The sixth annual manuscript conference held recently at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) under the title “Publishing heritage” attracted a number of prominent scholars. Participating were Riad Nasan Agha, the Syrian minister of culture; the Egyptian scholar Nasr Hamed Abu Zaid; Radwan al-Sayed from Lebanon; Father Bigol, librarian of St Mary’s Syrian Monastery in Wadi Natroun; and several other history scholars.
+Disclaiming sectarianism+
In the course of researching historical manuscripts and heritage, participants in the conference succeeded in pointing out that there was no historical basis for the current widespread sectarian strife in the Egyptian community. The participants suggested that this particular problem scarcely existed in previous eras and that the general inability to come to terms with modern-day political, social, and economic variables led to the categorisation of differences as religious and sectarian contradictions. Extremist tides, it was claimed at the conference, focused deliberately on making it known that Egypt’s contemporary history was rife with sectarian strife. The scholars, however, believed such an attitude represented an irresponsible reading of history which not only deformed the image of the past but also destroyed the present.
Many participants supported their arguments with documentation about the history of relations between Copts and Muslims, putting forward evidence of good relations, and disclaiming the existence of ‘sectarianism’ in Egyptian history.
+Embarrassing+
Youssef Zeidan—head of the BA manuscript department, and author of ++Beelzebub++ which won him this year’s Arab Booker prize—pointed out that the first concern of the conference was to foster an awareness of heritage through what was published of it. Several of the basics and fundamentals of our heritage, Dr Zeidan said, remain unknown because material pertaining to them was never published in the first place. This is why, he said, the conference was focusing on the origins of Arab Islamic heritage which were in essence religious, and were strongly associated with early Christian and linguistic studies.
Dr Zeidan expressed his sorrow and embarrassment at what he called the retarded state of publishing on heritage matters in the Arab World. He said that we only publish again and again what has been already published of our heritage; we are less aware of our heritage than the so-called ‘European Other’.
It had to go to Alexandria’s credit, however, that its scholars were able to conserve the heritage of Hippocrates, Galen, and Pythagoras, as well as the Septuagint, the translation of the Torah from Hebrew into Greek in the third century.
+Arabic in print+
The publication of Arab Islamic heritage is more than 500 years old, Dr Zeidan said. The first material published in Italy and Germany constituted translations by Michael Scott (1175 – 1236) of works of Avicenna and Averreos, and were printed in Padua in 1477. The year 1543 saw the publication of a translation of the Qur’an by Robert Chester who lived in the 12th century.
The first Arabic script appeared in Germany in1486; it was used in Bernhard von Breydenbach’s book ++Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam++.
Later, Arabic pages were printed in some encyclopaedic books in Spain but it was only in 1514 that full Arabic books were printed. These were primarily books of Christian scripture or catechism.
“Books written in Arabic that were first published in Europe were Christian works,” Dr Zeidan said, “whereas the Qur’an was not printed because of objections by some sheikhs who believed that using ink to print the Qur’an was ++haram++ (sinful).”
Father Bigol al-Suriani confirmed that the Coptic library harboured a priceless heritage of works, which effectively served to preserve the culture of the Middle Eastern community in general and the Egyptian in particular. He said that the Coptic Church was the first in Egypt and the region to publish material on religious and general culture. “From the beginning, the Coptic Church worked to help scholars print their works and open channels with religious world heritage,” Fr Bigol said.
+Excelling in linguistics+
The role of Arab Christians in heritage publishing was brought to light by Anas Sabri from the United Arab Emirates. Dr Sabry said that he took ancient publications written by Arab Christians on Omar Ibn al-Khattab to Muslim scholars in Morocco and the Levant for scrutiny. The scholars’ opinion was that such publications should be examined critically, especially in that some of them touched on religion and faith. Dr Sabri added that the technical efforts of the Arab Christians could not be overlooked, especially the linguistic efforts in which some of them excelled.
Hassan Abboud from Lebanon said there were numerous manuscripts in Arabic that included texts on the virgin birth of Jesus. He said that George Gharaf compiled several works on that topic in his ++Tareekh al-Adab al-Arabi al-Massihi, (The History of the Arab Christian Literature)++. But those manuscripts that were still not examined should be studied carefully, Dr Abboud said. He added that in 1902 a book on the Nativity of Christ and miracles by the Holy Virgin was published in Egypt, but should be dealt with cautiously since the stories in it originated from the Elders of the Coptic Orthodox Church and had no scientific authentication.
+Arab Christians+
It was the opinion of Father Eid Salah that the Arabic language had served the Bible and its texts well. The Bible too had helped preserve the Arab identity and culture as well as the religious distinctiveness of Arab Christians. According to Fr Salah, this resulted in the mingling of Arab Christians with Arab civilisation while keeping their faith and religious identity.
For his part Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid presented a study on Galal al-Din al-Soyouti’s encyclopaedia ++al-Etqan fi Oloum al-Qur’an (Diligence in Qur’anic Studies)++, which was published in 1505. Dr Abu Zeid explained that the encyclopaedia included Qur’an related aspects ranging from the linguistic and metaphorical to the historical and analytical. It was so comprehensive, he implied, that since Soyouti’s time it has been considered an exemplary work and is still used as an invaluable refence. Dr Abu Zeid expressed his hope of resolving the conflict between the notion of the ‘science’ included in the Qur’an—meaning God’s teachings within the Qur’an—and the notion of the ‘sciences’ needed to understand and study the Qur’an.
+Tentative dimension+
The seminar concluded with the participants defining the concept of time which, according to them, involves two dimensions: past and future. The third tentative dimension, the present, is nothing but a perpetual transitional period where we move from past to future. According to this definition, and after reviewing the history and intricacies of heritage publishing, the seminar came up with a forecast of upcoming steps in that field.