Manuscript Archive Project

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Our mission

The Muhyiddin Archive Project (MAP) is part of a long and continuous tradition of preserving, describing, and authenticating the writings of Muḥyiddīn Muḥammad Ibn al-ʿArabī, commonly referred to simply as Ibn ʿArabi. His teachings have come down to us in manuscript form: carefully copied, transmitted, annotated and studied by generations of scholars and students. To understand Ibn ʿArabi faithfully, it is essential to both preserve and accurately describe the very materials that have carried his words across the centuries. The surviving corpus of manuscripts is like the living body of his teachings. Our mission is to preserve and advance this invaluable legacy in the digital era according to the highest standards of digital scholarship, and to make it accessible to the wider public. 

Background

In 2000, the Muhyiddin Ibn ʿArabi Society (MIAS) initiated the establishment of a digital archive and database catalogue to safeguard Ibn ʿArabi’s legacy. This was done in the wake of two events that highlighted the need for greater urgency. One was a severe earthquake which struck western Turkey in 1999, damaging several old buildings in the old city including the University Library (where the original copy of Ibn ʿArabi’s Rūḥ al-quds is held). It was a reminder of how fragile the storehouses can be in the face of natural disasters. The second was the discovery in 2000 that manuscripts of unique value relating to Ibn ʿArabi, Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi and al-Niffari (among others), had been stolen from a library in Konya. One of these manuscripts was put up for auction in London in 2001, and MIAS played an important part in halting the sale.

The starting point for the archive team was Osman Yahia’s monumental bibliography of Ibn ʿArabi’s works, Histoire et Classification de l’Oeuvre d’Ibn ‘Arabi, published in 1964. Yahia’s work was based on the examination of more than 2,900 manuscripts, in particular those in Turkey, Syria and Egypt. It remains the current standard reference and an immeasurably valuable resource. However, it has numerous limitations: it includes incomplete, spurious and erroneous data; it sometimes relies on second-hand information from library catalogues and book cards that are of uneven quality; it makes use of defective editions of the Fihrist and Ijāza; it does not adequately distinguish duplicates, misattributions, and non-extant works; it occasionally conflates distinct works under a single entry; and so on.

MAP has been established to continue Osman Yahia’s ground-breaking work, with the aim of creating a more accurate catalogue and classification based on painstaking archival research, the latest tools of digital scholarship, and a long-term, collaborative approach involving scholars in the field.

1. Digital Library

MAP has built the largest repository of digital copies of the most valuable manuscripts relating to Ibn ʿArabi, his immediate disciples, and many of his later followers and commentators. Extensive fieldwork led by Stephen Hirtenstein and Jane Clark was conducted over many years to gather manuscripts dispersed across 16 countries and over 50 libraries.

Today, MAP holds digital copies of over 2,500 manuscript texts (or “witnesses”) held securely both in the cloud and on multiple local hard-drive back-ups. Many of these manuscripts date to the lifetime of Ibn ʿArabi and his immediate circle of students; so far a total of 56 manuscripts in Ibn ʿArabi’s own hand or with his signature have been identified, an astonishing number when compared with other authors of the pre-print age.

This has been a foundational resource for scholars worldwide, and continues to provide the basis for new critical editions and translations, as well as stimulate further research.

2. Database and Catalogue

MAP has established a comprehensive database of all the manuscripts that have been investigated in Turkey and other countries, and is working towards a new classification of Osman Yahia’s seminal bibliographic work. So far over 1,000 codices and 3,000 manuscript items have been inspected in person and catalogued.

Since 2023, MAP has been migrating its old database to an integrated TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) system, which provides a technical standard and sustainable format in accordance with the highest international standards for digital humanities projects. TEI is trusted by major institutions and digital humanities projects worldwide, including Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, British Library, CNRS, Perseus Digital Library (Tufts), Hamburg, and many more.

