Famous/Important "Libraries" of the Muslim world?

[Sunni_Student786]

As salaamu alaykum.

What are the names of some of the most important, famous, or large libraries in the Muslim world? I am particularly interested in knowing the names of those libraries or repositories of books, be they in Masjids or in private residences, that house hand written manuscripts or copies of rare books.

I read somewhere that there are about 3 million manuscripts written about Islamic subjects that are scattered throughout the world, many of them being the only copy of the work still in existence. If i'm not mistaken, about 1.3 million of those manuscripts are said to be in Egypt, but only about 40,000+ are said to be housed at Al-Azhar. I am quite curious about as to where else some of these manuscripts could be. I am quite confident that many of them can be found in some of the older, larger, more famous libraries and book respositories of the Muslim world, hence my asking for their names.

If anyone has info regarding the issues that I've raised above, please share it.

Jazakallahu Khair.

Wa'salaam.

[Sunni_Student786]

ttt

[Sunni_Student786]

ttt

[AbuHarris]

وعليكم السلام

World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts is the most comprehensive work which locates Islamic manuscript collections, both public and private in 106 countries. Approximately 5,000 collections are documented:
World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts, 4 vols. gen. ed. Geoffrey Roper, London: Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 1992-1994.

The volumes are organised by country, arranged alphabetically, although the surveys for certain countries which were too late to appear alphabetically in their respective places appear in the fourth volume. The fourth volume gives comprehensive name and language indexes for all the volumes and adds an index of the names of the collections.

There is also an updated Arabic version of the work: al- Makhṭūṭāt al-Islāmiyya fī al-ʿālam, tr. and ed. ʿAbd al-Sattār al-Ḥalwajī, London: Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 1997-2002.

والسلام

[Sunni_Student786]

وعليكم السلام

World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts is the most comprehensive work which locates Islamic manuscript collections, both public and private in 106 countries. Approximately 5,000 collections are documented:
World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts, 4 vols. gen. ed. Geoffrey Roper, London: Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 1992-1994.

The volumes are organised by country, arranged alphabetically, although the surveys for certain countries which were too late to appear alphabetically in their respective places appear in the fourth volume. The fourth volume gives comprehensive name and language indexes for all the volumes and adds an index of the names of the collections.

There is also an updated Arabic version of the work: al- Makhṭūṭāt al-Islāmiyya fī al-ʿālam, tr. and ed. ʿAbd al-Sattār al-Ḥalwajī, London: Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 1997-2002.

والسلام

Where can one obtain a copy?

[AbuHarris]

The work is available from major booksellers. You will find copies at amazon, and the Arabic version at neelwafurat. The volumes can be bought separately. Prices vary and you may also find good second hand copies. You can enquire at the sales e-mail address at al-furqan. The site is down now, but you can read a description of the contents of individual volumes here.

والسلام