) on Tha‘lab”. The lecturer began by reminding the audience of the importance of the introduction in critical edition, including those elements that must be presented within it. By way of example, he used some of the introductions to commentaries on the work authored by Tha‘lab. He mentioned the most important rules that assist in crafting an introduction that is in agreement with the critical edition. Top of the list was meticulously reading those introductions in robust critical editions of texts, and then attempting to emulate them. In particular, the introductions to critical editions executed by pioneers and experts in this craft, such as Shaykh Mahmoud Muhammad Shakir, Shaykh Abdul Salam Haroun, Sayyid Ahmad Saqr, Mahmoud Tanahi, and others.

This was followed by Dr Abbas Arhila’s lecture titled “One of the problematic issues of critically editing a manuscript is when the treatise is attributed to other than its author, and accepted as such for over a century in time”. The lecturer discussed the rules to be applied in authenticating the manuscript title and verifying attribution to the author. He presented examples, such as Naqd alathar by Qudāmah Ibn Ja‘far, and al-Risālah al-‘Adhrā’ by Ibrāhīm al-Shaybānī, erroneously attributed to Ibn al-Mudabbar.

In the evening session, Dr Mohamed Tabarani delivered his second lecture of the day, titled “Taḥqīq al-manṭiq: A critical reading of the printed critical edition in light of some original texts”. The lecturer discussed the many types of errors committed by the two esteemed editors, despite their eminence, pioneering effort, and expertise in the craft. The main reason for the majority of these mistakes was their negligence in seeking out manuscript copies of the book, which were closely linked to the author, in originality, authenticity, and age.

The fourth practical workshop followed this lecture, where the instructors trained the students participating in the course on the skill of “Reading the manuscript book, and identifying the script and symbols used in the copies (Lesson Two)”.

Dr. Abbas Arhila delivering his lecture

In the evening session, the second practical workshop was held, in which the instructors covered: “Gathering the manuscript copies for the book to be critically edited, and the scientific rules for their study”.

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The fourth day of the course, Thursday 7 March 2019, began with a lecture by Professor Ahmad Chouqui Binebine, titled “The problem of transcription and its effect in the correct capture of heritage books: books of language and literature as an example”. In his WWW.AL-FURQAN.COM

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lecture, he discussed the problems of transcribing the manuscript Arabic book and the effect of transcription in the distortion (taṣḥīf) and metathesis (taḥrīf) marring many texts. He presented a number of examples from books of language and literature whose meaning had suffered from either distortion or metathesis.

This was followed by the seventh practical workshop which addressed “Technologies in the crafting of different marginalia and commentaries (Lesson One)”.

Dr Tariq Tatami with the partipants in a workshop on the methodology of preparing a scientific study and a detailed descriptive introduction for the critical edition project Prof. Ahmad Chouqui Binebine delivering his lecture

In the evening session, in the eighth workshop, the trainers completed the topic of “Technologies in the crafting of different marginalia and commentaries (Lesson Two)”, and in the ninth workshop addressed “The methodology of preparing a scientific study and a detailed descriptive introduction for the critical edition project”.

This was followed by Dr Salah Jarrar’s lecture on “Servicing poetry verses and texts in the critical edition of literature and language manuscripts”. In his lecture, he mentioned the rules for the critical edition of poetry texts, and the attendant difficulties in this process. He pointed out the expertise that must be present in anyone attempting such an endeavour, whether during the phase of authenticating the text and attributing it to the author, or while recording variant readings and narrations, or in disambiguation of terms, or constructing indexes.

The sixth and last day of the training course, Saturday 9 March 2019, started with a lecture by Dr Ibrahim Chabbouh, titled “That which is indispensable to the editor, observations and issues”. In his lecture, he mentioned some of the codicological factors that help in the study of handwritten manuscript copies, such as possessions (tamalukāt), auditions (samā‘āt), and authorisations to transmit (ijāzāt), as well as the study of paper, ink, binding, etc. He also mentioned examples of editors’ incorrect presumptions (awhām) in the study of manuscripts that they critically edited.

In the evening session, two practical workshops were held, the fifth and sixth within this training course. The workshop instructors trained the participating delegates on the method for “Proper transcription of the text’s body, organising it into paragraphs and sections, as well as emendation and collation (Lesson One and Two)”.

Prof. Ibrahim Chabbouh delivering his lecture Dr Abdel Aali Lamdabbar with the partipants in a workshop on the proper transcription of the text’s body, organising it into paragraphs and sections, as well as emendation and collation

The lecture was followed by the tenth practical workshop, where the trainers addressed “Scientific rules in the preparation of comprehensive indexes for the critically edited book, and their role in facilitating gaining benefit from the book”.

The fifth day of the training course, Friday 8 March 2019, opened with a lecture by Dr Mohammed Said Hinchi, titled “Critical edition of poetry collections (diwān) and curated selections (ikhtiyārāt)”, which he presented on behalf of Dr Ibrahim Ben Mrad, who was unable to attend this course for compelling reasons. The lecturer discussed the methods of past scholars in gathering, authenticating, and recording poetry. He reminded the participants of the rules that must be abided by in the critical edition of books of poetry collections and selections, while presenting examples of the authentication and critical edition of poetry undertaken by past scholars, as well as examples of editors’ errors in the critical edition of this type of authored texts.

Throughout the days of this blessed course, and at the end of each lecture or workshop, highly beneficial and scientific discussions ensued, covering questions, guiding remarks, corrections, comments, highlighted points, and beneficial cues.

The evening session on Saturday 9 March 2019, witnessed the closing session of the training course. Speeches were delivered by Dr Abdelhamid Achak, who thanked Al-Furqān Foundation, the participating scholars, the course organising committee, and the teachers and employees of Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania Institute. He

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reiterated his readiness to collaborate with Al-Furqān Foundation in all those scholarly initiatives that serve knowledge and scholars in Morocco. In turn, in his speech, Professor Ibrahim Chabbouh reminded the audience of the importance of the science of critical edition, mentioning some of its challenges, and the ethics that must be adopted by all those entering the domain, and starting their journey. Dr Salah Jarrar gave a speech on behalf of the scholars participating in the delivery of the training course. He thanked both institutions on the good organisation of the course, and the diligent selection of the delegates, who had contributed to its success and in enriching its lectures and practical workshops with their useful comments and intelligent questions. Mr Mohammed Drioueche, in charge of the Projects and Publications at Al-Furqān Foundation, thanked all those who had contributed in large or small measure to the organisation and delivery of this blessed course. He also thanked the participants for their dedication in attending all its activities, and reiterated the intent of the Foundation—which he represented—in cementing the ties of partnership with Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania Institute. Moreover, he asserted Al-Furqān Foundation’s readiness to organise all types of scientific activities that serve knowledge and scholarship in the areas of its interest.

“Codicological and Palaeographical Aspects of Islamic Manuscripts, with a Special Focus on Manuscript Notes” The Centre for the Study of Islamic Manuscripts at AlFurqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, in co-operation with the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and the Freie Universität Berlin, organised an international workshop / training course on “Codicological and Palaeographical Aspects of Islamic Manuscripts, with a Special Focus on Manuscript Notes”.

The course took place from 25th until 29th March 2019, at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Germany.

The main aims and objectives of this Course were the following: - Giving the students access to the original manuscripts.

- Providing the participants with the basic codicological and palaeographical knowledge and the research procedures they will need when studying and analysing Arabic and Islamic manuscripts, as well as at familiarizing them with the different collections of the Arabic and Islamic manuscripts, especially the collection of the Oriental Department of the

Subsequently, certificates were awarded to the deserving participating researchers, and a commemorative group photograph taken of all the scholars and delegates taking part the training course.

The Berlin State Library

Berlin State Library, which holds around 43,000 volumes, making it one of the most important collections of Arabic manuscripts in Europe, and the largest in West.

Certificates distribution ceremony

- Providing practical sessions consisting of analysing and describing selected Arabic and Islamic manuscripts found in the collection of the Berlin State Library.

- Providing a global overview of the field, thus proving a ground-breaking programme in the frame of Arabic and Islamic codicological and palaeographical studies, mainly due to its practical approach and to the quality and diversity of the examples which were examined during the Course.

- Raising awareness of the importance of the codicological and palaeographical aspects of Islamic manuscripts, and encouraging further studies in this field.

- Providing a general introduction to this field, with an emphasis on manuscripts as a source for social and intellectual

Group photo of lecturers and participants

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history of scholarship in the Arab and Islamic world.

transmission notes, owners and readers notes, endowment notes, collation marks, signatures, etc.

- Familiarizing the students with the importance manuscript sources have for the understanding of the Middle East, its history and cultures.

The practical sessions consisted of analysing and describing selected Arabic manuscripts found in the collection of the

- Establishing bridges of co-operation between the institutions.

- Sharing experiences between different scholars and institutions.

- Creating a network of scholars in this field.

Mr Sali Shahsivari introducing the Al-FurqÄ n Digital Library

Oriental Department of the Berlin State Library. Participants were divided into groups and given manuscripts to analyse in accordance with the elements studied in the morning theoretical sessions, and were asked to present the findings of their analysis to the other participants and professors.

The Course was intended for advanced MA and doctoral students, as well as other junior researchers in the fields of Islamic Studies, history and comparative manuscript studies, and it was attended by 24 selected delegates coming from different countries (including Armenia, Canada, Egypt, Germany, Iran, Italy, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States of America).

Dr Boris Liebrenz delivering his lecture

The course ended on Friday 29th March, with the delivery of certificates to the participants.

