Panel 1, Session 2: Historical Traditions of Arabic-Script Manuscripts in Africa

Paper Abstract: Berber forms part of the culture of a number of African peoples. For example, in southern Morocco, Sous Berber is the main language of communication.

Throughout history, local scholars interacted with Islamic theology and Arabic linguistics, resulting in cognitive intimacy between Berber and Arabic script and creativity in dealing with various cognitive issues, including manuscripts.

The Sous people used Arabic script to write a large part of their religious and Arabic knowledge. This shows the importance of Arabic in their eyes and the emergence of knowledge production that serves it, such as Berber manuscripts that are dictionaries, codes and writings in Arabic scripts for Berber-speaking people. These are spread in several libraries in Sous.

This paper will look at excellent examples of Sous manuscripts in Arabic script that tried to explain Arabic knowledge and culture, examining their characteristics and the main topics they cover, and focusing on the phenomenon of Arabic-script dictionaries.

Paper Abstract: In this paper, I propose to build on earlier research into reading marks in Qur’anic manuscripts. That research, by Dutton and others, highlights the fact that orthographic conventions (for diacritics, vowel marks, etc…) which wre used in Kufic manuscripts are markedly different from the conventions used in later manuscripts, and indeed those of modern printed editions produced in Egypt and elsewhere. There appears to be an assumption that this difference can be traced back, at least in part, to the localized practice of North Africa.
The present paper looks at the survival of the conventions of Kufic manuscripts in handwritten copies of the Qur’an from Africa. In particular, I will consider the use of colored dots in texts from Morocco and Nigeria. I will argue that the remarkable survival of these orthographic features in the modern period not only serves to assert a local identity, but also to connect with a larger, ancient tradition of writing the Qur’an.

Paper Abstract: Close study of the song-text manuscript anthologies connected with the Andalusian music traditions of Morocco reveals some distinctive features that taken together suggest a vibrant sub-culture linking this musical tradition to prestige, erudition and other social values in late-medieval/early modern Morocco, especially in Fez. Some characteristics in common with other genres include the basic methodologies of manuscript writing (scoring and framing of the text box, and so on); the use of relatively high-quality papers; finely executed maghribī mujawhar script; and occasional annotations and corrections added as marginalia (sometimes in the original hand, sometimes not). Features that set many of these manuscripts apart from other genres include elaborate use of coloured inks, including gilt; and occasional use of decorative maghribī thuluth headings, often in several colours. The papers of these manuscripts are especially interesting, because through them we may trace the transition from old or antique laid paper to modern wove paper parallel with the technological developments in Europe, but later by some decades. Even as late as the 1930s, when printing had overwhelmed commercial book production, aficionados of the music were still having high-quality handwritten copies made of these anthologies, demonstrating the social prestige of owning and displaying such documents in the context of Arab-Moroccan culture.