Ibn Bassam's Al-Ihata fi Adab Gharnata: A 12th-Century Andalusian Manuscript

A 1.2 GB high-resolution digital copy of manuscript HC.MS.00242 from the Qatar National Library Heritage Collection. The manuscript, titled 'Al-Ihata fi Adab Gharnata' (The Comprehensive Book on the Literature of Granada), is attributed to the 12th-century Andalusian writer Ali ibn Bassam al-Shantarini. The dataset was published by Qatar National Library under a CC0 1.0 license and last updated on June 3, 2026.

Use Cases

• Train optical character recognition (OCR) models for classical Arabic script based on high-resolution manuscript images.
• Conduct historical and literary analysis of 12th-century Andalusian prose and biographical writing.
• Perform digital preservation and textual analysis on a primary source from the QNL Heritage Collection.
• Study the codicology and material features of historical Arabic manuscripts through detailed imagery.

Strengths

• High-resolution digital master copy suitable for detailed visual analysis.
• Directly sourced from the authoritative Qatar National Library Heritage Collection.
• Released under a permissive CC0 1.0 public domain dedication.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

Qatar National Library Heritage Collection, manuscript HC.MS.00242.

Collection Method

Digitization of a physical manuscript.

Time Range

Manuscript attributed to the 12th century (author died circa 1147).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-03 10:59:22; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Granada, Al-Andalus (Islamic Iberia).