Green Tent Emphasizes Importance of Digitizing Manuscripts, Providing Accessibility Electronically

Doha, April 27 (QNA) - The Green Tent discussed the impact of Arab and Islamic manuscripts on the cognitive heritage, the importance of preserving and restoring them, and their role in defining and preserving heritage. Speakers of the Green Tent organized by "A Flower Each Spring" program emphasized the great need for monitoring Islamic manuscripts in the world's libraries, digitizing them, classify them and making them available electronically to enable young people to learn about their civilization. The participants defined that the manuscripts are every handwritten document and that it is the collective that preserves the memory of the nation in books. They pointed to the great need for this type of historical documents to preserve identity, enrich science, develop critical sense, scientific development and critical thinking in various sciences. They stressed the importance of combating smuggling and illegal circulation of manuscripts and documentary heritage while promoting and supporting research in the field of Islamic manuscripts and raising awareness about the richness and importance of Islamic heritage. The participants explained the dangers to which the manuscripts that constitute the nations sentiments and the special attention and care they need in the operations of storage, restoration and maintenance. Head of A Flower Each Spring program Dr. Saif bin Ali Al Hajri said that the richness of the manuscript Arab and Islamic heritage bears within it the best evidence of the depth and roots of the civilizational identity of the Arab and Islamic nations, which had the deepest impact on the enlightenment of humanity. He urged the concerned institutions to provide resources, which is an investment in the long term, especially in achieving, preserving and restoring manuscripts, counting and classifying them, and subjecting them to an electronic indexing and numbering process, while strengthening and supporting relevant research. For his part, Dr. Mustafa Alstiti from Qatar highlighted the importance of digitizing manuscripts after processing them, improving the storage process, making them accessible to researchers and the general public. He pointed out the great importance in digitizing as a way to preserve from loss and damage and the ease of dealing with them in more than one place and from several people simultaneously. He reviewed the experience of digitization in Qatar, Turkey and France and how libraries and archives and their manuscripts and documents have become available to all researchers and the general public in these countries and abroad, indicating that the creation of these digital platforms requires financial support and political will from decision-makers. (QNA)