The real strength of Al-Mufahris is combining search fields. Each one is a different window onto these treasures:
- Book/treatise title: the main field; enter the exact title or part of it to find every known copy.
- Copy number: if you know a manuscript's registration number in a library, this takes you straight to that copy's information.
- Author name: ideal for researchers focused on a particular figure; find all of their known works and available copies.
- Subject: keywords such as “fiqh”, “tafsir”, “astronomy” or “history” list the manuscripts of that field.
- Language: limits your search to manuscripts written in a given language (Arabic, Persian, Turkish…).
- Scribe name: a key tool for editors and anyone interested in copying history; trace everything a scribe wrote.
- Copy date and place: for historical and art-historical studies, e.g. manuscripts copied in Mecca, Cairo, Istanbul or Isfahan.
- Composition date and place: to understand how the sciences developed and to study a region's intellectual schools.
- Holding country: for those looking for manuscripts held in one particular country.
Tip: the tool is at its best when you combine criteria, for example author + holding country + place of copying, which gives very precise results. The number of searchable fields depends on the plan (Free or Researcher), and we keep adding more.
Open the app and try a search →
