Arabic language research centres

National Manuscripts Centre

Ministry of Culture and Arts

Inventories, catalogues, collects, restores and digitises Algerian manuscripts, and makes them available to researchers.

Algeria · Adrar

Mauritanian Institute for Research and Training in Heritage and Culture (IMRFPC)

Mauritanian Ministry of Culture

Collects, catalogues and digitises Mauritanian manuscripts, including those of Chinguetti, Ouadane and Tichitt.

Mauritania · Nouakchott

Heritage Library, Qatar National Library

Qatar National Library

Library of rare heritage materials holding over 3,500 manuscripts in Islamic sciences, Arabic and other fields, some digitised for researchers.

Qatar · Doha

National Library of Syria (formerly Al-Assad National Library)

Syrian Ministry of Culture

Keeps Arabic manuscripts, including the Zahiriyya collection, and shares digital images of them with researchers in and outside Syria.

Syria · Damascus

Supreme Council for Heritage Revival, al-Abbas Holy Shrine

Al-Abbas Holy Shrine

Oversees heritage centres in Karbala, Hillah and Basra that edit and publish manuscripts, and issues peer-reviewed heritage journals.

Iraq · Najaf

Beit Al Quran

Museum and research library holding Qur'anic manuscripts from many periods and regions, with rooms for researchers and a school of Qur'anic studies.

Bahrain · Manama

Iraqi House of Manuscripts

Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities

Preserves, restores and digitally documents tens of thousands of manuscripts and makes them available to researchers.

Iraq · Baghdad

King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah)

Research foundation on the history of Arabia that collects and restores manuscripts and documents and publishes edited texts.

Saudi Arabia · Riyadh

Imam Zayd bin Ali Cultural Foundation

Collects, digitises and makes available Yemeni manuscripts held in private libraries, and publishes texts from the Zaydi heritage.

Yemen · Sanaa

King Abdulaziz Complex for Endowment Libraries

Gathers, preserves, digitises and catalogues endowed libraries and their manuscripts, and supports research on editing and publishing manuscripts.

Saudi Arabia · Madinah

Manuscripts Laboratory

Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Algiers 2

Studies Maghrebi manuscripts — their history, cataloguing and preservation — across history, library science, archives and language.

Algeria · Algiers

Laboratory of Algerian Manuscripts in Africa

Ahmed Draia University of Adrar

Inventories, catalogues and studies Algerian manuscripts in Algeria and West Africa, including the Touat manuscripts.

Algeria · Adrar

Raqqada Manuscripts Conservation Laboratory

National Heritage Institute (INP)

Restores and treats the Kairouan parchments and manuscripts, and inventories, catalogues and digitises them.

Tunisia · Raqqada (Kairouan)

Centre de documentation et de recherches arabes chrétiennes (CEDRAC)

Université Saint-Joseph — Faculty of Religious Sciences

Edits and studies Christian Arabic manuscripts, researches the intellectual history of Christian Arabic traditions, and trains researchers.

Lebanon · Beirut

Center of Papyrological Studies and Inscriptions

Faculty of Archaeology, Ain Shams University

Studies papyri, inscriptions and writing across periods, Arabic inscriptions on buildings among them, through a peer-reviewed journal and conferences.

Egypt · Cairo

Centre for Studies, Research and Heritage Revival

Rabita Mohammadia of Ulema

Editing and publishing Moroccan and Arabic manuscripts, and research on the textual heritage and editing methods.

Morocco

Manuscripts Center, Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Studies Arabic-Islamic manuscript heritage through cataloguing and editing, holds conferences and courses, and keeps the Alexandria Municipal Library manuscripts.

Egypt · Alexandria

Centre for Manuscripts, Heritage and Documents

Private centre collecting manuscripts in original and copy, cataloguing them, and publishing catalogues, bibliographies and heritage books.

Kuwait · Kuwait City (Jabriya)

Center for Documents, Manuscripts and Bilad al-Sham Studies

University of Jordan

Preserves, catalogues and opens to researchers manuscripts, documents and Sharia court registers, and publishes studies on Bilad al-Sham.

Jordan · Amman

Heritage Editing Center, Egyptian National Library and Archives

General Egyptian Authority for the National Library and Archives (Dar al-Kutub)

Edits Arabic heritage texts, runs specialised courses in textual editing and has held an annual conference on the field since 2019.

Egypt · Cairo

Juma Al Majid Center for Culture and Heritage

Centre collecting Arabic and Islamic manuscripts in original and copy, cataloguing and restoring them, making them available to researchers and publishing on heritage.

United Arab Emirates · Dubai

Oman Thakira Centre

Scholarly institution for Omani intellectual heritage: collecting, digitising and restoring manuscripts, cataloguing them in Al-Khizana Al-Omaniya, and editing and publishing texts.

Oman

Institute of Arabic Manuscripts

Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO)

Catalogues, digitises and conserves Arabic manuscripts, publishes critical editions and library catalogues, and runs training in codicology.

Egypt · Cairo

Institute of Manuscripts and Revival of Islamic Heritage

Umm Al-Qura University

Collects, catalogues, edits and publishes Islamic heritage texts, Arabic-language works among them, and keeps the university's manuscripts.

Saudi Arabia · Makkah

Al-Ahqaf Library of Manuscripts

Preserves, catalogues and opens to researchers Hadrami manuscripts gathered from Tarim family libraries and the Qu'aiti sultan's library.

Yemen · Tarim

Al-Azhar Library

Al-Azhar

Keeps, restores, catalogues and digitises Al-Azhar's manuscripts, and gathers manuscripts from within and beyond the Islamic world.

Egypt · Cairo

Al-Rawda al-Haydariyya Library — Heritage Revival Division

Imam Ali Holy Shrine

Edits and publishes manuscripts, reprints rare books, and catalogues the library's manuscripts and makes them available digitally.

Iraq · Najaf

Oman National Library (successor of the Manuscripts Department)

Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth

Preserves, restores and digitises Omani manuscripts, having absorbed the Manuscripts Department that began in 1975 as a collecting body.

Oman · Muscat