Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies

Main collections

Most printed books and journals (also called periodicals) in support of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies are located in the Main Library, George Square.

• Main Library

Books are classified in the Library of Congress scheme (e.g. DS272 Wil.) are located on 2nd floor (shelfmark A-PB) and the 3rd floor (shelfmark PC-Z). Older books that are classified in the Dewey decimal scheme (e.g. /91(551) Kit.) are on the 4th floor.

Manuscripts, rare books and archives are held in the Centre for Research Collections (CRC). See information about CRC below.

HUB Collection

The High Use Books (HUB) collection, located on the ground floor of the Main Library, consists of HUB Reserve (3 hour loan) and HUB Short Loan (7 day loan) books as well as offprints (photo copies of course reading material).

Undergraduate course books for Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies are located in the HUB Collection on the ground floor of the Main Library.

Centre for Research Collections

The Centre for Research Collections (CRC) houses the University Library’s Heritage Collections which include historical books, manuscripts, archives and microfilms that German Studies researchers and students may find useful. The main CRC facilities are on the 6th floor of the Main Library.

• Centre for Research Collections
• Archives Catalogue
• Literary Archives

Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia

This collection consists of over 700 manuscripts pertaining to the Islamicate world and South Asia, dating from the 10th to 19th centuries C.E. (the majority being post-1500).

Chiefly bound paper codices, it includes sacred texts of importance to the Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh faiths, Qur’anic commentaries, Traditions of the Prophet Muhammad and the Shi’i Imams, works treating Islamic law, world history, the history of India, medicine, mathematics, astronomy,astrology, divination, philosophy, ethics, grammar, rhetoric, dictionaries, poetry, prose, tales and romances, proverbs, travel, music, agriculture and war. It also includes biographies, and correspondence between Indian rulers and dignitaries, and East India Company officials.

Some of the collection’s manuscripts are among the most iconic items found at the University of Edinburgh Library, such as Qur’anic fragments in Kufic script on vellum, dating to around the 10^th century (Or Ms 175), Rashīd al-Dīn’s Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh (Or Ms 20) and al-Bīrūnī's al-Āthār al-bāqiya (Or Ms 161), both richly illuminated examples of Islamic historiography dating to the 14^th century C.E., and an 18^th century Sanskrit scroll of the Hinduclass="italic emph">Mahābhāratafeaturing miniature illuminations and measuring over 70 metres (Or Ms 510).

The grouping together of these items as one collection is the legacy of the route by which they reached the Library. It includes the vast majority of items formerly known as the "Oriental Collection"; the large donations that formed its basis were from the collections assembled by employees of the East India Company. This resulted in the collection incorporating material relevant to the Islamicate, largely gathered in South Asia, intertwined withitems relevant to the Hindu and Sikh faiths, and the culture and history of South Asia more generally. The Turkish component of the collection includes manuscripts acquired in Astrakhan, with several early Ottoman texts. The items retain their "Or Ms" shelf mark to avoid creating a gap in the memory of their history. All catalogue records include the available provenance data. Research in this area is ongoing and such information will be expanded to include all details attesting the route of these items into the University of Edinburgh’s collections.

Search the collections on ArchivesSpace.

1925 printed catalogue by Mohammad Hukk et al. 

Photographs of some items in this collection can be viewed online: MIWSA collection images.

The Jami' al-Tawarikh of Rashid al-Din can be browsed in full using our Book Reader software: Jami' al-Tawarikh Online.