Dr Christoph Rauch introducing the Staatsbibliothek manuscripts

The Course was taught by Professor Konrad Hirschler, Dr Anne Regourd, Dr Christoph Rauch, Dr Boris Liebrenz, Dr Olly Akkerman, and Dr Friederike Weis; and it was structured in theoretical and practical sessions.

The theoretical sessions provided an overall introduction to codicology, with a special focus on: handling the manuscripts, papers of Islamic manuscripts, social codicology, etc., while, on the palaeographical side, the Course focused on the

Part of the audience

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Winter 2019 expressing his high appreciation and sincere thanks to the scholars, the peer review panel, and the organizing committee.

“The Objectives of Islamic Law in Light of the Noble Prophetic Sunnah(2)”

Then, Dr Ahmed Al-Raissouni, the Director of Al-Maqāṣid Centre for Studies and Research, spoke about the importance of the topic of the Sunnah, the need to clarify its objectives, and the methodology of understanding it, and, thus, fortifying against any misconceptions and deviation both theoretically and applicably, and discovering its meanings and objectives.

In response to a unanimous request from all attendees who participated in the first course, and agreed on the necessity of pursuing research on the significance of Sunnah in comprehending the objectives of Shariʿah, especially the issues related to understanding and methodology, the Centre for the Study of the Objectives of Islamic Law at Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation organized the second course on “The Objectives of Islamic Law in Light of the Noble Prophetic Sunnah”, on 24 and 25 November 2019, at Hotel Dreams, in Tetouane, Morocco.

First session This session was chaired by Dr. Abd al-Rahman Al-Kilani, and began with Dr. Nour Al-Din Al-Khadimi’s paper on the “Methodological basis for the Maqāṣidi Sunnah: Exploration and application”. Dr AlKhadimi emphasised the importance of this research as it presents the behavioural and procedural identification to establish a scientific matter in the mind, by means of visualisation and realisation.

He indicated that there is a demanding need for this research in vital areas, such as the field of religiousness and civilization via Sunnah, the field of Ħadīth, its narration and understanding, developing and renewing Sunnah studies, and the field of political performance and societal work according to Sunnah.

The Opening session The opening session, chaired by Dr. Nour El-Din El-Khadimi, started with recitation of verses from the Qurʾān, by Moulay Hassan Al-Barhoumi. After that, the session commenced with a speech by Dr. Hisham Tahtah, on behalf of the Islamic Studies Department at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in Tetouan, who emphasised the importance of this course from a methodological perspective, as it tightens the relation between the contents of the Sunnah and the rules of the legitimate objectives on the one hand, and the conditions of the nation - weakness, revival and witnessing - on the other.

He also pointed out that the present course was meant to deepen the insight into this objective, complete, clarify and beatify it. Hence, it was titled “The Methodology of Revealing and Applying the Islamic Law Objectives via the Prophet’s Sunnah.”

Then Dr Lakhdar Lakhdari presented his paper titled “The theory of major parameters in revealing the objectives of the Sunnah”.

He started with talking about the target of Islamic legislation, and the link between its rules and the individuals on whom such rules are prescribed. According to Dr Lakhdari, the reasoning of major maqasid is confined to five parameters, and he chose to call the school of this hypothesis the major parameters school (MPS), which includes in its totality: the tools of exploration, legal traditions, overall descriptions, the science of balance, the ascension, and the reduction theory.

The Opening session

The second welcome speech was delivered by Mr. Sali Shahsivari, the Managing Director of Al Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, who welcomed the scholars, professors and students, and conveyed to them the regards of the Foundation and its founder and patron, HE Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani. Then, Mr. Shahsivari referred to the significance of the methodological aspect of Shariʿah objectives, indicating that this course is a continuation of the first one, which was held in the city of Meknes. He also confirmed that Al-Furqān Foundation is determined to proceed in this way to activate the objectives and their role in explaining the Shariʿah in the spirit of today, whilst preserving its originality. Mr. Shahsivari concluded by

First session

Second Session The second session was chaired by Dr Ahmed Al-Raissouni, in which Dr Abd al-Rahman Al-Kilani discussed “The existing evidence around the Sunnah and their impact on revealing the justification of the rulings and their objectives”. At first, he defined the importance of research in the existing evidence, as they assist the scholar of the Sunnah to understand the texts and interpretation of the words, specification of the general, restriction of the absolute,

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clarification of the summarized, and explanation of the problematic.

The existing evidence also enables us to distinguish between the Prophet’s actions: being a messenger, a political leader, a military commander, a just judge, a head of household, an ordinary person, or in any other capacity which can be identified and specified, based on the evidence of the diverse prophetic actions.

Then, Dr Al-Bashir Al-Qandili followed with his paper on “The effect of considering the objective of the responsible individual according to the Sunnah jurisprudence, and its implementation: issues and examples”. After Dr Al-Qandili affirmed the importance of research in the subject, and pointed out that Shaŧibī had a precedent in dealing with it, he addressed the consideration of the objective of the responsible individual in the mere acts of worship and in the rest of acts. He also pointed out that the reader of the texts of the noble Qurʾãn can clearly observe that they are meant to reform the inner self before the apparent.

Third Session

Fourth Session The fourth session was convened under the chairmanship of Dr AlHusein Al-Mous, in which, Dr Mawlay Mustapha Al-Hind read the paper of Dr. Misfir Ibn Ali Al-Qahtani, who could not attend due to circumstances beyond his control. His paper on “The objectives of the Prophet on the concept of the nation ... and its implementations in reality” began with exposition of the authoritativeness of Sunnah, then raised a central question about the Prophet’s objective of the concept of “the nation”. And what could be built on it in our present times?

The seventh session

After that, Dr Mohamed Bolouz read and commented on the paper of Dr Saad Al-Kubaisi, who also could not attend due to circumstances beyond his control. The paper was entitled “The Objectives of Political Change in the Sunnah”. As introduction, it began with a display of the greatness of this religion. It is fixed in its beliefs, morals, values and practical provisions that are not subject to change, family laws and the like, but in the field of legitimate policy there is a vast area of variables and interpretations.

Second Session

Third Session The session was chaired by Dr Lakhdar Lakhdari, and started by Dr Abd Al-Majid Al-Najjar research paper, titled “Obligation and its limitations in the Sunnah”. In his introduction, he pointed out that, although the Sunnah shares with the Qurʾān the principle of obligation, it differs from the Qurʾãn in its nature, which may have an impact on this obligation regarding elaboration, and it can be of degrees. However, it can surpass it to the established origin.

The second speaker was Dr Hisham Tahtah, whose paper was entitled “Towards a Maqāṣidi approach to reading the biography of the Prophet”. In the introduction, he stated that the objectives of the Qurʾãn and Sunnah are a conclusive argument that protects from the evil heretic tendencies. He emphasized the need to open new research horizons for the Maqāṣid studies, and pointed out that such studies are affected in their epistemology, methodology, or the activation of their practical aspects. He highlighted that the researchers in Maqāṣid give their utmost care to the language of Qurʾān and Sunnah, but not to the biography of the Prophet, which represents the practical aspect of Maqāṣid.

Part of the audience

Fifth Session It was convened by Dr Bushoayb Mohammadi, in which Dr Abd Al-Monʿim al-Timsamani presented his paper entitled “The Objective of Mercy and its Applications in the Sunnah”. Dr AlTimsamani stressed in his introduction that the objective of mercy is the general principle of sharia, i.e., mercy is a universal and general

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objective. This was followed by explanation of the research terms such as the Maqāṣid and mercy.

The closing session was chaired by Dr Abd al-Majid al-Najjar, in which floor Dr Mohammed Al-Samadi took the on behalf of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in Tetouan, Mr. Mohamed Drioueche, responsible for Projects and Publications at Al-Furqān Foundation, Dr Hussein al-Mous, Vice-Director of Al-Maqāṣid Center for Studies and Research, and Dr. Abd al-Rahman Al-Kilani, on behalf of the lecturers; followed by Dr Mohamed Awwam who read the recommendations.

The following paper was delivered by Dr. Ahmed al-Azzawi, entitled “The objective of mercy in the Sunnah: the mercy of the Prophet to the people of the book as an example”. The research starting point was the Qurʾānic verse to highlight the mercy of the Prophet to Muslims and non-Muslims (We have not sent you - O Muhammad except as a mercy to the worlds). This statement was used by the researcher in his argument that the objective of the Prophet of mercy in the treatment of the Jews and Christians, and his speech to them and its application and benefit from them. Such treatment push away the fear from violence and terrorism from Islam, raised by its enemies, whether ignorant or not, and confirms that the message of Islam is a message of mercy and peace to the world, not a message of vengeance, war and terrorism for the faithful.

The course was concluded with a recitation of verses from the Holy Qurʾãn, by the reciter Moulay Hassan Barhoumi.

Fifth session

Closing session

Group photo of lecturers and participants

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Conferences “The Noble Qur’ān from Revelation to Compilation” (2) Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation - The Centre for the Study of Islamic Manuscripts organised the 2nd international conference dedicated to the Qurʾãn manuscripts, titled “The Noble Qur’ān from Revelation to Compilation” (2), which took place on Saturday and Sunday, 9-10 November 2019, in Istanbul, Turkey. Ten specialist researchers from different countries participated in this second conference. This conference was convened in response to the majority of recommendations made in the first conference on the same subject, held on Saturday and Sunday, 26-27 November 2017, at the same location. The majority of that conference’s participants had requested more in-depth studies and further discussion on the critical historical stage of compilation and transcription of the Qur’ān.

