בית הספרים מסגד אל-אקצא

Abstract

With the increase of the phenomenon of selling valuable books and manuscripts, which were there for both family and personal use, to Jews and European Orientalists, a group of Moslems paid attention to this phenomenon and drew the attention of the Islamic council to the importance of erecting a book house, with the aim of collecting all manuscripts possible and whatever books scattered all over the personal and family libraries all over Jerusalem. This group suggested that such books would be gathered either by persuading owners to contribute them to the book house or by purchasing them. The Islamic council which won a wide support among Moslems at that time approved of the idea and began to establish a book house, which was founded in 1922.

In this article, I will try to relate to the historical development of this library all the way from the moment it was founded till now.  I will also relate to rare publications; one is of the Supreme Islamic Council, and the second belongs to those who opposed the council and in both publications there is an interesting regard to the development of the library in the first years of its establishment. 

I’ve searched for written sources about the history of the library but I’ve come across only a few.  Unfortunately I have been unable to locate the sources I’m looking for, such as correspondence of the members of the Islamic Council and those who were behind the idea of erecting the library with philosophers, literary men, and other linguists from the Arab world, for various reasons such as lost mail or lack of knowledge of its whereabouts.  Some of the information was gathered through interviews which I held with Mr. Khadhr Salaama, the current head of the library