Date: September 18-23, 2023

Venue: Berlin State Library, Unter den Linden 8, Berlin, Germany

Application Deadline: May 3, 2023

In collaboration with Berlin State Library and Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (Corpus Coranicum), Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation has put out a call for applications for a workshop titled “Quranic Manuscripts – Past and Present, Cataloging and Digital Tools.” The workshop is due to take place from September 18th to September 23rd 2023 in Berlin, and will provide a unique opportunity for graduate students and senior researchers to better understand the role of Quranic manuscripts in preserving Islamic heritage, as well as learn about the latest digital tools available for their continued preservation.

The last decades have seen important progress in the exploration of the textual history of the Qur’an and its manuscripts. During the workshop, introductions into paleography, codicology, collection history of Qur’anic manuscripts, as well as cataloging will be given. Particular attention will be paid to digital tools developed for the study of Qur’an manuscripts.

The focus of this course will be on hands-on sessions, in which the participants will have the opportunity to observe discussed features of Qur’anic manuscripts kept at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Berlin State Library), one of the largest collections of Oriental manuscripts in the world.

The workshop is planned as an advanced training course.

Participants are expected to have some experience in either working with Qur’anic manuscripts (codicology and paleography), textual history of the Qur’an, cataloging, or digital tools for the philological exploration of the text. Each participant will be given the opportunity to discuss his or her ongoing research at the workshop.

The training course / workshop will be conducted by:

– Ali Aghaei (Universität Paderborn)
– Umberto Bongianino (University of Oxford)
– Abdallah El-Khatib (Qatar University, Doha)
– Alba Fedeli (Universität Hamburg)
– Esra Gözeler (Ankara Üniversitesi)
– Michael Marx (Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, Corpus Coranicum)
– Syed Hussain Murtaza (Murtazavi Library and Research Center Karachi/Qum)
– Christoph Rauch (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin)
– Elaheh Shahpasand (University of Qur’anic Sciences and Education, Mashhad)
– Ahmed Wisam Shaker (Independent researcher, Saudi Arabia)
– Mahmoud Zaki (Qatar National Library, Doha)

For those looking to advance their knowledge of Quranic manuscripts, or gain insights into the methods used in cataloging and preservation, the call for applications is now open until May 3rd 2023.

More information on: al-furqan.com