Mr Sali Shahsivari opening the conference and welcoming scholars and guests alike

Dr Ghanim Qaddouri al-Hamad’s paper explored the topic “Recording the Qur’ān in writing during the Prophetic era”. He emphasised the topic’s importance, and cited the misleading ideas persisting in the minds of researchers, most notably orientalists. This was because the majority of such workers lacked the texts, evidences, and emerging facts on the issue that would add weight to existing material found in Qur’ān history and sciences textbooks. Dr al-Hamad alluded to the opinions of scholars on the issue of Qur’ān writing during the Prophetic era, where some Companions, may God be pleased with them, had undertaken this duty. He considered that opinion was divided between two camps: one considered that written recording was complete, based on authentic Islamic traditions and reports, while the other considered this to have been only partial; the latter being embraced by orientalists and their like, despite such a claim lacking solid evidence to support it.

The first day was distinguished by two scientific sessions, which followed the opening session where Mr Sali Shahsivari, the Managing Director of Al-Furqān, delivered a speech on behalf of AlFurqān Islamic Heritage Foundation. Mr Shahsivari welcomed the esteemed scholars and researchers participating in the conference, thanked them for enduring sleepless nights and tiring travel to prepare for and attend this conference, and praised their cooperation with the conference organising committee. He expressed his sincere wishes to all the participants for a pleasant and enjoyable time in Istanbul, and continued success in their scientific endeavours. He reflected on the fact that the conference coincided with an occasion dear to the hearts of Muslims, namely the birth of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. It also complemented the work of the first conference, and was a positive response to the recommendations of Al-Furqān’s Board of Experts. This body had advised that Al-Furqān Foundation focus attention on the Noble Qur’ān from the phase of revelation to that of collation and transcription. The conference also represented a worthy scientific effort added to the commendable work executed by Al-Furqān Foundation in the service of Islamic heritage.

Dr Adel Ibrahim Abu Shaar’s paper addressed “Writing the Noble Qur’ān in the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him”. Given that so much hinged upon it, this is a sensitive period requiring authentication of reports, and verifying the credibility of statements. He therefore subdivided his paper into three main areas of enquiry: The first addressed the majority of opinions regarding the written compilation of the Noble Qur’ān.

The second addressed writing in the Prophet’s time, its instruments and system.

Mr Shahsivari also emphasised that the conference aimed to pave the way for a substantial scientific project that challenges the specious arguments (shubuhāt) posed by some orientalists in their writings about the critical phase of compiling the Qur’ān.

The third focused on the writing of the Noble Qur’ān by the scholars among the Noble Companions, directly supervised by the Prophet peace be upon him. Indeed, when the Prophet peace be upon him passed away, he had been satisfied that the Qur’ān was preserved to memory and also written down. Furthermore, the orthography of the Muṣ’ḥaf was also prey to the same phenomena of omission, interpolation, etc., as was common in Arabic orthography.

Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Member of the Board of Directors of Al-Furqān, moderated the first scientific session, in which Dr Ghanim Qaddouri al-Hamad, Dr Adel Ibrahim Abu Shaar, and Dr Mohamad Khazir Salih al-Majali, each presented a scientific paper.

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The third paper titled “The truth of ‘Uthmān’s (may Allah be pleased with him) action in abrogating Qur’ān copies” by Dr Mohamad Khazir Salih al-Majali, examined the issue of ‘Uthmān, may Allah be pleased with him, ordering for the Qur’ān - collated during the times of both the Prophet and his successor, Caliph Abū Bakr peace be upon him - to be transcribed once more, in such a way that took into consideration all the established facets of reading. This was performed by a committee composed of the most knowledgeable Companions on the Qur’ān. He then instructed copies of this Muṣ’ḥaf to be sent to all the territories, in the company of one or more teachers, and subsequently, destroyed all other Qur’ān copies.

The second paper was presented by Dr Karim Ifraq, titled “History of compilation of the Noble Qur’ān: A comparative codicological study of early Qur’ān copies”. He attempted to refute some of this specious arguments raised by orientalists about the compilation phase of the Noble Qur’ān. For this purpose, he presented a set of traditional, transmitted textual (naqlī) and rational (‘aqlī) proofs, as well as material evidence extracted from comparing between the oldest copies of the Noble Qur’ān; these establish evidence that Qur’ān compilation was free of these specious claims, as well as affirm the fact that Allah, the Almighty, had protected it from change.

The third presentation was given by Dr Ahmad bin Mohammed Al-Dubayan, titled “Methodological criticism of the theory of Syriac and Aramaic texts in the Noble Qur’ān”. He began by summarising the majority of orientalist studies relating to the Noble Qur’ān, and refuted some of the orientalist studies based on the hypothesis that foundational texts existed within the Noble Qur’ān that originated from the books of older religions, Judaism and Christianity especially. He explained that this was a purely philological hypothesis, lacking in historical, archaeological, and scientific evidence, and betrays a large gap in understanding the language commonalities between Semitic peoples.

This session witnessed rich discussion, focusing on the necessity of distinguishing between the three phases of compilation of the Muṣḥaf, namely the time of the Messenger, peace be upon him, the time of Caliph Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, and finally, its reissue by ‘Uthmān b. ‘Affān. In addition, discussion also stressed the need to examine and authenticate the chains of narration (sanad) and content (matn) of reports describing this phase, to enable sound scientific conclusions to be drawn. At the same time, granting due attention to the Qur’ān script (rasm), orthography and diacritics, and confronting all the specious claims made in this regard.

This session was followed by rich discussions and scientific responses, mostly focused on the necessity of subjecting archaic Qur’ān manuscripts to proper codicological studies, then examining them in light of Muṣ’ḥaf science, extracting the canonical readings (qirā’āt), script, vocalisation marks and diacritics, text divisions, and verse count. Moreover, to review orientalist writings on the compilation phase of the Noble Qur’ān, and prepare robust scientific responses.

The first session of the conference

Dr Ghanim Qaddouri al-Hamad presided over the evening session, comprising the presentation of three papers.

The first by Dr Iyad Salim Salih al-Samarrai was titled “Qur’ān manuscripts and their role in confirming uncommon narrations relating to orthography, pointing and diacritics”. He alluded to the importance of studying history of Qur’ān orthography and script, and the methodological foundations on which this was established. He mentioned the most prominent diacritics and dotting (i‘jām) marks used in Qur’ān manuscript copies examined by eminent scholars of this science in the past, and described in their authored works. These marks are absent in the orthography of current Qur’ān copies, and as such many researchers and persons interested in the Noble Qur’ān and its sciences are unacquainted with them.

The second session of the conference

On the second day of the conference, two sessions were convened: The morning session was presided over by Mr Sali Shahsivari, Managing Director of Al-Furqān , where three papers were presented.

Professor Mohamad Kharubat presented the paper titled “Orientalists and the Qur’ān canonical readings from the book ’The History of the Qurʾān’ by Theodor Nöldeke”. He chose this work as

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representative of orientalist writings on the Qur’ān, given that it is the oldest, most prominent and renowned. It covered the issues of compilation and transcription, order of chapters (sūrah), canonical readings, script or rasm, among others. Professor Kharubat concluded that it contained many spurious claims in concepts and terminology, and random comparisons between the Qur’ān copies attributed to the Noble Companions, may Allah be pleased with them. However, it still exerted a significant influence on the majority of studies that followed; indeed, it also influenced some Arabic studies of the Noble Qur’ān.

cates preservation through memorisation, by unbroken chain of narrators (sanad muttaṣil), and robust correct rendition; the second being the given name “Kitāb or Book”, meaning compilation and writing of the Revelation in the Prophet’s time, and in the time of the two Caliphs, Abū Bakr and ‘Uthmān, may Allah be pleased with them. He refuted the thesis of those who proposed reading the Qur’ān by meaning, by highlighting the importance of verbal transmission of the Noble Qur’ān, and that variances in readings were explicitly and authentically attributable to the Prophet, peace be upon him.

This presentation was followed by a contribution by Dr Asma Hilali, who attempted to evaluate the scientific studies conducted on the Yemen manuscripts. She mentioned some of the obstacles that impeded such studies, and presented her experience in studying Yemenite parchments, focused on the “upper text” (accepted) and the “lower text” (erased). She concluded in her study that there were only slight differences in the ”lower text”, such as order, extra letters, or other; And that these errors were probably the reason why the text was erased. At the end of her presentation, she expressed her wish that the Yemenite parchments would be digitised, in order to ease the work of interested researchers and scholars.

The third session of the conference

This was followed by intensive discussion and scholarly responses, mostly centred on the reasons why specious arguments existed in orientalist books and studies. Moreover, the need to re-examine these works using a refined methodology, and prepare robust scientific responses by expert scholars.

The second paper by Dr Ahmad Wisam Shakir titled “Yemen’s Muṣḥaf copies: The discoveries of Qur’ān parchments in Sanaa Grand Mosque” presented the most important manuscript finds in the period from 1965 to 2018 CE. The majority were Qur’ān parchments, of which he prepared a descriptive study, and illustrated the processes taken to classify, conserve, treat, preserve and catalogue them. He then presented a general overview in terms of the script and colours used in the writing and decoration, etc. He also discussed and refuted the controversy raised in the West alleging that these finds contradict the current Qur’ān text.

Dr Ahmad Muflih al-Qudat delivered the third paper titled “Response to the ‘Corpus Coranicum’ project: Reflections on the terms ’Qur’ān’ and ’Book (kitāb)’ ”. He attempted to describe the Corpus Coranicum project in its origins, history and aims through two terms: the first being the given term “Qur’ān”, which indi-

Questions from the audience

The evening session was presided over by Mr Mohamed Drioueche, Head of Projects and Publications at Al-Furqān, and was distinguished by a lecture delivered by Dr Abdallah Abdul Rahman al-Khatib, titled “Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān: Reflections on the problematic issues of objectivity, bias, and knowledge perspective”. The researcher began by mentioning an established fact relating to the dominance of western colonial bias in Qur’ān studies. This had purposely ignored all Islamic methodologies of transmission and compilation. He then introduced the work, Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān, from the methodological and objective perspective, with examples extracted from within. He concluded by presenting critical perspectives into some of its older, but repeated content, that had simply been repackaged.

