Kitab Badi': A 13th-Century Arabic Manuscript from the QNL Heritage Collection

A high-resolution digital master copy of manuscript HC.MS.2020.0030, authored by Ibn al-Sa'ati (Ahmad ibn 'Ali, 1254-1294/5). The 5.4 GB dataset was published by Qatar National Library under a CC0-1.0 license and last updated in May 2026. It provides access to a 13th-century Arabic manuscript from the QNL Heritage Collection.

Use Cases

• Train optical character recognition (OCR) models based on high-resolution images of historical Arabic script.
• Analyze the layout and calligraphic styles of 13th-century manuscripts based on the digital facsimile.
• Conduct textual analysis of the 'Kitab Badi'' content based on the digitized text.
• Create digital exhibitions or educational resources based on the high-resolution manuscript images.

Strengths

• High-resolution digital master copy, suitable for detailed visual analysis.
• Published under a permissive CC0-1.0 license, allowing broad reuse.
• Directly linked to a full catalog record and a digital repository for verification.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for statistical tasks.
• The description metadata is limited; actual data quality and structure require manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Qatar National Library Heritage Collection (manuscript HC.MS.2020.0030).

Collection Method

Digitization of a physical manuscript.

Time Range

Manuscript dated 1322 (Hijri), authored in the 13th century.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-17 09:17:02; freshness should be verified.