Library of Ayatollah Gulpayigani
| General Information | |
|---|---|
| Founder | Sayyid Muhammad Rida Gulpayigani |
| Established | January 7, 1993 |
| Type | Library |
| Location | Qom, Ayatollah Golpayigani seminary |
| Specifications | |
| Status | Active |
| Facilities | Hand-written manuscripts and printed books • Study hall • Journals and Periodicals department |
| Architecture | |
| Website | gollib.ir |
Library of Ayatollah Gulpāyigānī is the second largest library in Qom with respect to the number of its hand-written manuscripts after the Library of Ayatollah Mar'ashi Najafi. The library is inside Ayatollah Gulpayigani seminary, and it was founded by Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Rida Gulpayigani. The library was founded to revive and publish works concerning Ahl al-Bayt (a) and to help religious scholars and intellectuals. The center consists of 5 main parts and it is under the supervision of Ayatollah Safi Gulpayigani.
Date of Foundation
The Ayatollah Gulpayigani Library was founded in 1987-8. It was officially opened on Rajab 13, 1413/January 7, 1993. The core portion of the library's books consisted of books donated by Ayatollah Gulpayigani and the Imam Mahdi (a) Library, and then it was supplemented by manuscripts and printed books donated or purchased.
Parts
The Ayatollah Gulpayigani Library consists of 5 main parts: general books, reference books, journals, book loan, and manuscripts.
General Books
This is the most important part of the library in which members of the library and others who have temporary permissions to use the library receive their intended books from the librarian and then return it to them. The book should not be taken out of the library.
Reference Books
This part of the library intended to facilitate access to textbooks and commonly used books for students of seminaries concerning Arabic literature, fiqh, and usul al-fiqh. This part has open shelves from which all members can take books and study inside the library.
Book Loans
Researchers who have particular cards can take some books outside the library.
Manuscripts
The most valuable part of the Ayatollah Gulpayigani Library is the manuscripts section in which precious manuscripts, such as pages of the Qur'an with Kufi dot-less handwriting on animal skins from the second/eighth and third/ninth centuries, exegeses of the Qur'an, books concerning fiqh, ancient Islamic medicine, science, and mathematics from the fifth/eleventh century onward, handwritings of al-Shahid al-Awwal and al-Shahid al-Thani are held. The books are in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Avestan, Pahlavi, Kurdish, and certain local dialects.
Journals and Periodicals
In this part, different journals and newspapers are held, most of which date back to 1969 onward. The oldest copy of Sur-i Israfil Newpaper, dating back to Thursday, Jumada I 22, 1325/July 2, 1907 is held in this section.
Number of Books
The library started out with a collection of 23,340 volumes of printed books and about 2,400 hand-written manuscripts. Today the printed books in the library amount to over 138,700 volumes, and about 12,000 manuscripts and their addenda.
Environment of the Book Treasury
The treasury of printed books and manuscripts of the library has the space for over 200,000 volumes of books. Today the vast collection of academic sources in different fields of humanities and Islamic disciplines and printed books are remarkable with respect to their organization, classification and the variety of their subjects, and they are very easy and convenient to access. Books catalogued in the general part of the library were organized and classified in 427 book shelves until June 2014. Moreover, complete issues of academic journals concerning history, literature, exegesis of the Qur'an, fiqh, usul al-fiqh, hadith, medicine, astronomy, and the like are held in the general part of the library.
Some Features
- The oldest printed book: al-Najat and al-Qanun fi l-tibb written by Ibn Sina, which was published in 1593 in Rome, Italy.
- The largest book: the book, mawaqi' al-nujum (a genealogy of the scholars of hadith and permissions for hadith transmission ) with the size of 50*68 centimeters.
- The smallest book: a volume of the Qur'an with the size of 1*2 centimeters.
Catalogue of Manuscripts
Fihrist-i nusakh-i khatti-yi kitabkhana-yi hadrat-i Ayatollah Gulpayigani (Qom) (A Catalog of the manuscripts in the Library of Ayatollah Gulpayigani in Qom) is written by 'Ali Sadra'i Khu'i and Abu l-Fadl Hafiziyan Babuli, and was edited by Mustafa Dirayati. It is published by the library and the Center for Documents associated with the Iranian Majlis and the Cultural-Research Institute of al-Jawad (Mashhad).
Head of the Library
The library was supervised by Ayatollah Gulpayigani himself when he was alive, and after his death, it is administered by his son, Sayyid Jawad Gulpayigani.
External Links
References
- The material for this article is mainly taken from کتابخانه آیتالله گلپایگانی in Farsi WikiShia.