Part of the audience

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Winter 2019 discipline, requiring coordinated and intensive efforts to refute all the specious arguments posed by orientalists.

Dr Abdallah Abdul Rahman al-Khatib emphasised that work in this domain must be as a collective, and within the framework of a specialised organisation supervising the preparation of a scientific encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān, which presents the Islamic perspective in both Arabic and world languages.

This was followed by an open discussion session, focused on the necessity of understanding the orientalist methodology and discourse to successfully respond. It was also emphasised not to underestimate the efforts that had been undertaken in this domain. Yet, in parallel, it was necessary to continue work through further coordination and unified efforts.

The fourth session of the conference

He concluded that the Encyclopaedia presents the western view of Qur’ān studies, and completely neglects the Islamic perspective of the topic. This in itself was sufficient to judge it as lacking objectivity.

The lecture was followed by an open session with Dr Ghanim Qaddouri al-Hamad, Dr Ahmad bin Mohammed Al-Dubayan, and Dr Karim Ifraq.

Dr Ghanim emphasised the importance of the project to reexamine the canonical readings in light of dotted Qur’ān copies from the first three centuries. He advocated establishing a database dedicated to the canonical readings through the centuries, while quite urgently following, translating, and scientifically refuting all that has been written by Orientalists. He suggested that the forthcoming conference address scientific studies relating to the origins and evolution of Arabic script and orthography, on the basis of archaic material evidence.

Questions from the audience

Finally, the recommendations of the conference were read out.

In the closing speech, Mr Mohamed Drioueche, thanked all the participating scholars, and all those credited with the conference’s organisation, headed by His Excellency Ahmad Zaki Yamani, Chairman of Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, and his son, Mr Sharaf Zaki Yamani, as well as all those who had contributed in small or large part to the success of the conference.

Dr Al-Dubayan impressed upon the necessity of completing the important and grand project started by Al-Furqān Foundation through the previous two conferences. He hoped this would open the door for other specialised scholars to deepen and enrich studies on the topic. Furthermore, he highlighted the necessity of directing the younger generation to the original sources and scientific studies that are necessary references in the Qurʾãnic studies, so that they are not affected by the orientalists’ distortions and malady.

The conference concluded - as it had begun - with a recitation of verses from the Noble Qur’ān.

Dr Karim Ifraq thanked Al-Furqān Foundation for this distinguished conference, covering a large gap in this fine scientific

Dr. Mohamed Said Hinchi reads the conference’s recommendations

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Recent Publications «Introduction to Editing Arabic Manuscripts»

«Editing Manuscripts on Literature and Language» (Practical Lessons)

(By Various Contributors)

(By Various Contributors)

In this book, the reader will find a compilation of papers presenting and analyzing the methodological steps that those engaged in the critical edition of literature manuscripts should follow. The book stresses the need for exceptional attention during the first stage of the editing process, which is gathering and examining the manuscript copies of the text to be edited. It also explains the risks in altering or making a mistake in the title. In addition, this book emphasizes the necessity of adhering to the methodological rules in properly documenting the text, and authenticating its attribution to the author. This is to be accomplished by following up the sources cited by the work, those quoted within the text itself, and other works who quoted the text elsewhere, and subjecting them to analysis, basing the outcomes on the gathered evidence.

This book combines the lectures of two training courses on editing Arabic and Islamic manuscripts, organised by Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, in cooperation with The Faculty of Dar Al-ʿUlum in Cairo, in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

Introduction to Editing Arabic Manuscripts is both a reference book and an indispensable guide to researchers and manuscript editors, beginners and experts alike.

The book, among its various themes, draws the foundational guidelines that editors can follow to set their objectives, methodology and work plan, before they start any editing project, so their findings can be ideal. The book also pinpoints the main cultural and scholarly qualifications the editor should be equipped with, before working in the field of editing and preserving Arabic manuscripts.

We are also reminded within this book of the importance of the introduction in the critical edition of a text, in parallel to its content. The book thus gives the key rules that assist in the creation of a good introduction, starting with the advice to read examples of good introductions of other critical editions.

Furthermore, the book sheds lights on the history of the Arabic Manuscript, and the historical context in which it was produced, and how this context influenced the development of the codification and editing process, writing styles and manuscripts production.

In addition, the training course papers included in this book explore the matter of tracing all extant manuscript copies of a text that is linked to its author, and how to classify these by originality, integrity, and timeframe of production. The papers also look at the critical edition of poetry collections and anthologies, and the methods employed by past scholars in gathering, verifying, and recording poetry.

Then, the book goes on to describe - in detail and examples - the manuscript as a historical object for research, the materials it was made of, its content, the method of codification, and what editing stages it had undergone.

The book concludes on the importance of the Arabic scientific heritage and the necessity of reviving it, and the growing international interest in this heritage.

As a whole, the book highlights the experience required by those wishing to enter this field at the different stages of the editing process, such as the stages of documenting the text and establishing its author, establishing variant readings and narrations, disambiguating vague or difficult terms, creating indexes, and, finally, dealing with transcriptions by copyists and their impact in the misinterpretation or misreading of the original texts.

This book is not limited to providing assistance, guidance and encouragement to those who are at the beginning of the road, but it also grants valuable knowledge and advice for those who have experience in the field of manuscript editing and research.

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«Kitāb al-Iʿtimād fī al-Adwiyah al-Mufradah»

«Nuṣrat al-Fatrah wa-ʿUsrat al-Fiṭrah»

(The Reliable Book on Simple Drugs)

By Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad Ibn Ibrāhīm Ibn Al-Jazzār (369 AH/979-980 CE) Edited by Ibrahim Ben Mrad

(The History of the Seljuks) (2 vols)

By Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-ʿImād al-Kātib al-Aṣfahānī (597 AH/1200 CE) Edited by Issam Mustafa Okleh

In this book, Ibn al-Jazzār made up for the shortcomings of his predecessors in this discipline, Dioscorides and Galen. While one of these two Greek authors referred to the properties of therapeutic drugs, without mentioning their nature and strengths, the other concerned himself with both the drugs’ nature and strengths, but ignored their properties. Both works existed only in Greek, focusing mostly on drugs that had been produced in Greek societies, while neglecting many medicines produced elsewhere. Ibn al-Jazzār appeared to overcome this shortcoming through exerting major efforts in mentioning the nature of drugs, their strengths and properties, including their harmful side effects. He covered the well-known, popular and easily available medicines, together with the ones which were not previously known by the Greeks. Thus, the book is a synthesis of a summary of the essentials, in addition to Ibn al-Jazzār’s own findings, accessible both to scholars and students of simple medicines in Arab societies.

This book is considered the most important source of the history of the Seljuks. It is the oldest comprehensive book of the history of the Seljuk state, its origins, sultans, administrators, ministers, heads of state departments and state offices. Additionally, it covers the various functions of the state and its military, political, social, economic and urban achievements. It is distinguished by narrations concerned with the sultans’ wives, their administration, and both their formal and informal roles in the state.

Among other factors, the importance of the book is due to the originality of its material, such as unique news items and poems. Its discussion of the administrative arrangement also distinguishes it from other works. Moreover, it is a model of high-standard translation from Persian into Arabic, and an elaborate example of the literature and language of the Seljuk period.

The importance of the book also stems from the status of its authors, as the original version of the book was written by the Seljuk minister Anūshirvān ibn Khālid Al-Qāshāni, in which he recorded his observations on the state. It was translated and added to by Al-ʿImād Al-Aṣfahāni, the most famous writer, scholar and historian in the Muslim world in the second half of the sixth century AH, who wrote extensively on various fields, most notably the histories of the Seljuk, Zengid and Ayyubid states, and the biographies of notable men of literature.

The author used an interesting and novel method to compose his work. He classified medicines into four different categories, according to their degree of strength. Ibn alJazzār’s book enjoyed widespread popularity due to its authentic and rigorous methodology, the new methodology which it employed, and its focus on the most widespread and accessible medicines. As a result of high demand, concise and abridged versions were produced, and it was translated twice into Latin and once into Hebrew.

‫صفحة الغالف من مخطوط ب وعليها التمليكات‬

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«The Journey of Muħammad Al-Jūdī (Muftī of

«Views and Experiences in Dealing

with Heritage Texts from Ibn Khaldūn’s Book al-ʿIbar and Others»

Kairouan) to Ħajj (including a notebook with his study achievements and transmissions (Ijāzāt))»

By Ibrahim Chabbouh

By Muħammad Ibn Muħammad Šāliħ Al-Jūdī al Qayrawānī (1326AH/1943CE) Edited by Al-Mahdi Eid Al-Rawadieh

In this book, the reader will find how the historical events and the challenging trials experienced by Ibn Khaldūn profoundly influenced the authoring of his major work, Kitāb al‘Ibar. In fact, three major phases marked the inception, formation and maturity of Ibn Khaldūn’s life and work, namely the Tunisian phase, the Maghrebi and Andalusian phase, as well as the Egyptian, Hijazi, and Levantine phase. The book provides perspective on each of these phases in relation to the stages of authoring al-‘Ibar and its principal subject matter, with proper evidencing, verification, and brevity, in its plan, conception, and authorship. The book demonstrates how the entire map of the Muslim world was laid out in front of Ibn Khaldūn, who proceeded to describe its conditions in great depth and derived new and important conclusions in the classification of Islamic history within a novel, comprehensive framework.

