Tanta is the capital of the governorate of al-Gharbiyya located in the middle of the Delta of the river Nile. In the past, it was of no significance. Indeed, it was a mere village in the age of Yāqūt al-Hamawiy, who briefly mentions it in his encyclopedic dictionary of countries. He refers to its ancient name in his statement: “Tantthanā, obviously a compound name tant + thanā, is an Egyptian village on the Nile leading to al-Mahala. It is one of the villages of al-Gharbiyya, an eight-day-trip from al-Mahala.”
al-Mahala that Yāqūt indicated is the one known today as al-Mahala al-Kubrā (the biggest), and was the capital of al-Gharbiyya in the past century. Many outstanding scholars are attributed to it such as Jalāl al-Dīn al-Mahalliy, the author of the renowned interpretation of the Qur’ān that was completed by Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūtiy, thus it is known as the Interpretations of the Two Jalāls. However, Tanta before long managed to deprive al-Mahala from its precedence, when the Sufi Shaikh Ahmad al-Badawiy (d. 675 H.) settled in it. His Sufi order spread on a large scale, and his annual mulid (birthday celebration) was a meeting place for people from the different parts of the country. Eventually, the city became more popular. On the other hand, al-Mahala retrograded gradually. Within the course of time, Tanta’s significance grew into an imposing status to be the backbone of the region, and thereby, the administrative capital of the governorate. The city’s name evolved several times. It became Tanta after Tantthanā, then developed into Tantadā, and finally settled on the light and meaningless word of Tanta.

 In the ninth century of the Hijra, and with the steady increase of its status; the space of the Ahmadian Mosque; and the number of its visitors as well as inhabitants around it, the city witnessed the spread of scientific centers and Qur’ān schools, as well as the continuous construction of mosques and schools. Consequently, a huge number of manuscript collections accumulated.  In today Tanta, there are three main collections. The largest in number is the one in the Ahmadian Institute- a religious Azhari institute- which library holds more than three thousand manuscripts, most of which are students’ copies from the thirteenth century of the Hijra. The second collection is at the Ahmadian Mosque in the city center. It comprises a touch more than 2700 manuscripts. Most of them are old but in good condition, and a great number of them are autographs ones. One of the most significant manuscript in this collection is Kitāb al-Khulay‘iyāt- ‘the Book on Hadith by Abūl-Hasan al-Khulay‘iy’ transcribed by Šams al-Dīn al-Sakhāwiy. The third collection, the one included with its classification on the site, was known before by the collection of the Municipal Library of Tanta, is preserved within the city center in a building called Dar al-Kutub. The building follows the Egyptian ministry of culture and includes a theater, a general library, and a special manuscripts reading room.

Few years ago, I prepared a catalog of the collections in the Ahmadian Institute and Mosque to be processed in electronic databases by the Center of Information and Decision Making at the Presidency of the Egyptian Cabinet, within the framework of a project aiming at cataloging Egypt’s manuscripts. This project was halted after a short while- for reasons irrelevant to my present discussion- and it was not possible to print the two catalogs for their voluminous size and lack of enthusiasm on the part of the publishers. Hence, I had no other alternative but to dwell –on my own- on the cataloging of the Tanta Municipal Library collection, which is less in number of manuscripts, so that it would be rendered printable. Now, after years of dreaming and waiting to publish the draft that has lied still in my drawer, the catalog is to appear from the Institute of Arab Manuscripts, which takes a pioneer and persistent role in the publication of manuscripts in the Arab World. 

The holdings of Dar al-Kutub in Tanta amount to 452 manuscripts. In the beginning of the cataloging, we did not except to conclude such a number as the worn-out records registered 229 titles only. Moreover, these records proved to be unreliable, given to the lack of scrupulous study and documentation. In addition to, more than twenty manuscripts were classified as prints, misplaced, and mislabeled among the general book collections of the Library. Therefore, I was keen to indicate such manuscripts in the margins as the reader will notice that they differ in classification than the rest of the collection.

As for the content of the collection, it varies impressively in its subjects covering assorted fields of knowledge and highlighting the integration of the Arab Islamic culture. As it appears from the following works:

·        al-Unmūdhaj fī al-Nahw- ‘Model in Grammar’ by al-Zamkhašariy.

·        Īsāghūjī  (the five logical predicates) in Logic by Athīr al-Dīn al-Abhariy.

·        Anwār al-Tanzīl wa Asrār al-Ta’wīl, ‘Lights of Revelation and Secrets of Interpretation’ by al-Baydāwiy.

·        Khulāsat al-Hisāb- ‘Compendium of Arithmetics’ by al-‘Āmiliy.

