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A Visit to Chester Beatty Library
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By
Ramadan AbuGhalia
Translated by Abdelazim R. Abdelazim
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22/12/2003
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Alfred Chester Beatty
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The
Chester Beatty Library is one of Dublin’s, main landmarks, and a destination
no visitor to Ireland should miss. It is regarded as one of Europe’s most
distinguished museums and earned the 2002 Best European Museum prize.
Its
founder, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty* collected gems of Islamic manuscripts, that
range in date from the eighth century to the early years of the 20th century.
They derive primarily from the Arab world, Iran, Turkey and India, and include
some of the greatest documents of Islamic art and civilization. They illustrate
in exquisite form
and detail the history and development of all aspects of Islamic books:
calligraphy, illumination, miniature painting, and bookbinding. This collection
of manuscripts consists of five sub-collections:
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The Qur'an Collection
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A Holy Qur’an fragment copied by Ibn al-Bawwab in the 9th Century
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The
Qur'an Collection includes more than 260 Qur'ans and Qur'an fragments and is one
of the most important collections of Qur'ans outside the Middle East. The gem of
the collection is the splendid Qur'an copied in Baghdad in the year 1001 by Ibn
al-Bawwab, one of the greatest medieval Islamic calligraphers.
2-
The Arabic Collection
The
Arabic Collection comprises 2650 manuscripts, many of which are unique texts,
preserved only in the Chester Beatty Library.
Their vast range of topics include religion, jurisprudence, history,
geography, medicine, astronomy, mathematics and linguistics, to name but a few,
as well as many early translations into Arabic of the works of the ancient
Greeks.
3-
The Persian Collection
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The Gulistan [Roses Garden] manuscript by Al-Sa’di 1427
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The
Persian Collection consists mainly of copies of the works of the great Persian
poets - Firdawsi, Nizami, Sa'di, Hafiz and Jami, to name but a few. Highlights
of the approximately 330 manuscripts that make up the collection, include
illustrated folios from the so-called Great Mongol Shahnama, or Book of Kings,
of about 1335, and a fragmentary copy of this same text made in the late 16th
century for the Safavid ruler, Shah 'Abbas the Great. One of the most beautiful
and most extensively illuminated manuscripts in the Library is a copy of the
Gulistan of Al-Sa'di, made in the 1420s for Baysunghur, one of history’s
greatest patrons
of the book, and a prince of the Timurid Dynasty that ruled much of Iran
throughout the 15th century.
4-
The Mughal Era Indian Collection
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Akbar’s talks with two Jesuit priests in 1605, History of Akbar
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This
collection comprises both illustrated manuscripts and a breathtaking array of
almost one thousand individual paintings, produced in India during the period of
Mughal rule. The collection is of especial renown because it encompasses some of
the finest examples of painting produced under the guidance of the emperors
Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. Prominent amongst these are the illustrated
folios from the Akbarnama, or History of Akbar, and the numerous portraits of
the emperors themselves.
5-
The Turkish Collection
The
Turkish Collection consists of 160 manuscripts, making it the smallest of the
Islamic Collections. Nevertheless, it is extremely important because it contains
great examples of the Ottoman art, which peaked in the 16th century.
The
Library has created English and Arabic indexes for all the titles of these
manuscripts in alphabetical order, a detailed index for them and an authors’
index.
The
Library provides great facilities to help visitors become better acquainted with
the manuscripts. A large fully equipped auditorium makes it easy for researchers
and examiners to study, benefit from and copy whatever manuscript they require.
It
is ironic that when I visited the Library I bumped into a Jew who showed me a
manuscript he had verified and printed in book format, on the history of
Jerusalem—may God help set it free. I did not notice or hear of any Muslim
presence, despite the great number of students and specialists in the field of
Islamic Studies in Ireland and all over Europe. It is more becoming for Muslims,
whether researchers, organizations or colleges, to pay more attention to this
heritage and make it the focus of their studies. How advantageous it would be if
such colleges included in their syllabi a manuscripts module, tackling how
manuscripts are verified, so that learners and students would be able to study
them according to the scientific methods of verification. Islamic organizations,
such as centers, societies and research and study institutes can all play an
essential role. The Islamic Cultural Center in Dublin and the Library’s
administration have recently started to cooperate. The noble reader is invited
to get a copy of the manuscripts’ titles and indexes by contacting the Islamic
Center.
Despite
the praiseworthy efforts exerted by the Library’s staff and their full
cooperation, the manuscripts need the care of an Arabic-speaking Muslim who
would help researchers benefit from them; adding some necessary comments to the
indexes, classifying them according to their readability and decay percentage.
All these detailed indexes could then be published online, so that people
interested in old manuscripts can access them anywhere in the world.
*
Alfred Chester Beatty was born in New York City in 1875. He studied mining
engineering at which he was very distinguished. His hobby was to buy and collect
old manuscripts, especially Islamic manuscripts. He moved to and settled in
London in the mid 1940s. He paid several visits to Egypt and the Far East before
he finally settled in Ireland, his ancestral homeland, where he founded his
famous library in Dublin in 1950. He decided that his Library would be left in
trust for the benefit of the public after his death.
Beatty died in 1968 and was accorded a State funeral because of his past
achievements.
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The information on these collections is adapted from the Library’s web site: www.cbl.ie
Contact
The Chester Beatty Library:
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Address: Castle, Dublin 2, Ireland
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Tel: (+353 1) 407 0750
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Fax:(+353
1) 407 0760
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Email:info@cbl.ie
Contact
Islamic
Center in Dublin:
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1
9 Roebuck Road
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Clonskeagh,
Dublin 14
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Republic
of Ireland
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Email:
iccislam@eircom.net
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