This invaluable book provides numerous benefits; it is a travel memoir, where the author, al-Shaykh Al-Jūdī, performed the Islamic obligation of pilgrimage to Makkah for the first time. He recorded his journey using some of the more modern modes of transport of the time, such as the train and the steamboat. Thus, his journey is an example of the last of the traditional journeys.

In addition, the book is a reference for Islamic scholars and chains of narration (isnād), compendium of transmissions (ijāzāt), and book of biographies. Muftī Al-Jūdī included in this work a veritable who’s who of many eminent persons residing in the area of Hijaz, including those who recently moved and settled in Makkah and Madinah in the early 20th Century, originating from the Egyptian, Levantine, Iraqi, Maghrebi, Indian lands, and elsewhere.

In addition, the reader is presented with rich, specialized content on critical editing and text treatment, in relation to language, interpretation, and reading. This is thanks to the author’s extensive and beneficial experience in the production of a critical edition of Ibn Khaldūn’s Kitāb al-‘Ibar. Furthermore, the book’s conclusion summarizes the principal steps involved in the making of a critical edition, covering all the activities required of the qualified, competent editor, with the objective of reproducing the original author’s final copy, both correctly written and presented.

The book is also a catalogue of heritage, where the author tracked down some of the manuscript compiled works and books that he perused in the libraries of Arif Hikmet Bey and al-Maḥmūdiyyah.

«Encyclopedia of Makkah Al-Mukarramah and Al-Madīnah Al-Munawwarah»

The book also sheds light on aspects of the thriving scholarly scene in Makkah and Madinah, due to the large numbers of scholars travelling there, both to reside next to the holy sites, and also acquire further knowledge. This resulted in lively scientific meetings, and scholarly encounters rich in discussion, debate, and study, with due attention to holding sessions for poetry and panegyrics of the Noble Prophet, and readings from Dalā’il al-khayrāt and al-Burdah.

By Various Contributors, Edited by Abbas Saleh Tashkendy

The Encyclopedia of Makkah and Madīnah documents the intellectual heritage of the cities of Makkah and Madīnah and brings to the fore their roles over the ages

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in the areas of religion, politics, society, economy and culture. The Encyclopedia is characterized by its use of crossreferences, which help researchers to retrieve information quickly and easily, and organise the links between various articles. It is alphabetically organized - in Arabic - and includes diagrams, maps, plans, and photographs with explanatory captions. Volume 9 starts with word “Ḥalaqah” and ends with word “Khuḍayrah”.

Islamic law objectives in rational theorising and creative juristic effort. The author has mostly evidenced from the text of the Noble Qur’ān and Prophetic Sunnah, and then referred to the work of leading Imāms and erudite scholars, whether in deriving rules or their jurisprudence; indeed, the process of rules development and the rules are of their making, and applications are from their jurisprudence or following their juristic approach. In this way, he provides a methodological example in the implementation of objectives; one distinguished by originality and balance, and exploring the horizons of renewal and creative juristic effort.

«Maqāṣid Rules»

By Ahmad Al-Raissouni

«Objectives of Islamic law in Light of the Noble Prophetic Sunnah» (1)

By Various Contributors Edited by Ahmad Al-Raissouni

This book represents a novel addition to the Maqāṣid library especially, and the Islamic law library in general. It is an important reference work and indispensable source, benefiting researchers in the Islamic law sciences domains, the experts and practitioners in Islamic law objectives and those knowledgeable in its original sources and illuminating keys as well as those engaged in pursuing renewal and originality.

Within this book, the reader will find refereed papers relating to the proceedings of the first training course on the topic “Objectives (Maqāṣid) of Islamic Law in the Light of the Noble Prophetic Sunnah: Methodology of Understanding the Sunnah and its Objectives”, which was organized from 2nd to 4th May 2018, in Meknes, Kingdom of Morocco.

The book, Maqāṣid Rules, draws attention to a vital matter, in that Islamic law objectives and their universal significances are not mere loose generalities, open to interpretation, colouring, and shaping in any way, and made to fit whatever trend or mood is prevailing. Rather, Islamic law objectives are crystal clear and permanent, governed by principles and rules that are a combination of the robustness befitting objectives, with the flexibility warranted in application.

Undoubtedly, the objectives of the Noble Qur’ān and Prophetic tradition (Sunnah) represent the totality, as well as the source and substance of all the Islamic law objectives. Therefore, the search for, and research into the Noble Qur’ān and Prophetic tradition must be the defining start and end of every researcher and pursuer of Islamic law objectives. One of the purposes of this training course is to empower Muslims, whether laypersons or scholars, to achieve to the furthermost extent harnessing the Sunnah and its treasures, scientifically and practically, in the diverse spheres of life.

The book discusses eighty rules governing Islamic law objectives; the author presents each rule’s context, definition, explanation, and evidences. He then concludes by elucidating the rule through illustrative applied examples, addressing contemporary reality and its actual challenges, extracted from the Noble Qur’ān or Prophetic Sunnah.

This training course addressed a number of methodological principles and rules that are necessary for sound understanding, wise derivation and application of objectives, and balanced utilisation of the Prophetic tradition.

In the rules presented in this book, the esteemed reader will find unmatched treasures and gems mined from the principles, philosophy, and governing rules of Islamic law. Furthermore, it exposes the reader to the application of these rules, which serves to clearly demonstrate their broad scope and inclusiveness, qualifying them to meet all our contemporary needs in renewal and creative juristic effort (ijtihād).

The refereed papers addressed different aspects of the training course topic, and revolved around: “Objectivesbased Sunnah (al-sunnah al-maqāṣidiyyah)”; ”The dialectic of the relationship between Noble Qur’ān and Prophetic tradition, in light of the higher objectives of the Prophetic Sunnah”; “Ranks of Prophetic acts (al-ṭaṣarufāt al-nabawiyyah)”; “Objectives-based reasoning (al-nażar al-maqāṣidī),

This book is perhaps the best answer to the fears expressed in some quarters regarding the increasing use of

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its rules and effect in establishing the Ħadīth narration and its interpretation”; “Prioritizing actions (al-‘amal) over Prophetic tradition: an objectives-based perspective”; “The cases relating to individuals (al-a‘yān): indications, attributes, and objectives”; “The objective of custom in the Sunnah of the best of mankind”; “Application (al-tanzīl) as an objective of the Prophetic Sunnah”; “The dialectic of jurisprudence and Prophetic tradition, and its influence on comprehending the objectives of the Prophetic Sunnah”; and “Applying the Islamic law universals to understanding the Prophetic Sunnah”.

mukallaf) in the understanding of the Sunnah and its robust

application; this was covered in the paper titled “Obligation and its limits within the Prophetic Sunnah”. Furthermore, the paper titled “Towards an objectives-based approach in reading the Prophetic biography” explored the area of Prophetic biography (sīrah). The papers also looked at the “Prophetic Maqāṣid in relation to the concept of “ummah” or the Muslim nation, in real-life application”, as well as “The objectives of political change in the Sunnah”. The last paper considered the topic of “The objective of mercy in the Sunnah and its applications”; “The mercy shown by the Messenger, peace be upon him, towards the people of the book as an example”.

«Objectives of Islamic law in Light of the Noble Prophetic Sunnah» (2)

«Arts in the Light of Maqāṣid Al-Sharī‘ah» (2)

By Various Contributors Edited by Ahmad Al-Raissouni

By Various Contributors Edited by Ibrahim El-Bayomi Ghanem

This book is a compilation of the proceedings of the second training course titled “Objectives (Maqāṣid) of Islamic Law in the Light of the Noble Prophetic Sunnah: The Methodology of Revealing and Applying the Islamic Law Objectives Via the Prophet’s Sunnah”, which was held on 24 and 25 April 2019, in Tétouan, the Kingdom of Morocco.

This book collates the proceedings of the second symposium titled “Arts in Light of Maqāṣid Al-Sharīʿah”, organised by the Centre for the Study of the Philosophy of Islamic Law. The symposium was held on 10-11 November 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey, with the participation of eminent scholars promoting renewal (tajdīd) in objectives-based jurisprudence, along with researchers and artists.

This book gives the esteemed reader access to valuable - refereed - academic papers authored by a number of scholars, who embrace the idea of renewal in the rational consideration applied to the domain of Maqāṣid-based jurisprudence, with the aim to uncover the methodologies, properly set the rules, and prevent deficiency and deviation in understanding Maqāṣid (in methodology, theory, and application); moreover, to consolidate the relationship tying the constituent elements and rules governing Islamic law objectives, on the one hand, to the variable conditions of the “ummah” or Muslim nation, in phases associated with fragility, renaissance, or exercising the role of witness over mankind, on the other.

In this book, the reader will find the papers presented at this symposium, which addressed many questions, including how the status of art may be re-established - given it is one of the most distinguished manifestations of civilizational achievement in diverse fields - through referral to principal sources (ta’ṣīl), real-life application (tanzīl), and appropriate methodology. In addition, the papers explored how the different arts serve the Islamic law objectives, and sought practical solutions and plans to promote Islamic art, and shed light on its aesthetic features.

These valuable scientific papers covered the following themes: “The philosophical perspective of beauty in the Islamic consideration”; “The relationship of legal principles and the Islamic arts”; “The Qur’ān’s aesthetic objectives and their manifestations”; “The Islamic-ness of Islamic arts between theorizing and application”; “Elevating belief as an objective of art”; “The functions of the literary arts in light of the Islamic law objectives”; the objectives of architectural arts in the Islamic city”; “Islamic theatre according to the objective-based trend”; and “Reflections on the objectives-based contexts of Islamic beauty”.

