تحریر کی اسلامی روایت اور ادارہ تحقیقات اسلامی کے نوادرات ......................................................................... Islamic Tradition of Writing: An Analysis of Some Rare Manuscripts of Islamic Research Institute

Abstract

The development of human civilization is outcome of the knowledge revolution initiated by various writing systems. Gradual development of writing systems led to advancements in various dimensions of human thinking. Before the revelation of the Quran, the Arabic language had developed as a written language. However, it was the revelation of the Quran that generated knowledge revolution in every field of Arabic literature and Islamic sciences. This advancement resulted into the production of hundreds of thousands of manuscripts and books in Islamic languages particularly in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish.  The Islamic tradition of writing was further refined due to various developments in Islamic culture, civilization, and society. Hitherto the largest collection of hand-written manuscripts belongs to Islamic culture and civilization. Islamic Research Institute (IRI) preserves an important collection of rare Islamic manuscripts, which this article aims at studying. The article begins with the description of writing. Then it discusses evolution of various writing systems. The third part of the article contains details about the development of huruf-i abjad (alphabets). A discussion of the evolution of writing in Arabic language follows this. The fifth section discusses Islamic and Arabic hand-written manuscripts whereas the details of the collections of manuscripts and legal framework for them in Pakistan constitute the sixth part of this study. The article analyzes various rare manuscripts and publications preserved by IRI and concludes with findings and implications of the study.