Towards the preservation of Islamic literary heritage in Nigeria: Presentation and study of some Arabic manuscripts

Abstract

What is indisputable is that our ancestors, the founders of the solid basic building blocks of Arab-Islamic culture, left us and even our future generations the huge heritage of rare Arabic manuscripts. In light of these Arabic manuscripts, many researches and studies have been completed, especially in the field of Islamic and historical sciences and linguistics. But it is very regrettable that despite the attempts of researchers in their various studies of manuscripts, including comments and investigations, the overwhelming majority of this valuable heritage, especially in Nigerian lands, is still in the libraries of its authors, or with their students, or in university libraries and Nigerian document houses.

So that this valuable heritage does not remain in the graves of nothingness and in the walls of oblivion, it has become necessary for contemporary researchers to make every effort to preserve our Arabic manuscripts so that pioneers of science and culture can benefit from their interesting contents both near and far. This is a summary of some of what we will discuss in the following sections, God willing.