Al-Luma' fi al-Hisab: A 1659 Arabic Mathematics Manuscript from Qatar National Library

A 1659 manuscript titled 'Al-Luma' fi al-Hisab' (The Sparkle in Arithmetic) by the mathematician Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Imad, known as Ibn al-Ha'im (d. 1412). The dataset is a 455.7 MB high-resolution digital master copy of manuscript HC.MS.00460, provided by Qatar National Library under a CC0 1.0 license. The record was last updated on June 3, 2026.

Use Cases

• Digitally preserve and study a historical Arabic mathematics manuscript based on the high-resolution scans.
• Analyze the calligraphy and material features of the 17th-century manuscript based on the digital images.
• Conduct textual analysis on the arithmetic content of 'Al-Luma' fi al-Hisab' based on the digitized text.
• Use the manuscript as a primary source for research on the transmission of mathematical knowledge in the Islamic world.

Strengths

• High-resolution digital master copy suitable for detailed examination.
• Provided under a permissive CC0 1.0 public domain dedication.
• Directly sourced from the Qatar National Library Heritage Collection with a specific catalog identifier (HC.MS.00460).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; the internal structure of the ZIP file's contents must be inferred after download.
• The description metadata is limited to basic bibliographic details; data quality requires manual inspection.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for some computational analyses.

Provenance

Source

Qatar National Library Heritage Collection.

Collection Method

Digitization of a physical manuscript.

Time Range

Manuscript dated 1659, authored by Ibn al-Ha'im (d. 1412).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-03 07:24:16; freshness should be verified.