Middle East and Islamic Studies Collections: an Exhibition of Treasures
Arabic and the Arab World
The Arab people have been known for millennia in the lands of the Middle East. Arabs comprise less than a quarter of the world's Muslims and have been at the core of religious and cultural life in the Islamic world since the advent of Islam.
Islam came to humanity in late 6th and early 7th century A.D. through the Prophet Muhammad, an Arab of Quraysh tribe. In all its facets, Islam had triumphed and was firmly rooted in the Near East and expanded beyond in the following centuries. Arabic language and Islamic religion were widely adapted by non-Arabic speaking conquests and the era of monumental literature composed in Arabic had begun after the third caliph, Uthman, compiled the text of the Koran, the Word of God, revealed to the Prophet through the angel Gabriel from A.D. 644 to 656. Arabic is the language of the Koran and the liturgical language of Islam. Although much of the written work created in Arabic in the early centuries was concerned with Islam in all its manifestations, it was by no means limited to religious matters. Modern Arabic literature has made many monumental contributions to the World literature and continue to adapt and florish in today.
Although majority of the Arabic-language collection of monographs in Durham Universtiy Library is concerned with Arabic language and literature, Islam and its manifestations, the collection's scope rises beyong these and include contemporary Arab life in all its facets.
Arabic and the Middle Eastern studies journals, numbering in the hundreds,
underscore the utility of the Arabic collection as a whole. They contain
information on virtually every subject needed by scholars and researchers
of the Middle East, while at the same time they cover the most recent
developments in the Arab world. The Library's collection of literary and
political materials is regarded as one of the flagship collections in
Durham University Library and one of the major research level holdings
in the UK. Examples of some historical serials collected are: al-Muqtataf,
(Lebanon/ Egypt, 1876-1952); al-Manar (Egypt, 1897-1933); al-Risalah (Egypt,
1933-1953); al-Mashriq (Lebanon, 1898-1952); and the most important periodical
for Sunni Orthodox Islam, al- Azhar (Egypt, 1930-present).
