Doha, Qatar: The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs’ Centre for Endowment Studies has organised a scientific seminar on the book “Programme of the Kattani Library”, highlighting its scholarly value and its role in documenting thousands of publications and manuscripts preserved in one of the Islamic world’s most prominent endowment libraries.
The seminar, held as part of the centre’s ongoing series of academic events aimed at introducing significant scholarly publications and showcasing their research value, featured Khalid Al Subaie, who supervised the book’s publication, and Majd Maki, Sharia expert at the General Directorate of Endowments.
The session was moderated by Dr. Al Mokhtar Al Ahmar and was made available to the public through the General Directorate of Endowments’ YouTube channel.
The event forms part of the Centre for Endowment Studies’ efforts to promote scientific projects related to endowment heritage and Islamic libraries, while drawing attention to the wealth of knowledge they contain for researchers and specialists in manuscripts and heritage studies.
It also reflects the General Directorate of Endowments’ commitment to disseminating knowledge and reviving scholarly sources that document the intellectual contributions of scholars and benefactors throughout history.
The two-volume Programme of the Kattani Library is the first publication in the Endowment Libraries Series and is regarded as an important academic and heritage document.
It provides a comprehensive record of the contents of the Kattani Library, one of the most distinguished waqf libraries in the Islamic world, showcasing its rich collection of manuscripts, books and rare heritage materials accumulated over decades of dedication to scholarship and learning.
The book documents the holdings of the library across a wide range of disciplines, including Islamic sciences, linguistics, history and the humanities. It also sheds light on the scholarly contributions of Imam Sayyid Mohammed Abdul Hay Al Kattani Al Fassi Al Hassani and contains detailed indexes of publications, manuscripts, libraries and notable scholars, making it an important reference for researchers studying the history of books, libraries and Islamic heritage.
During the seminar, participants reviewed the book’s methodology in cataloguing and presenting the library’s collections, as well as the information it contains on manuscripts, books, scholarly chains of transmission and academic programmes. Speakers also emphasized the book’s role in preserving intellectual memory and highlighting the civilisational contribution of endowment libraries to the advancement of knowledge.
Dr. Khalid Al Aoun, Head of the Centre for Endowment Studies at the General Directorate of Endowments, said the seminar was part of the centre’s mission to introduce distinguished academic projects and provide specialized knowledge to researchers and interested audiences.
