Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts in Tabular Form Volume-1 (An Old and Rare Book)

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This catalogue of Arabic MSS. in the collection of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, is the uncatalogued portion, which were not included in the Descriptive Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts, prepared by M. Hidayat Hossain, M Mahfuzul-Haq and M. Ishaque and published as Vol. II in 1949. The project of preparing a catalogue in tabular form was first undertaken by the Government of India in 1956 and the information provided in this catalogue is in accordance with the proforma supplied by it.

Shri K. M. Maitra was appointed in 1949 to catalogue the MSS which he could not complete during the term of his appointment. He could neither revise the catalogue nor prepare its press copy till his retirement in 1961. He died in 1963 and the work or revising and editing the catalogue was entrusted to me.

At first, I thought that the particulars of the MSS recorded by Sari Maitra in the catalogue were correct and I did not consider it necessary to check them with the MSS in each case. At the time of proof reading, while verifying some statements in the catalogue, which seemed doubtful, with the relevant MSS, I found that it contained many serious errors and there were wide discrepancies between the actual particulars of the MSS and the information recorded. Therefore, I was convinced that the checking of the particulars of all the MSS, was absolutely essential. But it was too late as the printing of the catalogue was already completed. There being no other alternative left for me I decided to check the particulars of each MS by physical verification and publish the errors in the corrigenda. Still, I do not claim that I could succeed in correcting all the errors.

I thought it desirable to divide the catalogue into two volumes. This first volume includes MSS concerning Qur'an and Qur'anic Sciences, Hadith literature, Fiqh, Aqā'id, Controversy and Polemics, Prayers, Theological treatises, Lexicons, Grammar, Rhetoric, Prosody, and Adab literature. Have provided additional but important information about some authors and their works in the Appendix which could not be included in the catalogue in tabular form.

I have great pleasure in presenting this Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts in Tabular Form, which was in the Collections of the Asiatic Society, before the Scholarly World. The project of preparing this Catalogue was undertaken by Shri K M Maitra in 1949. But he could not complete the work. On his death in 1968, the Asiatic Society approached Dr. M. S. Khan, an accredited authority on Islamic Studies in our country, who took up the work of revising and editing the Catalogue, an arduous task, and completed the work. I would like to express our gratitude and thanks to Dr. Khan on behalf of the Asiatic Society. I am sure this volume would be welcomed by the scholars as a valuable guide-book.