Kairawan
The world's Arabic and Islamic manuscripts, in one search.
Search more than 270,000 manuscripts from nine of the world's great collections — free.
What you can do
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Search across collections
Find manuscripts, works, and scholars across nine libraries at once — collections never before searchable together.
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View at the source
Every record links to the holding library's own viewer. Examine the manuscript itself, page by page.
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Transcribe
Turn a manuscript's page images into searchable, editable Arabic text — automatically, and free.
Drawn from the world's collections
- Hill Museum & Manuscript Library
- West African Arabic Manuscript Database
- Princeton Geniza Lab
- Fihrist
- BnF Gallica
- Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
- Princeton University Library
- Jarring Collection
- Vatican Library
Why Kairawan
Arabic and Islamic manuscripts survive in hundreds of libraries across the world — most of them invisible to anyone who doesn't already know where to look. Kairawan brings their catalogues into a single search, and, where rights allow, turns the page images into readable text. It takes its name from Kairouan, one of the earliest centres of learning in the Islamic world.
For libraries and archives
Do you hold a collection of Arabic or Islamic manuscripts? Kairawan can make it discoverable alongside the world's great collections — and help bring its texts to light. We would like to hear from you.
Get in touchIndex statistics
- Manuscripts
- 270,243
- Works
- 19,751
- Persons
- 35,755
- Institutions
- 370
Index as of 2026-05-22.