As such, the papers were distinguished by their novel contribution, depth of consideration, accurate perspective, fine thinking, and sound approach. Topics revolved around: “The methodological foundation of the Sunnah”; “The theory of grand features (al-ma‘ālim al-kubrā) in the extraction of objectives from the Sunnah”; “Current evidences contained within the Sunnah, and their influence in uncovering the ratio legis (‘illah) and objectives of rulings”.

Moreover, the training course explored the effect of considering the intent (qaṣd) of the accountable individual (al-

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As such, the symposium presented a rich source and constructive addition to Maqāṣid teaching, where the papers marked novel and valuable contributions to the science and knowledge domain.

Upcoming projects and publications 1. Arabic translation of the book “Ottoman Scientific Heritage”, written by Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu

«The Theory of Resources and Objectives in

2. English translation of the book “Ottoman Scientific Heritage”, written by Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu

Preserving the Sunnah from Intrusive Thoughts»

By Lakhdhar Lakhdhari

3.“Kashf al-Żunūnʿan Asāmī al-Kutub wa al-Funūn” (“The Removal of Doubt from the Names of Books and the Sciences”), written

by Mostapha bin Abdullah, commonly known as Hajji Khalifah, also known as Katip Çelebi (d. 1068 AH / 1657 CE); edited by Dr Bashar Awwad Marouf and Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu 4. “Maħāsin al-Sharīʿah” (“The Beauties of the Law”), written

by Abu Bakr Mohammed bin Ali bin Ismail al-Shashi, commonly known as “Al-Qaffal al-Kabeer” (d. 365 AH / 976 CE); edited by Dr Abdulhameed Madkour

This book covers a highly important topic, relating to the defense of the Noble Prophetic Sunnah, which withstood attacks and criticism by opposing parties since the era of examining narrator memory (talqīn) to the period of foundation (ta’sīs). Indeed, leading traditionists (muḥaddithūn) and classical legal theorists (uṣūliyyūn) have exerted mammoth effort in its service, reaching an apogee, founded on juristic effort (ijtihād), and argumentation (istidlāl) in protecting chains of narration (sanad) and Ħadīth text (matn) from insertion and defect of any type. They validated, emended, and contextualized them; furthermore, they documented modalities of acceptance and rejection, and selected the terminology most fitting to reflect occasions (munāsabāt) and objectives.

5. “Miftāħ al-Saʿādah wa-Miṣbāḥ al-Siyādah fī Mawḍūʿāt al-ʿŪlūm” (“Key to Happiness and Lamp of Lordship in the Fields of Sciences”), written by Abū al-Khayr ʿEṣām al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Muṣṭafá ibn Khalīl al-Hanafī, commonly known as “Ṭāshkubrī Zādah” (d. 968 AH/1561CE); edited by Dr Mohammed Said Hinchi and Dr Abdelali Lamdabbar, supervised

by Dr Ahmed Chouqui Binebine 6. “Al-Istidhkār al-Jāmiʿ lī Madhāhib Fuqahāʾ al-Amṣār wa ʿUlamāʾ al-Aqŧār fīmā Tađammanahu al-Muwaŧŧaʾ min Maʿānī al-Raʾy wal-Ᾱthār” («The Memorization of the Doctrine of the Scholars of the World Concerning the Juridical Opinions and the Narrations Found in Mālik,s Muwaŧŧaʾ»); written by Abū ʿUmar Yūsuf bin ʿAbdullah alNamarī, commonly known as Ibn ʿAbd-al-Barr (d. 463 AH / 1071 CE); edited by Dr Bashar Awwad Marouf

The book provides expanded explanation of the efforts of legal theorists, and praises their meticulous attention to tradition text and chains of narration. It highlights the multiplicity of terms and approaches in the consideration of traditions, and presents the majority of rules that legal theorists set for accepting reports. The book attempts to collate the different approaches, and forge them into a unified theory, following the degree of commonality approach.

This would permit universal argumentation (istidlāl kullī) that would strengthen the legal authoritativeness (ḥujjah) of Prophetic tradition, and expel weak evidences. Indeed, to do so, the book gathers each and every matter relating to the investigations of Sunni schools. Hence, the Prophetic Sunnah presents itself as an impregnable fortress in confronting every false insertion and defect.

7. “Nuzhat al-Mushtāq fī Tārīkh ʿUlamāʾ al-ʿIrāq” (“The Pleasure Excursion in the History of Iraqi Scholars”), written

by Abū al-Barakāt Moħammed bin ʿAbdu-l-Ghafūr al-Raħbī alBağdādī (died after 1175 AH / 1671 CE); edited by Dr Mahdi Razak Shahin al-Jumayli 8. “Kitāb al-Ibānah wa al-Iʿlām bimā fī Al-Minhāj min al-Khalal wa al-Awhām” (“The Book of Explanation and Information on Imbalances and Delusions in the Book Al-Minhāj”); written by Ḍiyāʾ Al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdullāh Ibn Aḥmad al-Mālaqī, commonly known as Ibn al-Bayṭār (d. 646 AH / 1248 CE); edited

by Dr Ibrahim Ben Mrad

The book closes with a novel scientific chapter, following a new approach to reclassifying traditions, according to the objectives-based reading. This is accomplished by extracting the branch objectives (maqāṣid juz’iyyah) using illuminating principles (maqāmāt kāshifah), then collating them by degree of commonality, to be re-ordered by objective, in two ways, theoretical and applied.

9. “Catalogue of Manuscripts of Ayasofya Collection at Suleymaniye Library”; catalogues by a group of cataloguers; edited by Dr Ramazan Şeşen.

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Distributors of Al-Furqān’s Publications Purchase Online at: The Foundation’s website: www.al-furqan.com At: www.amazon.co.uk

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(find “Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation”)

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Cairo – Egypt Tel.: + 202 23913859

Purchase in Store at: United Kingdom: Al-Furqān Headquarters 22A Old Court Place London, W8 4PL United Kingdom Tel: + 44 (0) 20 3130 1530 Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7937 2540 E-mail: info@al-furqan.com

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Egypt: Al-Furqān Cairo Office 20 Ibrahim Nagy St., Zaker Hussain Road Nasr City 11528 Cairo - Egypt Tel: + 202 24721609 Fax: + 202 24721609 E-mail: cairo.office@al-furqan.com

Morocco: Librairie Dar Al Amane Rue Al Mamouniya, Rabat, Morocco Tel: + 212 5377-23276 E-mail: libdarelamane@yahoo.fr

Dār al-Salām Publisher 40, Corner at Ahmed About El-Ola/Nour ElDeen Bahgat streets Nasr City - Egypt Tel: + 202 22873246 Fax: + 202 22741750 E-mail: info@dar-alsalam.com

Lebanon: Dar Ibn Hazm Beirut, Lebanon Tel: + 961 1300227 www.daribnhazm.com

Wahba Library 14, El-Gomhoreya st.

Cairo - Egypt Tel: + 202 23682155 E-mail: publisher_sultan@yahoo.com

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Newsletter No. 18

Winter 2019

Book Fairs Al-Furqān’s participation in book fairs

Cairo International Book Fair

Like the previous years, Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation continued its tradition of participating in international book fairs.

During this year (2019), Al-Furqān Foundation took part in three international book fairs, as following: 1.

Cairo (Egypt) International Book Fair: from 23rd January until 4th February 2019.

2. C a s a b l a n c a (Morocco) International Book Fair: from 7th until 17th February 2019.

3. Sharjah (UAE) International Book Fair: from 30th October until 9th November 2019.

At all these fairs, the Foundation has showcased its various publications within its three fields of interest, i.e. the manuscripts field, the field of maqāṣid, and the field of studies on Makkah and Madinah.

Its publications consist of around 200 titles, in more than 350 volumes, including catalogues of collections of Islamic manuscripts in leading libraries, manuscript studies, bibliographic works, studies on maqāṣid, as well as proceedings of Al-Furqān’s academic conferences, symposia, training courses and lectures.

Sharjah International Book Fair

Casablanca International Book Fair

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Winter 2019

Highlights 

To acknowledge Makkah’s and Madinah’s scientific and cultural roles and their historical significance

«The Centre for the Encyclopaedia of Makkah and Madinah (Makkah and Madinah Centre)»



To compile a comprehensive Encyclopaedia about these two holy cities

«25 Years Documenting the Role of the Two Noble Cities» The (Mawsoa) Encyclopaedia of Makkah and Madinah project has been a living dream and an inspirational vision of His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani almost 30 years ago. Dr Abbas Saleh Tashkandi was the first with whom HE Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani - the Chairman and Founder of Al-Furqān - raised the idea in 1987.

To achieve its aims and objectives, the Centre pursues the following activities: 

Compiling a comprehensive Encyclopaedia about these two holy cities  Publishing books, studies and theses on Makkah and Madinah

Later on, during the first conference organised by AlFurqān Foundation in 1991, the late Sheikh Hamad al-Jasser, a member of Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, gave a keynote speech at the Foundation’s launch, in which he presented some of the most valuable manuscripts of Makkah and Madinah and urged the Foundation to undertake the task of producing an encyclopaedia of the two great cities.

 Publishing critical editions of historical references related to Makkah and Madinah  Holding lectures and other public activities to stimulate research and discussions on topics related to Makkah and Madinah 

Compiling and publishing a multi-lingual bibliography of published works, references, theses and articles on Makkah and Madinah

The latter event encouraged His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the chairman of the Foundation, to fulfil his long-thought dream on publishing the Encyclopaedia of Makkah al-Mukarramah and Madinah al-Munawwarah.



