For the first time, the general public gets access to a rare, 400-year-old manuscript that emphasizes the significance of coffee in Arab culture. It was published during the Ottoman Empire by Madyan Qusuni, a well-known Egyptian physician, author, and historian.
As part of the celebrations for the 2022 Year of Saudi Coffee, which honors the significance of the beverage in the identity, legacy, customs, and traditions of the Kingdom, King Abdulaziz Public Library chose to display the document, which is meticulously maintained and stored in its private collection.
The manuscript, which is identified by the number "1213," is a synopsis of two books by various writers. The first is "Umdat Al-Safwa fi Hill Al-Qahwa" by Iraqi historian and scholar Abdulqadir bin Muhammad Al-Jaziri. The second is a book written by academic Ahmad Shihab Addin Al-Maliki, whose first chapter is titled "On the Meaning of Coffee."
The manuscript contains a poem that praises coffee and describes how it has travelled to the furthest reaches of the globe and become popular even in China.
In Egypt, Qusuni served as the senior physician. In addition to his love of literature and history, he was also renowned for his prolific writing, which included several volumes in which he incorporated both literature and the period's medical expertise. He passed away in Egypt in 1634.
The library published a two-part manuscript index in 2020 as part of its responsibility as a keeper of history and antiquated documents. The first covers the library's efforts to safeguard, catalogue, and make the details of the historical manuscripts it has accessible to academics and researchers. The 664-page book includes details on 300 manuscripts.
Details about 646 Arabic manuscripts and 19 manuscripts in other ancient languages, such as Turkish, Bosnian, and Persian, are included in the second section. They contain a broad range of subjects, including literature, poetry, philosophy, astronomy, dictionaries, general knowledge, logic, grammar, history, and rhetoric. They also cover the arts, religion, law, jurisprudence, Hadith, and biographies of the Prophet Muhammad.
The Quality of Life Program helped the Ministry of Culture create the Year of Saudi Coffee project, which is in line with the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 growth and diversification plan.
