The Centre for the Study of Islamic Manuscripts at Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, in co-operation with Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, and Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Corpus Coranicum), organised an international workshop / training course on "Qurʾān manuscripts, past and present: Cataloguing and digital tools".
The workshop took place in the German capital Berlin, from the 18th to the 23rd of September 2023. It was attended by 25 participants from 11 different countries.
The training course was intended for advanced MA and doctoral students, as well as other junior researchers in the fields of Oriental Philology and Islamic Studies. It was held in English, but working knowledge of written Arabic was required.
During the workshop, introductions into palaeography, codicology, cataloguing, as well as collection history of Qur’anic manuscripts were given. Particular attention was paid to digital tools developed for the study of Qur’an manuscripts.
The focus of this course was on hands-on sessions, in which the participants had the opportunity to observe features of Qur’anic manuscripts kept at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, one of the largest collections of Oriental manuscripts in the world.
Each participant was given the opportunity to discuss his or her ongoing research at the workshop.
The training course / workshop will be conducted by:
| Ali Aghaei (Universität Paderborn) Umberto Bongianino (University of Oxford) Abdallah El-Khatib (Qatar University, Doha) Alba Fedeli (Universität Hamburg) Esra Gözeler (Ankara Üniversitesi) Michael Marx (Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, Corpus Coranicum) Syed Hussain Murtaza (Murtazavi Library and Research Center Karachi/Qum) Christoph Rauch (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin) Elaheh Shahpasand (University of Qur’anic Sciences and Education, Mashhad) Ahmed Wisam Shaker (Independent researcher, Saudi Arabia) Mahmoud Zaki (Qatar National Library, Doha) Konrad Hirschler (Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures - Universität Hamburg) Boris Liebrenz (Bibliotheca Arabica – Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig) Sali Shahsivari (Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation) |
The course ended with the delivery of certificates to the participants.
As part of the Workshop, a public evening lecture took place on Wednesday - 20th September - evening, entitled: “Conflicting Perceptions: A Journey through Modern (Mis-)Readings of the Qurʾān”, delivered by Stefan Weidner.
