“Reading Arabic Manuscripts”
Mediterranean Studies Summer Skills Seminar
23–26 June 2025 • Remote
The Summer Skills Seminar, “Reading Arabic Manuscripts” will be held via Zoom from Monday, 23 June to Thursday, 26 June 2025 from 10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm MDT.
Course overview
This Summer Skills Course will build participants’ ability to read handwritten Arabic manuscripts and documents, primarily those written before the twentieth century. It is designed with academics in mind, particularly graduate students, postdocs, and professors working in disciplines such as history, literature, and religious studies. All interested parties with at least two years of Arabic language training are, however, welcome to apply. Attention will be paid to the ways that paleographical skills can enhance diverse forms of research and teaching. Participants will receive a completion certificate which may be listed on a CV and on other documents such as grant/fellowship applications. The seminar is held via Zoom over four days, with two two-hour sessions each day. Participants are invited to prepare readings in advance of the sessions, which will be a blend of lecture and pair- and group-work.
Populations who spoke and read Arabic across pre-modern Eurasia and northern Africa—from Iberia to Indonesia—have left a vast trove of manuscript codices and documents, which survive in libraries, museums, and private collections. Only a small fraction of these texts have been edited or published. Most, in fact, have not been read for centuries.
This four-day intensive seminar will provide participants with the paleographical tools and skills to read premodern handwritten Arabic texts with greater speed and accuracy. Intensive practice sessions, both prepared and impromptu, will be paired with readings in the major reference works in English (and occasionally other modern languages). The seminar is organized around a general typology of scripts and hands: we will trace the development of the Arabic script from the ḥijāzī and Abbasid bookhands of the Early Islamic period (650–900), to its formalization and regional variation in the middle periods (900–1400), to its further elaboration in the age of early modern empires and eventual standardization in print (1400–1900). Special attention will be paid to major script families that tend to give readers trouble, such as maghribī and nastaʿlīq.
The goal is to enhance participants’ ability to read handwritten Arabic texts in their research and teaching and provide them with a bona fide (in the form of a certificate of completion for those who attend the full seminar), which may be advantageous in securing funding for research and travel. Preparation in Arabic paleography can be a way for scholars working in history, literature, philology, or religious studies (as well as other fields) to access new and important primary sources, distinguish their research and/or teaching profiles, and enter into discussion with new interlocutors.
Participants from our 2024 edition said:
“This was a wonderful introduction to a range of issues and skills related to Arabic manuscripts.”
“I feel like I now have the tools and resources to engage with manuscripts more fruitfully.”
“It was well organized, well-paced, readings in class and in homework were well chosen.”
“It was great. I appreciate the many sources we were introduced to for further references.”
“The course was great. I am honestly uncertain what can be made better. It was an intense course and … I did enjoy it very much and learned a lot.”
“Luke was excellent. Patient and very encouraging. He made sure everyone had a chance to participate, and tried to steer at least some elements in the direction of the research interests of the course members.”
“Perfect, nothing really to comment on. I especially appreciated the pace and opportunity to participate actively for all, despite the different levels among the participants.”
“Luke was fantastic. There are few greater pleasures than partaking in the worlds of specialists who live and love their fields.”
Preparation and Resources
Participants are strongly encouraged to watch, before the beginning of the course, one of these two recent UCLA+ Islamic-manuscript training courses:
• https://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/islamic
• https://marbas.princeton.edu/arabic-manuscripts-workshop-august-23-27-2021
To get a sense of the resources in the field, explore Evyn Kropf’s resources page:
• https://guides.lib.umich.edu/islamicmsstudies
Also recommended are the Leiden and HMML resource sites/courses:
• https://mouse.digitalscholarship.nl/
• https://hmmlschool.org/arabic/
Faculty
The course will be led by Prof. Luke Yarbrough (Islamic Studies and NELC, UCLA). A graduate of the Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies (PhD, 2012) and a historian of pre-modern Islamic history and thought, Yarbrough makes extensive use of Arabic manuscript sources in his work, including Friends of the Emir: Non-Muslim State Officials in Premodern Islamic Thought (Cambridge, 2020) and The Sword of Ambition (New York, 2016). He has organized and taught several courses in Arabic manuscript studies.
Application & Information
Participants MUST have the equivalent of at least two years of university-level Arabic.
For samples of Arabic text and calligraphy, click here.
Please note: sessions will not be recorded; synchronous attendance is required.
The regular application period is until April 28.
Applicants will be advised of acceptance by May 5.
Payment is due on May 12. Applicants waiting on a grant or subvention may request an extension for the second payment.
Late applicants may be accommodated if space remains. Full payment will be due within three days of acceptance, including a $75 surcharge for late applications.
All payments are final and non-refundable. A letter of confirmation/ receipt will be provided by the Mediterranean Seminar, together with a certificate of completion once the course has concluded.
Apply via this form.
For further information or inquiries, contact mailbox@mediterraneanseminar.org, subject: “Summer Skills Information”)
Fees
• $1100 for Full Professors, Librarians & Professionals
• $825 for tenured Associates, Emerita/us, Retired Faculty, Independent Scholars & Non-Academics;
• $575 for non-tenured Associates and Assistants, Postdoctoral Fellows & Graduate and Undergraduate students;
• $400 for Adjuncts, Lecturers & Contingent faculty.
Members of University of Colorado departments may be eligible for a discount.
Limited reductions are offered to applicants who are (1) nationals; (2) current residents; (3) AND faculty or students in low-per-capita GDP countries may apply for a reduction (the Low-GDP Bursary program).
Payment information will be provided at the time of acceptance. Posted fees do not include a 5% processing fee.
All fees are non-refundable.
How do we determine our fees?
Why have our fees gone up?
Can I get a reduction in fees?
What is the low-GDP Bursary program?
Proposed Program
Monday, 23 June 2025
10am–noon & 1–3pm
1. Introductions. Basics & Materiality.
Welcome. Course foci. Basic terminology. Material anatomy of manuscript codex. Practice on ownership statements and samples of other text types.
2. Textual Features.
Textual anatomy of a manuscript. Samples of features. Focus on incipits.
Tuesday, 24 June 2025
10am–noon & 1–3pm
3. Scripts & hands I: Early periods.
Historical scripts (hijazi thru early naskh). Incipits.
4. Scripts & hands II: Middle through modern periods.
Historical scripts (naskh thru ruqʿa). Colophons.
Wednesday, 25 June 2025
10am–noon & 1–3pm
5. Scripts & hands III: Regional case studies.
Major regional scripts (maghribi, sudani, bihari, etc.). More colophons + waqfiyyas, ijāzas, other paratexts.
6. Focus on Maghribi script.
Practice reading Maghribi hands. Scribal and readerly interventions: collation notes; commentarial notation; scribal errors, etc.
Thursday, 26 June 2025
10am–noon & 1–3pm
7. Focus on Eastern scripts and hands (taʿliq/nastaʿliq, etc.).
Practice reading Eastern hands. Focus on manuscript notes.
8. Documentary hands.
Practice reading documents of the Middle Periods + Student case studies
Important dates:
Application period: 28 April 2025
Acceptance/stand by notifications: 5 May 2025
Full payment: 12 May 2025 (subject to extension for late applicants/ or pending grants)
NOTE: Numbers are limited; participants are encouraged to apply early.
Information
For general information regarding fees, enrollment, and administrative matters, contact the Mediterranean Seminar; for questions regarding seminar content and materials, contact the instructor directly.
· Testimonials were lightly edited for consistency and style