Fund of manuscripts in arabic alphabet in CAS

Abstract

In addition to documentary wealth mainly in Albanian, but also in different languages of the West, Archive of State retains documentary sources in Oriental languages. They may be classified in the Ottoman documentary archival sources, the manuscripts and printing in Oriental languages, in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish and Persian.
Documentary sources amount to one million documents and they are important for studying the history of Albania during the Ottoman rule, manuscripts amount to 400 and printings in Oriental languages are in much the same number.
Maintenance of a large number of manuscripts, most of them with calligraphic values and rich content, is treated as a surprise that was happening in the periphery of the Ottoman Empire. Such an approach is also noted in studies conducted in connection with Islamic religious architecture in these regions. This stems from the conception and the place given to Albanian area in the scene of imperial developments, based mostly on the realities created after the First World War and the lack of documentation in Ottoman available to researchers.
Manuscripts shed light on the history of written culture in oriental languages found in the Albanian territories through the data that they give us by the means of their origin, authors and scribers. Loss or torn of covers or sheets in the beginning and the end of the manuscript deprive us of data collection that shed light on the path of the manuscript.
Manuscripts are books (kitap), treaties (risale), commentaries (sherh), collections (mecmua), kompendiums (muhtasar) anthologies. Manuscripts that are found in F. 725 are copied in different places, have followed the path to end up recently at the Archive of State. Geography of copiers is comprehensive for territories under the Ottoman rule.