Call to heed history in Islamic manuscripts

Abu Dhabi: Preserving and protecting Islamic manuscripts, particularly those pertaining to the Andalusian era, is of utmost importance, an expert on the subject explained, noting that the particular period in history is being portrayed in a biased manner by many.

As part of a series of Ramadan talks attended by General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Ada Romero Sanchez explained that many historical documents pertaining to Andalusian Muslims, a civilisation that emerged in modern-day Spain during the period between 711-1492, were lost.

This was due to the fact that manuscripts from that era had been burned, tampered with, or remain hidden. "In 711, Islam entered Andalusia, and in 40 years, many Andalusians became Muslims. The problem with many Western research centres is that they portray Andalusian Islamic history in a disfigured way, due to the loss of records," Sanchez, whose family converted to Islam when she was two, said.

Lost Andalusian work

"This resulted from an attempt at destroying Andalusian Muslim culture, which was carried out by Catholic rulers after Muslims had left Granada [a city and community in Spain]. For instance, many mosques were turned into churches. Also, many manuscripts and records were burnt," Sanchez added.

"These manuscripts are very sensitive. They are written in a type of ink that acidifies if exposed to varying temperature and humidity factors. If the ink acidifies, it destroys the paper it is written on, and you lose the manuscript," she said.

"It is important to preserve these records. At present, we are only aware of 20 per cent or less of our Muslim culture. The rest remains unknown to us, because we do not have access to all these manuscripts. This is a dire condition that applies to intellectual products of all Muslim cultures," she added.

In addition to teaching at the Dar Al Hekma College in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Sanchez is also the Director of the Research and Manuscript Science Department at the Faulty of Andalusian Studies in Granada.