EAP466-RM002

MPRINT REF: RIYADHA002 General Ref/Shelfmark: EAP466-RM002 Collection of original material: Riyadha Owner/Custodian: Riyadha Madrasa Modality of text: Manuscript Physical Description of item: Unbound, collected in quires, without a cover. Red and black ink. Little damage by insects. Primary Language of object: Arabic Script of object: Arabic Location of original material: Lamu, Kenya

EAP466-RM002a

General Ref/Shelfmark: EAP466-RM002a Title in original script: الفتح القريب المجيب فى شرح الفاظ التقريب  Title in transliteration: al-fatḥ al-gharīb al-mujīb fī sharḥi ʾalfāẓ al-taqrīb Author-Original Script: محمد بن قاسم بن محمد الغزي ابن الغرابيلي أبو عبد الله شمس الدين Author-Latin Script: Muḥammad bin Qāsim bin Muḥammad al-Ghazzī ibn al-Gharābīlī ʾAbū ʿAbdAllah Shamsa'd-dīn Collection of original material: Riyadha Owner/Custodian: Riyadha Madrasa First sentence in original script: قال الامام العالم العلامة المحقق الفهامة الشمس الملة و الدين First sentence in transliteration: Qāla al-imāmu al-ʿālimu al-ʿallāmah al-muḥaqqiqu al-fahhāmah Shams al-millati wa al-dīn. Copyist-Original script: محمد بن مسعود الوردي Copyist-Latin Script: Muḥammad bin Masʿūd al-Wardī Description of Content: Fiqh Modality of text: Manuscript Text Arrangement: Chapters Year of copy CE: 1860-61 Year of copy AH: 1277 Physical Description of item: Unbound, collected in quires, without a cover. Red and black ink. Little damage by insects. Physical characteristics height (cm): 23 Physical characteristics width (cm): 18 Physical characteristics (folios): 222 State of completion: complete Primary Language of object: Arabic Script of object: Arabic Location of original material: Lamu, Kenya Location where copied: Zanzibar

EAP466-RM002b

General Ref/Shelfmark: EAP466-RM002b Title in original script: في كيفية امساس السواك Title in transliteration: Fī kayfiyya ʾimsās al-siwāk Collection of original material: Riyadha Owner/Custodian: Riyadha Madrasa First sentence in original script: في كيفية امساس السّواك و وصفة و قدرة و موضعة First sentence in transliteration: Fī kayfiyyati imsāk al-siwāki wa waṣfihi wa qadrihi wa mawḍiʿihi Copyist-Original script: محمد بن مسعود الوردي Copyist-Latin Script: Muḥammad bin Masʿūd al-Wardī Description of Content: Fiqh Modality of text: Manuscript Physical Description of item: Unbound, collected in quires, without a cover. Red and black ink. Little damage by insects. Physical characteristics height (cm): 23 Physical characteristics width (cm): 18 Physical characteristics (folios): 1 (223.page) State of completion: complete Primary Language of object: Arabic Script of object: Arabic Location of original material: Lamu, Kenya

EAP466-RM002c

General Ref/Shelfmark: EAP466-RM002c Title in original script: فضل الصلاة الليل Title in transliteration: Faḍl al-ṣalāt al-layl Collection of original material: Riyadha Owner/Custodian: Riyadha Madrasa First sentence in original script: هذه فضل الصلاة لليل عن علي ابن ابي طالب كرم الله First sentence in transliteration: Hādhā faḍlu ṣalāti al-layli ʿan ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib karrama Allāhu wajhah Copyist-Original script: محمد بن مسعود الوردي Copyist-Latin Script: Muḥammad bin Masʿūd al-Wardī Description of Content: Fiqh Modality of text: Manuscript Year of copy AH: 1302 Physical Description of item: Unbound, collected in quires, without a cover. Red and black ink. Little damage by insects. Physical characteristics height (cm): 23 Physical characteristics width (cm): 18 Physical characteristics (folios): 3 (224-226. pages) State of completion: complete Primary Language of object: Arabic Script of object: Arabic Location of original material: Lamu, Kenya

Collection description

The RIYADHAPRINT materials include early Arabic prints, mostly from the Riyadha Mosque Library collection in Lamu. These objects were digitized in October and November 2023. The series also includes Riyadha manuscript collection which was digitized in 2011 as part of the Endangered Archive Programme (EAP466) of the British Library funded by the Arcadia Fund. These objects bear the shelfmark MPINT-RIYADHA-EAP466. The selection of what to digitize in this group was made according to age (prioritizing early prints) and relevance (such as lithographs.) Several prints on this list belong to individual custodians in Lamu town, and these were named after their owners (i.e. Khadija Muhammad Salim and Fatma Ba Hsan).

The early print group features a range of texts printed in Arabic between 1854 and 1977 across various printing centres in the Muslim world. The various stamps, handwritten notes, and annotations, mainly from the cover page, reflect the journey these texts have taken over the years from production centers to users.

TIFF files

High-quality TIFF images are available for researchers upon request. Please send an e-mail to manuscript-cultures@uni-hamburg.de, include your name, institution and specify which MPRINT images you need and indicate their intended purpose. Your request will be reviewed as quickly as possible.

MprinT is funded by the Research Council of Norway and supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy - EXC 2176 'Understanding Written Artefacts: Material, Interaction and Transmission in Manuscript Cultures', project no. 390893796. The research was partially conducted within the scope of the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) at University of Hamburg. Most of the digitization occurred between October 2021 and May 2025.

MPRINT-EAP466 and MPRINT-EAP1114 were imaged in Lamu from 2011 to 2012 and Zanzibar from 2018 to 2019 respectively under the auspices of the Endangered Archives Programme of the British Library supported by the Arcadia Fund.