Digital Archive of the Middle East

Items

• 18th century map of Arabia
  Folding map of Arabia, engraved by Richard William Seale (1703-62), and bound in an edition of George Sale's translation of the Qur'an: 'The Koran, commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed' (London: Hawes &c., 1764). In addition to delineating the Arabian Peninsula, the map shows the Mediterranean, Indian and Red seas, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Persia, parts of Egypt and Ethiopia, as well as a small insert illustration of ‘The Temple of Mecca, as it was formally, from a draught in the Bodleian Library.'
• 19th century manuscript copy of 'Hikayet-i Dikyanus'
  Manuscript volume in Ottoman Turkish containing copy of 'Hikayet-i Dikyanus', a treatise on 'The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus'. According to a note opposite the title page, the manuscript was written by Syed Mohammed, Persian Secretary to the Bagdad Residency, March 1821. This treatise is based on the popular tale 'The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus' [As'hab al-Kahf] which is recounted in the Qur'an (18:9-22). In this story, a group of young men, persecuted for believing in one God in times before Islam, take refuge in a cave, where they slept for many years in an act of grace from God. Of the questions put to the Prophet by the Quraysh in order to test his prophetic knowledge, one was about how long the sleepers had slept. The volume bears the signature of D.C. Bell, the British resident surgeon and Assistant Resident in Baghdad, who was appointed ca. 1820.
• Al-Da'wah Chronicle. The Voice of the Iraqi Mujahideen No.44 (December 1983)
  Issue No.44 (December 1983) of 'Al-Da'wah Chronicle. The Voice of the Iraqi Mujahideen', published in London by the Information Committee of the Islamic Da'wa Party (Europe). Topics discussed include the recent bombings of American and other embassies in Kuwait, Ba'athist crimes in Iraq, Islamic political struggle, and 'the Martyrdom of the Five Scholars' in Baghdad in December 1974.
• Al-Salam, nos. 1-13, 6 Dec 1948 - 3 March 1949
  Volume 1, issues 1-13 of Al-Salam, a weekly Yemeni publication produced by Sheikh Abdullah al-Hakimi in Cardiff, Wales.
• Al-Salam, nos. 14-26, 10 March - 5 June 1949
  Volume 1, issues 14-26 of Al-Salam, a weekly Yemeni publication produced by Sheikh Abdullah al-Hakimi in Cardiff, Wales.
• Al-Salam, nos. 27-39, 12 June - 18 September 1949
  Volume 1, issues 27-39 of Al-Salam, a weekly Yemeni publication produced by Sheikh Abdullah al-Hakimi in Cardiff, Wales.
• Al-Salam, nos. 40-52, 25 September 1949 - 25 December 1949
  Volume 1, issues 40-52 of Al-Salam, a weekly Yemeni publication produced by Sheikh Abdullah al-Hakimi in Cardiff, Wales. Nos. 48-51 and a few other pages are missing.
• Al-Salam, nos. 53-59, 1 January 1950 - 12 March 1950
  Volume 2, issues 53-59 of Al-Salam, a weekly Yemeni publication produced by Sheikh Abdullah al-Hakimi in Cardiff, Wales.
• Al-Salam, nos. 60-66, 26 March 1950 - 18 June 1950
  Volume 2, issues 60-66, of Al-Salam, a weekly Yemeni publication produced by Sheikh Abdullah al-Hakimi in Cardiff, Wales.
• Al-Salam, nos. 67-73, 2 July 1950 - 10 September 1950
  Volume 2, issues 67-73, of Al-Salam, a weekly Yemeni publication produced by Sheikh Abdullah al-Hakimi in Cardiff, Wales. Number 70 is missing.
• Al-Salam, nos. 74-81, 24 September 1950 - 31 December 1950
  Volume 2, issues 74-81, of Al-Salam, a weekly Yemeni publication produced by Sheikh Abdullah al-Hakimi in Cardiff, Wales. A couple of pages from no. 76 are missing.
• Al-Salam, nos. 82-89, 14 January 1951 - 27 May 1951
  Volume 3, issues 82-89, of Al-Salam, a weekly Yemeni publication produced by Sheikh Abdullah al-Hakimi in Cardiff, Wales. Page 1 of no. 82 is missing.
