National Day of Indonesia

Share this:

17th August: National Day of Indonesia

A brief about Indonesia’s Islamic written heritage

Among the 106 countries included in the “World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts” (the flagship project undertaken by Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation between the years 1989 – 1994) was Indonesia.

Indonesia’s Islamic written heritage was surveyed in 1991, by Osman Bakar & Engku Ibrahim Ismail.

This survey brought to light a wealth of information about the Country’s collections of Islamic manuscripts, by indicating: the cities and libraries that hold these manuscripts, the approximate number of manuscripts within each collection, the subjects and languages in which they are written, the conditions in which they are and whether they have been catalogued and studied, the particular significant manuscripts which they contain, etc.

According to this Survey, Indonesia has just over 17,350 manuscripts, held in 27 libraries (private and institutional). These libraries have mostly been established between 1800 – 1999, and their collections vary between 200 and 10,000 manuscripts.

Source note:
This information was published in the following book:
“World Survey of Islamic Manuscripts” (English version), 1997-2002, Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, London, UK, Vol. 1, pp. 443-454.

Please note that some of the images used in this online version might not be part of the published version of this article within the respective book.

Disclaimer:
The data figures, the names, and other details are overall reflecting those of the time when the Survey was conducted.

Important note:
The Foundation is striving to update these details in progress; and, Your help in this regard would be much appreciated.

Please use the feedback form (below) to send us your comments and feedback.

Feedback Form

We would love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, concerns or any problems so we can improve.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Back to Top