Al-Minhaj Al-Hanif: A 1760 Islamic Theology Manuscript from Qatar National Library

A 1760 manuscript titled 'Al-Minhaj Al-Hanif fi Ma'na Ismihi Ta'ala Latif' by Abu Bakr Ibn Salih Al-Kitami (d. 1641). The dataset is a 670.5 MB high-resolution digital master copy of manuscript HC.MS.00267 from the Qatar National Library Heritage Collection, released under a CC0 1.0 license.

Use Cases

• Train optical character recognition (OCR) models based on the high-resolution images of historical Arabic script.
• Conduct textual analysis of theological arguments based on the manuscript's described content.
• Perform digital preservation studies based on the high-resolution master copy format.
• Analyze paleographic features of 17th-18th century Arabic handwriting based on the manuscript images.

Strengths

• High-resolution digital master copy suitable for detailed examination.
• Clear provenance from the Qatar National Library Heritage Collection (manuscript HC.MS.00267).
• Released under a permissive CC0 1.0 public domain license.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset's 670.5 MB size may require significant bandwidth and storage.

Provenance

Source

Qatar National Library, from its Heritage Collection (manuscript HC.MS.00267).

Collection Method

Digitization of a physical manuscript.

Time Range

Manuscript dated 1760, authored by a scholar who died in 1641.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-03 09:58:12; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Likely associated with the Qatar National Library's collections; specific origin of the physical manuscript is unknown.