·        Khazānat al-Fiqh- ‘Treasury of Jurisprudence’ by Abūl-Layth al-Samarqandiy.

·        al-Šātibiyya fī al-Qirā’āt- ‘Works by al-Šātibiy on Dialects.’

·        al-Šamsiyya fī al-Qawā‘id al-Mantiqiyya- ‘Rules of Logic of Šams al-Dīn.’

·        al-Šāfiya wa al-Kāfiya fī al-Nahw wa al-Sarf- ‘The Conclusive and Sufficient in Grammar and Inflection.’

·        Masābih al-Sunna- ‘Lights of Sunna.’

·        al-Šifā bi-Ta‘rīf Mutūn al-Mustafā fī al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya- ‘Healing in Identifying the Corpus of Mustafā (Messenger Muhammad) on Prophetic Sīra.’

·        al-‘Aqā’id al-Nasafiyya fī ‘Ilm al-Kalam- ‘Doctrines of al-Nasafiy on Kalam.’

·        al-Misbāh fī al-Mahw- ‘Lamp in Grammar.’

Dar al-Kutub’s manuscript collection is distinguished with its integrated nature that reveals the richness and diversity of Arab Islamic heritage, from the other collections available at the public libraries, where the majority of the manuscripts pertain to a certain subject. It seems that some collectors of works of heritage had meticulously embarked on the compilation of the collection rendering it variable and comprehensive in its subject matters. It is also note worthy that some manuscripts were transcribed in faraway cities and regions, Baghdad, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Cairo, Adrianople, and Constantinople! The thing that arouses the interest and imposes many questions concerning the circumstances and the factors of its accumulation in Tanta. However, these questions remain unanswered despite my efforts. Among the most important manuscripts that I encountered during the cataloging, a number of autographs and relatively old ones inter alia:

·        An autograph of Durar al-Hukkām fī Šarh Ghurar al-Ahkām- ‘Pearls of Rulers in the Interpretation of the Prime of Judgments’ written by Mullā Khusrū (d. 885 H.) in 877 H.

·        Two autographs of al-Fawā’id al-Diyā’iyya- ‘Benefits of Diā’’ written by ‘Abdul-Rahmān al-Jāmiy in   877 H.

·        Two copies of al-Unmūdhaj fī al-Nahw- ‘Model in Grammar’ by al-Zamkhašariy, the first transcribed in 854 H. and the second in 917 H.

·        Kanz al-Daqā’iq- ‘Treasure of Niceties’ by al-Nasafy dated back to 847 H.

·         ‘Awn al-Wāfiya fī Šarh al-Kāfiya- ‘The Support of the Adequate (book) in the Interpretation of al-Kāfiya’ dated back to 851 H.

·        Šarh Riwāiyat al-Wiqāiya- ‘Interpretation of Riwāiyat al-Wiqāiya’ dated back to 848 H.

·        Šarh al-Taftāzāniy alā ‘Aqā’id al-Nasafy- ‘The Interpretation of al-Taftāzāniy of the doctrines of al-Nasafy’ dated back to 850 H.

·        Risāla fī Maziyyat al-Lisān al-Fārisiya alā Sā’ir al-Alsina ma-Khalā al-Arabiyya- ‘Treatise on the Superiority of Persian on the Rest of the Languages Except for Arabic’ dated back to 965 H.

·        Risāla fī Haqīqat al-Jism- ‘Treatise on the Truth of the Body’ dated back to 965H.

·        Risāla fī Dukhūl Wald al-Bint fī al-Mawqūf alā Awlād al-Awlād- ‘Treatise on the Inclusion of the Daughter’s Descendant in the Properties in Mortmain of the Sons’ Descendants’ dated back on 965 H.

There are many others manuscripts that attract attention in different fields of heritage, however, it is not possible to indicate them briefly in the introduction, nonetheless, they are treated more comprehensively within the catalog.

In the catalog in hand, I adopted the same indexing techniques of the preceding catalogs that were published during the last decade by the Institute of Arab Manuscripts, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and the Furqan Foundation (covering more than 18,000 manuscripts). I employed the same cataloging methods approved by the pioneers of the field and accredited by the Institute of Arab Manuscripts many years ago. The bibliographical control required every effort as almost half the collection lacked any bibliographical treatment concerning the title and the author. Hence, I referred to these manuscripts in the footnotes to save the researchers any confusion resulting from comparing the originals with the authenticated titles and names that I included within the catalog.  

Finally, I hope that this catalog would be a useful tool for researchers, a guide for students in the fields of heritage, and a step towards identifying the enormous cultural reservoir that most of it is still locked up in old libraries.