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<\/p>\nShafaq News<\/p>\n
In the narrow alleys of Najaf, behind wooden
\nMashrabiyya (ornamental lattice) screens and heavy doors, four libraries
\nsafeguard one of the Islamic world\u2019s most significant concentrations of
\nmanuscript heritage. Some of their holdings are more than a thousand years old.\n<\/p>\n
The collections span an extraordinary range
\n\u2014stone-inscribed texts, undotted Quranic manuscripts, and Quranic verses
\nrecorded on materials as unusual as snakeskin and grains of rice. The city
\nitself, located roughly 160 kilometers southwest of Baghdad, has drawn
\nscholars, rulers, and pilgrims for centuries because of the shrine of Imam Ali
\nibn Abi Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and the first
\nimam of Shia Islam. Where pilgrims travel, knowledge accumulates.<\/p>\n
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The Al-Alawi Repository<\/p>\n
The first stop was the al-Alawi Repository, one of the
\noldest manuscript collections in Iraq. Ali Lafta al-Issawi, head of its
\nresearch and studies unit, told Shafaq News that the repository ranks second in
\nage among Iraqi collections, after the Iraqi National Museum, with its origins
\ntracing back to the fourth Hijri century under Adud al-Dawla al-Buwayhi, who
\ndied in 372 AH.<\/p>\n
The collection is divided into two categories. The
\nfirst includes Quranic manuscripts of exceptional historical significance,
\ndonated by kings and sultans who visited the shrine of Imam Ali. Among them are
\ncopies attributed to master calligraphers Yaqut al-Mustasimi, al-Suhrawardi,
\nand al-Sayrafi, along with ancient vellum manuscripts more than a thousand
\nyears old, including two copies attributed to Imam Ali and his son Imam
\nal-Hasan.<\/p>\n
The second category contains millennium-old
\nmanuscripts written over a thousand years ago. The repository preserves
\napproximately 15 handwritten works from this period, including texts attributed
\nto Sheikh al-Tusi, who died in 460 AH, and to Allama al-Hilli. The oldest item
\nis a Quran attributed to Imam Ali, written in undotted Kufic script \u2014the
\nearliest known form of Arabic calligraphy.<\/p>\n
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Al-Issawi explained that total holdings reach roughly
\n8,000 manuscripts, spanning jurisprudence, Islamic legal theory, medicine,
\nastronomy, chemistry, mathematics, and other fields. After 2003, the Alawi
\nShrine established a dedicated center for manuscript photography and
\nrestoration using modern equipment, expanded the collection by 4,000
\nmanuscripts, and issued seven volumes of catalogues documenting the archive.<\/p>\n
The Haidari Library<\/p>\n
The Haidari Library opened in 2005 under directives
\nfrom Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest Shia religious authority in
\nIraq. At its founding, it contained around 8,000 books. Today, according to
\nlibrary official Ali Kadhim Hamad, that figure exceeds 350,000 volumes.<\/p>\n
Hamad noted that the library has received nearly 130
\npersonal collections donated as religious endowments, alongside 8,000
\nuniversity theses. It holds close to 450,000 titles related to the biography
\nand legacy of Imam Ali, as well as more than 400 scientific and religious
\njournal titles, open to readers of all faiths and denominations. Monthly
\nvisitors average about 2,000. The oldest printed item in the collection is a
\nperiodical titled Al-Jinan, dating to 1880.<\/p>\n
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The Al-Hasan Library<\/p>\n
The third stop was the Al-Hasan Library, where Sheikh
\nMahdi Baqer al-Quraishi serves as director. He explained that the library began
\nwith only dozens of books before expanding into one of Najaf\u2019s largest
\ncollections, now surpassing 100,000 volumes. Its readers include students from
\nthe Hawza \u2014the Shia Islamic seminary system centered in Najaf\u2014 as well as
\npostgraduate students from universities across Iraq. Religious classes are also
\nheld within its reading rooms.<\/p>\n
The library, Al-Quraishi noted, preserves rare
\nmanuscripts dating back more than 700 years, including a copy of Nahj
\nal-Balagha \u2014a canonical collection of sermons and letters attributed to Imam
\nAli\u2014 brought from India, as well as at least one manuscript older than a
\nthousand years. One of the library\u2019s founders, Sheikh Baqer al-Quraishi,
\nauthored nearly 100 scholarly works.<\/p>\n
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