• Al-Salam, nos. 90-96, 10 June 1951 - 2 September 1951
  Volume 3, issues 90-96, of Al-Salam, a weekly Yemeni publication produced by Sheikh Abdullah al-Hakimi in Cardiff, Wales. Several page numbers are unclear, and some may be missing or out of order.
• Al-Salam, nos. 97-107, 6 January 1952 - 20 May 1952
  Volume 4, issues 97-107, of Al-Salam, a weekly Yemeni publication produced by Sheikh Abdullah al-Hakimi in Cardiff, Wales. Nos. 101-103 are missing.
• An illustration depicting Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, companion and father-in-law of the prophet Muhammad, and the second Caliph of Islam, conquering Bayt Al-Maqdis (Jerusalem).
  An illustration depicting Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, companion and father-in-law of the prophet Muhammad, and the second Caliph of Islam, conquering Bayt Al-Maqdis (Jerusalem).
• An illustration depicting the She-Camel of the prophet Saleh.
  An illustration depicting the She-Camel of the prophet Saleh, mentioned in the Qur'an [7:73] and believed to have prophesied to the tribe of Thamud at Hegra [Al-Hijr] in ancient Arabia - and therefore commemorated in the name Mada’in Salih.
• An illustration of the Buraq, the horse-like creature who - according to certain Islamic hadiths - carried the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem during his Night Journey
  An illustration of Buraq, the horse-like creature of the prophet Muhammad, on which Muhammad rode from Mecca to Jerusalem, up through the seven heavens to God and back.
• Arabic Manuscript Relating to Water
  Arabic manuscript treatise on Islamic teaching regarding water, including ritual ablutions and drinking. The manuscript is bound in leather and is possibly from Oman.
• Documents of Indictment (1994): A collection of documents condemning the mercenary and terrorist wing of the Kurdistan Islamic Movement and ordering it to attack the federal government in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
  A compilation of documents published by the PUK to highlight terrorist activities undertaken by the Kurdistan Islamic Movement in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
• Holy Islam
  Issue No.3 of 'Holy Islam', a Kurdish-language bulletin published by the Kurdish Islamic movement, featuring articles on religious and political topics, Ba'athism, the peshmerga, poetry, along with photographs of Sheikh Mohammed Hatami, Navvab Safavi and Saddam Hussein.
• Internal formations of the Kurdish Islamic Army
  30-page photocopied booklet on the 'Internal formations of the Kurdish Islamic Army', providing details of the military and civil structures, the roles of the Shura council, and other matters. Dated 18/4/1982 with the Islamic date of 23 Jumada al-Thani written alongside.
• Interview with Hedayat Matin-Daftari
  Interview between Fred Halliday and Iranian human rights lawyer Hedayat Matin-Daftari. Typed document, heavily edited and annotated.
• Kitāb aqrab al-wasāʾil li-idrāk maʻānī muntakhabāt al-rasāʻil
  Book of prayers and devotions by the Libyan Sufi scholar, and member of the Shadhili Order, Sheikh Muhammad Zafir al-Madani (1828-1903), mentor to Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
• Kitab Mujarrabāt
  Kitab Mujarrabāt, aka Fath-al-malik al-majid, is a manuscript treatise of 36 chapters on healing magic, written by 18th century Egyptian legal scholar of the Shafi'i school, Al-Shaykh Aḥmad ibn ʻUmar Dayrabī (1651-1738), who taught at al-Alzhar. The manuscript is incomplete, and is lacking the final pages.
• Kitab Shumūs al-Anwār wa Kunūz al-Asrār
  A lithograph copy of Kitab Shumūs al-Anwār wa Kunūz al-Asrār ['The book of the suns of lights and the treasures of secrets'], a treatise on charms and talismans) by Ibn al-Hajj Muhammed ibn Muhammed (d 1336), printed in 1868 by the Qastaliyah Press in Cairo, with later handwritten notations. The book contains thirty chapters and is dated 29 Al-Qa’da 1285 (AH) i.e. 1868 AD, and is complete in 186 pages. There are thirty chapters, covering topics such as plants, minerals, water distribution, earth, medicine, love, blessing, paper cutting and so on, as well as two chapters on Jinn activity and Jinn healing. The lithograph is in a leather binding stamped with the ownership label, ‘Ex Libris L.J. Lloyd’ - it belonged to Leslie John Lloyd (1907-1975), Librarian of the University College of the South West, later to become the University of Exeter, from 1946 until his retirement in 1972.