Centuries-old Arabic manuscripts in India being digitized to preserve Islamic heritage
Scholars revive rare Islamic texts from southern India through a global digitization project, protecting them from decay and obscurity
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — In southern India, a quiet effort is underway to rescue centuries-old Arabic manuscripts — many long forgotten in mosques, libraries, and private homes — from the brink of disappearance. These fragile records are more than just texts; they are symbols of India’s deep historical, intellectual, and cultural ties to the Arab-Islamic world — ties often sidelined in mainstream narratives.
The Malaibar Foundation for Research and Development (MFRD) has launched an ambitious project to digitize rare Arabic manuscripts, in partnership with the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML) in Minnesota, USA.
According to The New Indian Express, the initiative began in 2024 and aims to preserve manuscripts, lithographs, and photographs from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, and the Andaman Islands — regions once central to Indian Ocean trade and Islamic scholarship.
In the project’s first phase, over 4,000 manuscripts were collected from coastal districts like Kozhikode, Kannur, and Kasaragod. Yet only 20% have been digitized so far, due to the delicate and painstaking nature of the work. Each manuscript is carefully cleaned and scanned page by page, then sent to HMML for high-resolution digital archiving.
“These are not just religious documents — they are vital pieces of our intellectual heritage,” said MFRD executive director Noorudeen Musthafa Nurani. “Many of the authors were scholars from Kerala and nearby states who wrote in Arabic, Persian, Arabi-Malayalam, and Arabi-Tamil. Their works are irreplaceable.”
Once digitized, the texts will be made freely accessible to researchers worldwide. The original manuscripts are returned to their owners, many of whom had stored them privately for generations.
The foundation encourages individuals with private collections to come forward, noting that valuable manuscripts often remain hidden in personal archives.
The project reflects a broader push to reclaim and preserve Islamic contributions to India’s cultural legacy, particularly in a climate where Muslim identity and history are increasingly under threat. By making these texts accessible to scholars globally, the initiative hopes to reconnect younger generations with a rich but overlooked intellectual tradition.
Future plans include building a state-of-the-art manuscript center within the cultural precinct of Markaz Knowledge City in Kerala, which will serve as a hub for further research and preservation.
For its efforts, the Malaibar Foundation was recently awarded the Sharjah International Award for Cultural Heritage — a recognition of its commitment to safeguarding South Asia’s endangered Islamic knowledge traditions.
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