Abgadiyat

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) Writing and Scripts Center, affiliated to the Academic Research Sector, continues to create and publish valuable academic knowledge internationally through studies in the fields of inscriptions, calligraphy, and the history of writing. The 14^th issue of Abgadiyat (2019), an annual journal issued in collaboration with Brill Publishers of the Netherlands, represents a qualitative and quantitative leap in its various topics and research papers. Since its first issue in 2006, Abgadiyat has not only managed to fill the existing gaps in the field of calligraphy and writings studies, but also contributed to raising interest in this particular specialization, which has become a rich field for specialized researchers to frame its different subjects.

Abgadiyat editorial staff keenly dedicate this issue to Islamic inscriptions. Since Cairo was chosen as the capital of Islamic culture for 2020, all research papers come in line with this cultural outcome. The 14^th issue of Abgadiyat includes a diverse body of distinguished papers of several topics and fields in a variety of languages. Such research papers include ideas such as a new display of the inscriptions of El-Zawya Al-Adaweya in Cairo (Zain Eldin Youssef Mosque) (697–736H) and thorough studies of inscriptions for some religious schools and doctrines on Cairo’s monuments of Islamic architecture of the Bahariyya Mamluk Dynasty (648–784H). Other studies pertain to the design of the Holy Book (The Quran) in the Malay Peninsula within the 18^th and 19^th centuries CE through the collection of the Islamic Arts Museum in Malaysia, and the tiles that demonstrate inscriptions in square Kufic Calligraphy on the Islamic architecture in Cairo in a way that makes the space or the background between the letters read as words; among the most common examples of which is the design of the square model of “Mohamed Ali”. Some research papers shed light on facets of the inscriptions on Ottoman architecture that are bilingual or trilingual, their alphabets, and contexts. In addition, this issue manifests great interest in the studies pertaining to the coins of the Islamic era. It incorporates two research papers in this field; the first discusses a fake dinar carrying the name of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Nasir li-Din Allah that appeared in Salam city in 616H. The second studies two rare silver coins from Yemen for Al-Mukhtar li-Din Allah. Moreover, among the interesting research papers in this issue is one tackling the study and dissemination of a new group of Arabic Islamic inscriptions in the mosque at the Saint Catherine's Monastery in South Sinai. This proves that Abgadiyat is an international journal that encapsulates all the alphabets and writings that have appeared along the history of humanity, creating a balance for all the axes of academic research and at the same time representing the spirit of diversity, the value of difference, and the culture of assimilation.

The Abstracts: