By Nawab Khan
LEIDEN, Netherlands, March 21 (KUNA) -- It is perhaps unknown that the university library in the Dutch city of Leiden has some of the oldest and rarest Arabic manuscripts dating back to early Islamic history.
Its precious collection includes leaflets of the Quran -- the earliest complete manuscript in Arabic copied on paper -- and the only surviving manuscript of a book by the famous scholar Ibn Hazam Al-Andalusi. Kuwait news agency (KUNA) met Dr. Arnoud Vrolijk, Curator of Oriental Manuscripts and Rare Books Special Collections, Leiden University Libraries in the beautiful Dutch city, and interviewed him on the oriental collection of the library as well as on the history of the Middle Eastern studies in the Netherlands.
Vrolijk studied Arabic in Utrecht and Amsterdam universities in the Netherlands and then did his PhD from the Leiden University on the subject of Mamluk poetry. Besides Arabic, he is well versed in Ottoman Turkish.
The library has collection of six thousand manuscripts in Arabic, Persian and Turkish but the Arabic section is the largest.
"It is not the largest collection in Europe but it is a big, valuable and important collection," he clarified.
The oldest Arabic manuscript, which are few leaflets of the Quran, in the library dates back to the second half of the seventh century. The manuscripts were found either in the Arab Peninsula or in Iraq or Syria.
The most important Arabic manuscript in the library is a treatise on love and lovers and friendship written by a scholar called Ibn Hazam Al-Andalusi who lived in Cordova, Spain, in the 11th century. The book is called Tuq Al-hamama (the ring of the dove).
This is the only surviving manuscript. All the editions in the world are based on this single manuscript. A copyist wrote it.
Among the other rare collections is a manuscript of the first book in Arabic written on paper preserved in Europe dating back to 960 AD. The work is written by Abu Ubayd Al-Qasem ibn Salam on unusual terms in the traditions of the Prophet's.
The University of Leiden was founded in 1575 and it is the oldest university in the Netherlands.
The oldest generation of Orientalists at the University of Leiden, such as Farnciscus Raphelngius (1539-1597) and Josephus Justus Scaliger (1540-1609) wrote their studies on written sources and stayed at home.
Raphelngius who studied Arabic in Paris was appointed as professor of Hebrew but he also taught Arabic and was the first in the Netherlands to print Arabic books.
The earliest Dutch Orientalist to try to travel to the Middle East was Thomas Erpenius (1584-1624) who became the first official professor of Arabic at Leiden University in 1613.
The motives of their interests in the Arab and Muslim world were many. Most scholars were interested in the relationship between Arabic and Hebrew and because both languages were Semitic, they wanted to study Arabic to help them explain difficult passages in the Hebrew bible.
The second argument was the idea that a better knowledge of Arabic would help them to convert Muslims to Christianity.
Scaliger left 50 manuscripts of his Middle Eastern collection of Arabic, Persian and Turkish at the library when he died in 1609.
In the beginning since they did not travel to the Middle East, the Dutch orientalists depended on merchants who travelled to the Middle East to buy the manuscripts from them or from local collectors, mainly in Italy, which had a long tradition of buying oriental manuscripts. Italy was a link between the Eastern Mediterranean and Europe.
The first Dutch scholar to go to the Middle East to collect manuscripts was Jacobus Golius who visited Morocco in 1622 and later Aleppo in Syria. He bought home about 200 Arabic manuscripts mainly related with science and mathematics.
"We have a beautiful collection of scientific Arabic manuscripts and also in Persian and Turkish," said Vrolijk.
The most important collection in the Leiden library is known as the Levinis Warner collection. He was a German who came to study oriental languages in Leiden in 1638.
His collection includes precious items like the Kitab Al-Hashaish (book of the herbs) written by a Greek scholar and translated into Arabic in the 8th or 9th century .It is probably the oldest illustrated manuscript in Arabic on the scientific subject.
The library also has a small collection of manuscripts in Arabic and Turkish languages from Xinjiang province in China where the Uighur Muslim minority lives.
Dr. Vrolijk noted that today the Middle Eastern Studies in the Netherlands is very popular and many people come to the Netherlands to study Islam and the Oriental languages. "They are becoming more and more popular in this country. They are thriving and will thrive in the future I think because in this era of globalisation we need more people who know about the Middle East and the world outside Europe," he said.
He said that cooperation between the Leiden library and the libraries in the Gulf countries is lacking and expressed his wish to visit Kuwait to promote cooperation with the libraries of the two countries.
Vroilik said he has been in touch with the Al-Babtain cultural foundation in Kuwait adding that they "are a very, very active foundation." He explained that many countries in the Arab world have passed laws banning the sale of manuscripts to protect their cultural heritage and hence it is not legal to buy manuscripts from the Arab world any longer.
But the Dutch curator explained that he does buy manuscripts from retiring professors and scholars in Europe who have private collections. (end) nk.gta