Manuscript Centre of Madrasah Al-Ahmadiah Al-Islamiah in Narathiwat, Thailand: A Bibliometric Study to Its 70 Quranic Manuscripts

The manuscripts have been proof of the existence of knowledgeable civilization society. They disseminated knowledge through writings and each writer can be used until now. Various aspects can be learned from the manuscript including codicological aspects, philological as well as textual studies. This study focuses on Madrasah al-Ahmadiah al-Islamiah located in Narathiwat, Thailand, a madrasah that serves as a center for collecting and restoring manuscripts. Hence, this study is carried out in accordance with two main objectives: 1) to study the background of the Madrasah al-Ahmadiah al-Islamiah as a center for manuscripts’ collection, and 2) to identify the collection of manuscripts and areas of knowledge. This article also discusses the process of collecting manuscripts. A qualitative approach has been conducted in order to collect the data that consists of conducting interviews and analyzing related documents. The findings of this study focus on only 70 copies of Quran manuscripts of various sizes that have been conserved. In addition, the collection of manuscripts other than the Quran can be divided into 15 fields of knowledge. Furthermore, there are 2 forms of the material collected in this center: writing forms and artifacts. The study is expected to provide exposure to the conservation of the Malay Archipelago’s manuscripts as well as uplifting the institutions involved.