Establishing an Information Centre holding a collection of texts, references, photographs, documents, maps, theses, travellers’ accounts, journals, microfilms and audiovisual material on Makkah and Madinah

The first meeting of the Encyclopaedia’s Advisory Board was held in Jeddah on 4th November 1994, which marked the establishment of the Mawsoa Centre of Al-Furqān, housed in Jeddah.

The Makkah and Madinah Centre’s boards The Encyclopaedia project is implemented under the supervision of the Advisory Board, the Academic Board, a number of specialized committees and the executive management.

After a series of intensive meetings with consultants and academic councils, in Istanbul, Madinah and various others inside and outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, spanning a period of four years, work started on the encyclopaedia.

The Makkah and Madinah Centre’s activities Lectures

The Makkah and Madinah Centre’s mission

Within the framework of the cultural activities of the Mawsoa Centre, and in order to strengthen links with those who are interested in the Islamic heritage related to the two holy cities, Makkah and Madinah, Al-Furqān has, in the past few years, organized a couple of lectures with eminent speakers, tackling different topics. Below is a list a of the main lectures that have taken place:

The Mawsoa Centre’s main goal is to acknowledge Makkah and Madinah’s scientific and cultural roles and their historical significance throughout history.

The Makkah and Madinah Centre’s aims and objectives

1. “Uncovering the the Prophet’s Marital Home”, by H.E. Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani

The Mawsoa Centre’s main aims and objectives are:  To promote research into and specialized study of the two holy cities, Makkah and Madinah

2. “International Politics Pre-Islam and the Significance of Makkah in World Trade”, by Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani

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Winter 2019

3. “Images of Makkah and Madinah with Special Reference to the ‘Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt’”, by Jan Just Witkam

holy cities, based on an array of resources, such as books/ publications, historical documents, photographs, maps and recordings.

4. “The Discovery of the House of Khadeejah (may God be pleased with her) in Makkah al-Mukarramah”, by Dr Abbas Saleh Tashkandy

The aim of the Encyclopaedia project – as described by His Excellency Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the chairman of the Foundation - is to acknowledge the merit and grace of two of the most holy sites on Earth, the city of Makkah, the sanctuary of the House of God, and Madinah, the city of the Prophet Moħammed peace be upon him, upon the Islamic civilisation and humankind. The project also highlights the profound role that these two cities played in supporting scientific and cultural initiatives throughout the centuries, as the origins of Islamic civilisation and its source of enlightenment that enlightened the whole world.

The Makkah and Madinah Centre’s publications Beside its flagship project, the Encyclopaedia, the Mawsoa Centre has published around 25 titles in more than 35 volumes, covering a wide range of topics and different subjects related to the two holy cities.

The Encyclopaedia of Makkah al-Mukarramah and Madinah al-Munawwarah

The First Volume of the Encyclopaedia was published in the year 2007. So far, 9 volumes have been published, with many more to come.

The Encyclopaedia series collection main focus is to bring to light and document the many roles played by both holy cities of Makkah and Madinah in various fields, such as the natural environment, the social, economic, cultural, scientific, religious and political life, as well as the architecture, planning and the sources documenting the history of both

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Newsletter No. 18

Winter 2019

In Memoriam Mohamed Fareed El-Shayyal In the custody of Allāh

the Egyptian Historical Society in 1973; and the Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature by Global Peace & Unity in 2010.

Dr Fareed El-Shayyal, historian, Director of “Wa‘y” for Research & Development, and visiting professor at London University passed away in London on Tuesday, 10 December 2019, after a long period of battling patiently with illness.

In addition to academic work, Dr El-Shayyal contributed to voluntary and freelance work in the domains of media and research. He also contributed vastly to the well-being of the Muslim community in the West, defending it in both Arabic and western media.

Dr El-Shayyal is the son of the erudite historian and critical editor, the late Gamal El-Din El-Shayyal (1911-1967). Dr El-Shayyal graduated with both a BSc in Chemical Engineering and a BA in History from Alexandria University. He gained an MA in Middle East & Islamic Studies from Toronto University, Canada, then a PhD in History from Edinburgh University, UK.

Dr Mohammed Fareed El-Shayyal played a praiseworthy role in supporting the work and activities of the Al-Furqān Foundation, especially in the area of translation.

Dr El-Shayyal worked and taught at over a dozen universities in Egypt, Canada, Britain, and Saudi Arabia. He served as Chairman of the Islamic Studies Postgraduate at Markfield Institute of Higher Education, accredited by both Loughborough University and Gloucester University in the United Kingdom.

With his passing away, the cultural quarter lost an erudite pillar of knowledge, while the alFurqānFoundation lost a cherished friend and key supporter.

We ask Allāh, the Almighty, to envelop him in His Grand Mercy, and grant him abode in the highest of Paradise, in the company of Prophets, the true, martyrs, and the righteous, and they are indeed, the best company.

He was awarded many prizes, most prominently the “Jaranah” Prize for Best Achievement in History from Alexandria University in 1972; the “Abbadi” Prize for the Highest Achievement in History, by

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Winter 2019

Al-Furqān and Its Centres Al-Furqān’s Structure

Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation is a not for profit Foundation registered in England and Wales (Company No. 2329628). It was established in London, in 1988, by the Yamani Cultural and Charitable Foundation; HE Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani is the founder of both of these foundations.

The Board of Directors The Board of Directors is the highest body within Al-Furqān.

It consists of the Chairman and three other directors. It’s responsibilities include overseeing management, appropriate use of funding, implementing the organisation’s goals, and shaping the organisation’s vision and mission.

Al-Furqān’s Vision

The Executive Management The Executive Management is the highest level of organisational management, executing the Foundation’s dayto-day responsibilities. It holds specific executive powers conferred with and by authority of the Board of Directors.

To be a leading Foundation in preserving and studying the Islamic written heritage.

Al-Furqān’s Mission To survey, preserve, study and publish the Islamic written heritage, as well as assist and promote the research in its fields.

Al-Furqān’s Offices Al-Furqān’s headquarters office is in London. It also has two other offices, one in Jeddah - Saudi Arabia, and another one in Cairo - Egypt.

Al-Furqān’s Aims and Objectives

• To initiate, promote and support research in the field

Al-Furqān’s Centres

of Islamic heritage.

• To assist in the preservation and restoration of the

Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation was established initially with the aim to document and preserve the Islamic written heritage, principally through its work in surveying, imaging, cataloguing, editing, studying and publishing Islamic manuscripts. But, with time, its scope of activity has expanded, and it has become a Foundation consisting of 3 centres under one umbrella, i.e.:

Islamic written heritage.

• To raise awareness on the richness of the Islamic heritage, its role and importance.

To achieve its aims and objectives, the Foundation pursues the following activities: o

Editing and publishing Islamic manuscripts of particular significance.

1. The Centre for the Study of Islamic Manuscripts (Manuscript Centre)

o

Publishing studies, bibliographical and encyclopaedic works in the field of Islamic heritage.

The Manuscript Centre’s Mission

o

Organising training courses on various aspects of Islamic heritage.

o

Holding academic seminars, conferences and lectures in order to stimulate discussions and action in the field of Islamic heritage.

o

The Manuscript Centre’s mission is to document and preserve the Islamic written heritage through surveying, imaging, cataloguing, editing and publishing Islamic manuscripts, which constitute a significant part of the Islamic heritage.

The Manuscript Centre’s Founding / Advisory Board

Establishing a reference library with the main research tools necessary for the study of the Islamic heritage.

The Founding / Advisory Board of the Manuscript Centre was a body of outstanding academics and scholars in the field of Islamic written heritage, such as: history, history of science, codicology, paleography and Islamic history. They gathered in London, in December 1991, with the aim to:

o Developing an online platform to enable the schol-

ars, researchers and students of the Islamic civilisation and heritage all over the world easier access to the hidden treasures of the Islamic heritage.

✓ Establish an overall strategy and guidelines. ✓ Define the Manuscript Centre’s fields of activities.

Al-Furqān’s Motto

The Manuscript Centre’s Founding / Advisory Board consisted of the following members: - HE Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Chairman - Sheikh Abdel Aziz al-Rifaʿi

“Glorious Past, Brighter Future”

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Newsletter No. 18 -

Winter 2019 o Establishing a reference library with the main research tools necessary for the study of Islamic manuscripts.

Dr Abdel Hadi al-Tazi Dr Anton Heinen Dr Charles de Fouchéour Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu Dr Enes Karic Dr George Atiyeh Sheikh Hamad al-Jaser Dr Iraj Afshar Dr Jan Just Witkam Dr Juan Vernet Sheikh Mahmoud Shakir Dr Nasiruddin al-Asad Dr Orhan Bilgin Dr Salahuddin al-Munajjid Dr Seyyed Hossein Nasr Dr Yusuf Ibish Dr William Montgomery Watt

o Developing an online platform/database for online catalogues and other bibliographical works, in order to provide to the scholars, researchers, and students of the Islamic civilisation and heritage all over the world easier access to the hidden treasures of the Islamic written heritage.

The Manuscript Centre’s Board of Experts The Board of Experts is a body of outstanding academics and scholars in the field of the Islamic written heritage, such as: history, history of science, codicology, paleography and Islamic history.

The Board of Experts is a decision-making body, with a role to:

✓ Review the activities of the Manuscript Centre, and

provide the appropriate directions. ✓ Elaborate on, and discuss themes for projects to be adopted by the Centre. ✓ Inspect projects and scholarly works submitted to the Centre, and issuing decisions as to its acceptance, request for modifications, or rejection.

The Manuscript Centre’s Board of Experts members are: -

The Founding Board of the Manuscript Centre

The Manuscript Centre’s Aims and Objectives The Manuscript Centre’s main aims and objectives are: • To initiate, promote and support research into the field of Islamic manuscripts.

