The Intricacies of Capturing the Holdings of a Mosque Library in Yemen: The Library of the Shrine of Imām al-Hādī, Ṣaʿda

This article discusses the The Zaydi Manuscript Tradition (ZMT) initiative. The initiative aims to salvage the Zaydi literary tradition by gathering digital surrogates of as many Zaydi manuscripts as possible in a single repository and providing comprehensive and systematic open access to them for scholars worldwide, regardless of whether the physical manuscripts are preserved in Europe or in North America, in Yemen or elsewhere in the Middle East. The ZMT is a joint project initiated by the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Princeton, in partnership with the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML) at Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota. Work on the ZMT began in September 2016 and to date the project comprises some 1,000 digitized manuscripts from several European and Yemeni libraries which are accessible online through the project\u27s Portal and HMML\u27s virtual reading room

The Hassan mosque at the digital era.

International audienceAbout ten years ago, the double behest of late Driss Aboutajdine and El Mustapha Mouad-dib permitted setting up research partnership on the use of image processing and cultural heritage. In 2015, despite his workload, Professor Driss Aboutajdine has put all his energy so a common complementary action could take place and occur, convening hence the numerical sciences, precisely 3D techniques, serving cultural heritage. This action went on to give birth to Athar-3D project, with the ambition to resolve questions pertaining to 3D modeling and computer vision having along a positive impact on cultural and architectural heritage perception. The research we carried out in this framework aims to the digitizing of Hassan Mosque, its reconstitution and the achievement of mechanism and application to heighten awareness and to better know and communicate about cultural heritage matter. To our knowledge, this is the first work of its kind and with this scientific extent on cultural and architectural heritage in Morocco. Moreover, finding an extension of academic research in the dissemination, the bringing back and mediation on this monument that stands for a symbol and emblem of Morocco's capital, is a direct valorization of research work performed in Moroccan research laboratories. This paper presents representative results of the whole project, including its historical and arts history, especially on Rabat Hassan Mosque. We are providing, for the first time, results that make possible 3D display of what Hassan Mosque might looks like. This model with the vocation to be a scientific support and medium and to which we attempted to bring all the necessary rigor. This will serve the scientific study of the monument, the popularization and awareness raising with respect to cultural heritage matters in general and Hassan Mosque in particular. We hope, therefore, to remain faithful to one of the wishes of Professor Driss Aboutajdine

The 3rd International Conference on African Digital Libraries and Archives Digital Libraries and Archives in Africa: Changing Lives and Building Communities

The corpus of Moroccan manuscripts is estimated at more than 80,000 titles and 200,000 volumes held at a number of public and private libraries—mostly religious institutions and zawāyā. These collections are invaluable both as repositories of human knowledge and memory and for their aesthetic value in terms of calligraphy, illumination, iconography and craftsmanship. Several medieval authors position Morocco as an important center in the Muslim West (al-Gharb al-Islami) for manuscript production, illumination, binding and exchange. However, except for a few scattered publications, a history of North African Arabic calligraphy (al-khatt al-maghribi) remains to be written. By providing the tools for making these collections readily accessible to the scholarly community in the Maghrib and beyond, ICT will make possible the study of North African scripts within the broader context of Arabic calligraphy and the Islamic arts of the book in general. The two main manuscript collections in Morocco are hosted at the National Library of Morocco (Bibliothèque nationale du royaume du Maroc, or BNRM, formerly General Library and Archive) in Rabat (12,140 titles), and the Qarawiyyin Library in Fez (5,600 titles, 3,157 of which in several volumes). Theses collections originated mostly from waqf (pious endowments) and state appropriation of private collections (e.g., 1,311 and 3,371 titles from the al-Glawi and al-Kattani collections respectively). They are written almost entirely in Arabic and in various scripts; Amazigh (Berber) manuscripts in Arabic script and Hebrew manuscripts constitute less than one percent of the total collections

Spatial and Sociocultural Aspects of Urban Mosque Open Spaces in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: A mixed-method approach

This paper highlights the application of mixed-method in discovering different perspectives of socio-culture, spatial interactions and behaviours, as well as activities of the multicultural community at selected urban mosque open spaces as part of civic open spaces in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Through systematic observation with behaviour mapping, and focus group discussions, the value of this research lies in representing the urban mosque open spaces as a civic space in enhancing the socio-cultural integration in the society and improving the quality of urban life. © 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: Urban mosques open spaces; spatial interactions; socio-culture; multicultural communit

"We Call on Citizens to be Aware of the Value of What is in their Homes:" A Case Study of the Hassan II Prize for Manuscripts and Archival Documents

Archival documents were seen to be important tools for restoring the historical character and geographic integrity of the nation in post-colonial Morocco. In a country where the number of historic manuscripts in private collections are believed to outnumber what is currently held by public libraries and archives, where there is a tendency towards nondisclosure and even the hiding of historic manuscripts in Morocco, the Hassan II Prize for Manuscripts and Archival Documents was began in 1968/9 as a way to gain access to records in private collections. This dissertation sets out understand how the Hassan II Prize elicited approximately 35,000 submissions in the almost fifty years since its inception. Specifically, how did the Hassan II Prize overcome resistance to archival disclosure and negotiated access to private collections with or without the perceived loss of possession by owners; and what motivating factors contributed to manuscript holders submitting their records to the Prize? The Hassan II Prize was studied as an explanatory, qualitative case study using multiple sources of data including 14 semi-structured interviews with submitters to and administrators of the Prize, participant observation of the 2015 Hassan II Prize process, analysis of local periodicals, government and historic documents, as well as of microfilm and digital copies of submitted manuscripts that are stored at the Moroccan National Library (BNRM). Interviews identified four main themes related to participation in the Hassan II Prize: national identity and heritage, loss (material and intellectual), religious charity, and prize money. This research seeks to introduce participant narratives, which have been absent from the official documentation of the Prize in favor of the texts of their historic manuscripts and documents, into the archival record.Doctor of Philosoph

As-Tsaqafah (Islamic socialization) in planning public spaces – Malaysian experience

Of late it is noticeable that public spaces have considerably become a significant element in urban fabric as it relates very much with the quality of life of community. A meaningful planning and design of public spaces is crucial as it encourages positive activities for communities to make it more active and lively. Public spaces like parks, pocket gardens, outdoor seating and eating areas, and pedestrian malls are among the trend of this contemporary era among city dwellers globally. Unfortunately, most of the current ideas of planning and designing the public spaces are simply focused to provide spaces for people to do their leisure without respect to Islamic human moral and behavior. Thus, this paper addresses the importance of incorporating the element of as-tsaqafah (Islamic socialization) in planning public spaces. The Islamic perspective is far different from the Western adaptation and modernity style in the social activities. The issues of the right of women, children, family law, security, privacy and gender relationship are seldom being considered and observed in planning public spaces. As such, this paper discusses this issue in the context of Malaysian experiences. Observation on the selected case study was undertaken and analysis indicates that the element of as-tsaqafah is not a priority in planning and design public spaces. It is hoped that this paper could promote some Islamic values and approaches in planning public spaces, taking into consideration the importance of as-tsaqafah values