Middle East

These rare photos offer a glimpse of a monumental Ottoman project, designed to transport “hajj” pilgrims and unite a vast Islamic realm

This story which originated in 7th century Arabia has traveled across the world over the ages

How advanced mathematics were used for Islamic religious purposes in the Middle Ages

Irreplaceable documentation of ancient nomadic culture to be saved and made freely available online

A seventeenth century travelogue by a famous Sufi mystic describes a strange and surprising image of Ottoman Palestine

A look at the figure of Abraham the Patriarch in the Islamic tradition, with the help of manuscripts from the National Library of Israel’s Islam and Middle East Collection

Rumi, Ibn Arabi, and the radical Sufi conception of religion

A seventeenth-century Muslim intellectual’s staunch defense of smoking sheds light on the practice’s connection to modernity and the concept of recreation

A mysterious 80 year old document which recently surfaced in our collections emphasizes the geopolitical significance of Bahrain. But what is it doing here?

With Israelis ready to flock to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Katie Wachsberger spoke to the National Library about the cutting edge of culture in the UAE