• To assist in the preservation and restoration of Islamic manuscripts.

• To raise awareness on the richness and the importance of the Islamic written heritage.

HE Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Chairman Dr Abdullah Yusuf al-Ghonaim Dr Ahmed Shawqi Binebine Dr Bashar Awwad Marouf Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu Dr Ibrahim Chabbouh Dr Mohammed Adnan al-Bakheet

2. The Centre for the Encyclopaedia of Makkah and Madinah (Mawsoa Centre) The Mawsoa Centre’s Mission The Mawsoa Centre’s main goal is to acknowledge Makkah and Madinah’s scientific and cultural roles as well as their significance throughout history.

To achieve its aims and objectives, the Centre pursues the following activities: o Identifying and surveying the existing collections of Islamic manuscripts.

The Mawsoa Centre’s Founding / Advisory Board The Mawsoa Centre’s Founding / Advisory Board was a body of outstanding academics and scholars in the field of encyclopaedic studies. They gathered in London, in November 1994, with the aim to:

o Assisting in cataloguing previously uncatalogued collections of Islamic manuscripts. o Editing and publishing Islamic manuscripts of particular significance.

✓ Establish an overall strategy and guidelines. ✓ Define the Mawsoa Centre’s fields of activities.

o Organising training courses on various aspects of Islamic written heritage, such as codicology, cataloguing and editing.

The Mawsoa Centre’s Founding / Advisory Board consisted of the following members:

o Organising conferences, symposia and lectures to stimulate research and discussions on topics related to the field of manuscripts.

- HE Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Chairman - Dr Abdu-l-Malik bin Duhaysh

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Newsletter No. 18 -

Winter 2019 The Mawsoa Centre’s Academic Board members are:

Dr Abdu-l-Wahab abu Sulaiman Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu Dr Jan Just Witkam Dr Kazim al-Musawi al-Bojnourdi (Islamic Encyclopaedia – Iran) Dr Nasir al-Din al-Asad Dr Robert McHenry (Encyclopaedia Britannica – UK) Dr Tayyar Altikulaç (Islamic Encyclopaedia – Turkey) Dr Yusuf Ibish

- HE Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Chairman - Dr Abbas Saleh Tashkandy - Dr Abdu-l-Lateef bin Abdullah bin Duhaysh - Dr Abdu-l-Wahab abu Sulaiman - Dr Abdullah Saleh Ahmed Shawoosh - Dr Abdu-l-Rrahman Sulaiman al-Mazeni - Dr Adnan Mohammed al-Shareef - Dr Asim Hamdan Ali - Dr Ghazi bin Obaid Madani - Dr Mi’raj Nawab Mirza - Dr Mohammed Abdu-l-Karim bin Obaid - Dr Omar Hasan Falatah - Dr Yusuf Ahmed Hawalah Dr Abbas Saleh Tashkandy is the Secretary General of the Mawsoa Centre, as well as the Chief Editor of the Encyclopaedia of Makkah and Madinah.

3. The Centre for the Study of the Philosophy of Islamic Law (Maqāṣid Centre)

The Founding Board of the Mawsoa Centre

The Mawsoa Centre’s Aims and Objectives

The Maqāṣid Centre’s Mission

The Mawsoa Centre’s main aims and objectives are:

The Maqāṣid Centre’s mission is to revitalise the knowledge of maqāṣid, in order to develop the process of ijtihād and the renewal of Islamic fiq’h, its fundamental theory (uṣūl), and Islamic thought in general. The Centre also aims to broaden the horizons of knowledge for students of Islamic studies everywhere.

• To promote research into and specialised study of the two holy cities, Makkah and Madinah.

• To acknowledge Makkah’s and Madinah’s scientific and cultural roles as well as their historical significance.

• To compile a comprehensive Encyclopaedia about these two holy cities.

The Maqāṣid Centre’s Founding / Advisory Board The Founding / Advisory Board of the Maqāṣid Centre was a body of outstanding academics and scholars in different fields of Islamic studies. They gathered in London, in March 2005, with the aim to:

To achieve its aims and objectives, the Centre pursues the following activities: o Compiling a comprehensive Encyclopaedia about these two holy cities.

✓ Establish an overall strategy and guidelines. ✓ Define the Centre’s fields of activities.

o Publishing books, studies and theses on Makkah and Madinah. o Publishing critical editions of historical references related to Makkah and Madinah.

The Maqāṣid Centre’s Founding / Advisory Board consisted of the following members:

o Holding lectures and other public activities to stimulate research and discussions on topics related to Makkah and Madinah.

-

o Compiling and publishing a multi-lingual bibliography of published works, references, theses and articles on Makkah and Madinah. o Establishing an Information Centre, holding a collection of texts, references, photographs, documents, maps, theses, travellers’ accounts, journals, microfilms and audio-visual material on Makkah and Madinah.

The Encyclopaedia project is implemented under the supervision of the Academic Board, a number of specialised committees, and the executive management.

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HE Sheikh Ahmad Zaki Yamani, Chairman Dr Abdul Adheem al-Deeb Dr Abdul Rahman al-Kelani Dr Ahmad Yusuf Sulaiman Dr Hasan Jaber Dr Ibrahim al-Bayoumi Ghanem Dr Jamaluddin Atiyyah Dr Jasser Audah Dr Mahmoud Bilal Mahran Dr Muhammad Attahir al-Misawi WWW.AL-FURQAN.COM

Newsletter No. 18

Winter 2019 • Refuting attempts to misuse the idea of maqāṣid in order to “deconstruct” the Islamic principles and fundamentals.

• Promoting and publishing biographies of scholars who have contributed to the study of maqāṣid.

• Co-operating with Islamic universities and Islamic studies departments in order to include the maqāṣid in their curricula or syllabi.

• Incorporating maqāṣid theories in the methodology and philosophy of various social sciences and humanities.

• Establishing a comprehensive maqāṣid encyclopaedia.

The Founding / Advisory Board of the Maqāṣid Centre was a body of outstanding academics and scholars in different fields of Islamic studies. They gathered in London, in March 2005, with the aim to:

✓ Establish an overall strategy and guidelines. ✓ Define the Centre’s fields of activities.

The Maqāṣid Centre’s Founding / Advisory Board consisted of the following members: - HE Sheikh Ahmad Zaki Yamani, Chairman - Dr Abdul Adheem al-Deeb - Dr Abdul Rahman al-Kelani - Dr Ahmad Yusuf Sulaiman - Dr Hasan Jaber - Dr Ibrahim al-Bayoumi Ghanem - Dr Jamaluddin Atiyyah - Dr Jasser Audah - Dr Mahmoud Bilal Mahran - Dr Muhammad Attahir al-Misawi - Dr Muhammad Haytham al-Khayat - Dr Muhammad Kamaleddin Emam - Dr Muhammad Salim al-Awa - Dr Noureddin al-Khadimi - Dr Saifuddin Abd al-Fattah - Dr Wahbah al-Zuhaily - Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi

To achieve its aims and objectives, the Centre pursues the following activities: o Publishing new critical editions of maqāṣid books of particular significance. o Publishing bibliographical references in the field of maqāṣid. o Publishing studies on the objectives (maqāṣid) of Islamic law. o Organising training courses on understanding the maqāṣid. o Holding conferences, symposia, seminars and lectures to stimulate research and discussions on topics related to the field of maqāṣid. o Establishing a reference library with the main research tools necessary for the study of maqāṣid (philosophy of Islamic jurisprudence). o Encouraging Islamic studies departments and programmes outside traditional Islamic institutes, to conduct research that shows the universality of Islamic law in all cultural contexts. o Encouraging versatile students and young researchers to study the philosophy of Islamic law, the maqāṣid.

The Maqāṣid Centre’s Board of Experts The Board of Experts of the Maqāṣid Centre includes a distinguished group of scholars and researchers in different fields of Islamic studies.

The Board of Experts is a decision-making body, with a role to: Review

the activities of the Maqāṣid Centre and provide the appropriate directions Elaborate

on, and discuss themes for projects to be adopted by the Centre. Inspect

projects and scholarly works submitted to the Centre, and issuing decisions as to its acceptance, request for modifications, or rejection.

The Founding Board of the Maqāṣid Centre

The Maqāṣid Centre’s Aims and Objectives The Maqāṣid Centre’s main aims and objectives are:

The Maqāṣid Centre’s Board of Experts members are:

• Encouraging studies and research which contribute to the Islamic philosophy of law, inside and outside the academic world.

• Giving special consideration to new research in the theories of priorities, utility, consequences and universal principles of Islamic law.

• Reinforcing the link between the study of maqāṣid and the study of the basic rules of the Islamic law.

• Calling upon scholars to elaborate on the correlation between contemporary ijtihād and maqāṣid, so as to facilitate understanding the wisdom and the objectives of Islamic rulings.

• Calling upon scholars and Islamic institutes of fatwa to illustrate the link between the Islamic texts, fatwā and maqāṣid.

-

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HE Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Chairman Dr Abdu-l-Wahab abu Sulaiman Dr Ahmad al-Raissouni Dr Hasan Jaber Dr Ibrahim al-Bayoumi Ghanem Dr Issam al-Basheer Dr Mohammed Salim al-Awa Dr Noureddin al-Khadimi Dr Saif al-Din Abdu-l-Fattah WWW.AL-FURQAN.COM

Newsletter No. 18

Winter 2019

Al-Furqān

Islamic Heritage Foundation Glorious Past, Brighter Future

The entrance of Al-Furqān headquarters - London Address: 22A Old Court Place London, W8 4PL England – UK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3130 1530 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7937 2540

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Email: info@al-furqan.com Website: www.al-furqan.com WWW.AL-FURQAN.COM