CULTURAL HERITAGE: - Macedonian Information Centre

araBiC ManuSCriPtS in MaCedonia - 25
of the works of literature, especially poetry, including the works of some
of the greatest representatives of the classical Persian poetry such as Sa’di,
Hafiz, Fariduddin Attar and Rumi A large number of manuscripts written
in all the three oriental languages represent authentic small masterpieces
of the Islamic calligraphers, illuminators and book binders.
THE HISTORY OF THE ARABIC MANUSCRIPTS
IN THE NATIONAL AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
“ST. CLEMENT OF OHRID”
The history of a manuscript implies the path it has passed from the
time of its creation up to date. And that can be testified by all those details
that might be found in the margins, on the covers, or in any other place
in the manuscript, and which can indicate where and when a manuscript
was written or copied, who its owners were, in which libraries it was kept,
which persons have read it, etc.
As to the authors of the works whose copies, maybe even some
autographs, can be found in the National and University Library “St.
Clement of Ohrid”, we may say that they are a large number of authors
who used to write in Arabic and whose texts were copied throughout the
Islamic world. Among them there are some Bosnian authors who also
used to write in Arabic such as Hasan Kafija Pruščak, Muhamed Musić
Alamek, Mustafa Ejubović – Šejh Jujo and Ahmet Hatem Bjelopoljak.
There are also some authors from the Macedonian region, as already
mentioned.
Analyzing the time and the place in which the Arabic manuscripts
from the National and University Library were created, from the notes
found in the manuscripts processed so far, we can conclude they were
being produced during a long period of eight centuries, from the 12th to
the 20th century, while, geographically, they belong to nearly the entire
Islamic world. According to the notes found in the so-far processed
Arabic manuscripts, they were copied in, or by the scribes originating from
different places and towns, which today are in Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Saudi
Arabia, as well as in our closer neighborhood like Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece etc. A certain number of manuscripts were copied
in Macedonia or by the copyists originating from Macedonian towns
such as Radoviš, Debar, Ohrid, Bitola, Skopje, Štip, Tetovo, etc. At first,
the manuscripts were brought to Macedonia from the big Islamic centers
and, later on, produced by copying on this soil. According to the notes
found in the manuscripts processed so far, the oldest manuscripts copied
on the territory of Macedonia date from the 16th century. As to their
contents, they represent works on Islamic law and Islamic dogma.