3. Online Platform

MAP’s original website, designed by Julian Cook, was used by hundreds of scholars around the world. The new online platform is currently under development and aims to become a standard reference available to anyone interested in Ibn ʿArabi and his legacy. It will include:

• A comprehensive new description and classification of Ibn ʿArabi’s works, with contributions from leading Ibn ʿArabi scholars around the world
• A detailed historical manuscript catalogue
• Encoded and searchable “born digital” editions of select works
• Listings of misattributed, non-extant and duplicated works and titles
• Integration of images from MAP’s Digital Library
• A sub-project on manuscript notes, transmission records and scholarly networks
• Searchable bibliographies of translations, studies and printed critical editions
• Expanded and updated information on Ibn ʿArabi’s followers and commentators
• Maps, chronologies and visualisations

↓ Items on the Archive News Page

Recent News | Online articles related to Manuscripts

Funding and the Future

For the last 25 years, MAP’s activities and achievements have been based almost exclusively on voluntary work. Expenses for digitisation, archival work and web infrastructure have been funded by grants and the great generosity of MIAS members. The first appeal to members in 2004 raised over £10,000, and subsequent member donations made possible a further archiving trip in 2015. Between these appeals, the project received grants of £5,000 and £4,665 in 2009 and 2010 from The Islamic Manuscript Association (TIMA). In 2024 MIAS committed £13,000 towards the migration of the database and web development, and a further £5,000 was allocated in 2026 towards the first MAP seminar.

Today, the project stands at a decisive moment. The technical infrastructure has been successfully renewed, the corpus migrated to a sustainable digital framework, and an international network of scholars is now actively engaged in new descriptions of Ibn ʿArabi’s works. The aim is to transform MAP into a living, collaborative research platform, a standard reference point for Ibn ʿArabi’s works and a first port of call for his intellectual and material legacy.

With the foundations securely in place, this is a rare window of opportunity to secure a digital platform for one of the most significant intellectual traditions in Islamic history. Sustained support over the next five years will allow MAP to move from a valuable archive to an invaluable scholarly resource of international standing. By supporting MAP, donors will help establish an encyclopedia for Ibn ʿArabi’s corpus, ensuring that future generations encounter his writings on the firmest possible ground.

To realise this vision, MAP is seeking to raise £2 million ($2.7 million) over the next five years (2026–2031). This funding will support: core research, technical and administrative staff; fellowships and studentships; database design and digital development; preparation of the new catalogue and scholarly editions; consolidation of the manuscript image archive; and a programme of workshops, seminars and public-facing events.

At this level of support, the MIAS Archive Project will be established on a stable and professional footing, enabling it to function as the permanent international reference platform for Ibn ʿArabi’s works and manuscript tradition. We warmly invite conversations with individuals, foundations and institutions who wish to support this work.

Become a Friend or Benefactor

By making an annual gift of £500 (or £12 every month), you become part of a circle of Friends whose generosity makes our work possible. Your contribution goes directly towards securing Ibn ʿArabi’s precious heritage, and we’d love to thank you with a few exclusive benefits:

• Early access to the first release of the new MAP‌ online platform in Winter 2026/27, and to all subsequent updates and features of the platform
• Priority access to annual MAP conferences
• Invitations to special Friends’ events, including dinners and tours
• Acknowledgement on website and in our annual review

Those who have the means and desire to make a larger gift or endowment are warmly invited to consider becoming a Benefactor. If you are thinking about becoming a Friend or Benefactor, we would love to be in contact with you directly at map@ibnarabisociety.org, so that we can tell you more about our project in person.

To make a donation, please visit MIAS’s donation page, and include “MAP” in the comments section.

We are extremely grateful for your ongoing support.

MAP Steering Group

MAP’s activities are overseen by a Steering Group consisting of project leads, international scholars, and MIAS fellows and trustees. The current members are:

Prof Lisa Alexandrin (Manitoba)
Prof Pablo Beneito (Murcia)
Jane Clark (Fellow, MIAS)
Stephen Hirtenstein (Project Lead)
Dr Aydogan Kars (Monash)
Martin Notcutt (Fellow, MIAS)
Ali Porteous (Project Lead)
Aishah Safdar (Trustee, MIAS)
Prof Federico Salvaggio (Trieste)

Contact Us

A summary of the original findings of the Archive Project (until 2019) can be found in the Catalogue of Ibn ʿArabi’s Works. MIAS‌ members who are undertaking academic research into Ibn ʿArabi’s heritage can also apply to access the original website, which contains a more detailed and searchable database. To apply for access to this and for queries about the digital library, please contact librarian@ibnarabisociety.org.

For any other questions about the project and the new platform, please contact map@ibnarabisociety.org.