Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Jul 19

I did not notice anyone deliberately playing with palindromes like al-Harīrī does.

1

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Jul 19

You're asking if there are any palindromes, in Arabic script, in these hundreds of manuscripts?

1

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Jul 19

These manuscripts were saved by the heroic librarians when the library was shelled during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s, and one of the librarians--Aida Buturović--was killed on her way home. It's an honor to follow in her footsteps and help share these books with the world

1 5

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Jul 18

I recently finished cataloging the Arabic-script manuscripts of the National Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Over 750 manuscripts in Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Bosnian, free to view in the HMML Reading Room
w3id.org/vhmml/readin...

2 22 69

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · May 24

It's now in Erbil at the patriarchate of the Assyrian Church of the East
w3id.org/vhmml/readin...

ACEP 00006 - Iraq - Erbil - Assyrian Church of the East. Patriarchate - MS 6 - Reading Room - vHMML

Resources and Tools for Manuscript Studies

w3id.org

4

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · May 24

This Syriac manuscript was copied in Alqūsh, Iraq, in 1925. The scribe gives the date as year 2236 of the Greeks (Seleucid Era), year 1925 from the ascension (!) of Our Lord, year 76 of my life, and year 7 since the English conquered these lands of ours

1 6 31

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · May 24

I used this book, I think it worked well enough: library.teachyourself.com/id004325096/...

Complete Urdu (free resources)

Teach Yourself-Complete Urdu (free resources)

library.teachyourself.com

1 1

Reposted by Josh Mugler

HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · Dec 10

Accepting applications for Introduction to Classical Armenian, a language and paleography course held from July 7 to August 1, 2025, at HMML in Collegeville, Minnesota.

Application deadline: February 24, 2025
Learn more: hmml.org/programs/int...

16 31

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Feb 4

From a prayer book in Arabic, Tatar, and Polish, possibly early 19th century, now at the Stefanyk National Scientific Library in L'viv, Ukraine
w3id.org/vhmml/readin...

STEF 00608 - Ukraine - Lʹviv - Lʹvivsʹka nat︠s︡ionalʹna naukova biblioteka Ukraïny im. V. Stefanyka - Бав 327 - Reading Room - vHMML

Resources and Tools for Manuscript Studies

w3id.org

1

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Feb 4

Hi! Long time no see

1

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Feb 4

First time seeing Polish in Arabic script

2 3

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Jan 25

A place for everyone

1

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Jan 19

Congratulations to the people of Gaza. Freedom in our time!

2

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Nov 8

Jesus told me dragons keep eating his monks so I asked how many monks he has and he said he just goes to the desert and gets a new monk afterwards so I said it sounds like he’s just feeding monks to dragons and then Jesus wept.

Drawing of monks going up a ladder to heaven and other monks going down the other side into the mouth of a dragon

3 10

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Oct 24

I enjoyed writing this story quite a bit. Lebanon in/and America
hmml.org/stories/seri...

The Lord’s Song in a Foreign Land

“In the middle of the 19th century, Arabic-speaking immigrants began to appear among the waves of newcomers arriving in the United States...”

hmml.org

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Mar 13

Also interesting: al-Māsinī gives the date of October 22 in addition to the hijrī date, meaning early modern West African Muslims were maintaining knowledge of the Julian calendar even after Western European Christians had transitioned to Gregorian (the earthquake was November 1)

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Mar 13

I'm not sure if such a description of the disaster from West Africa has ever been identified before

1

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Mar 13

The text is by an otherwise unknown author named Aḥmad ibn Bindād al-Māsinī. He emphasizes his observations of animal behavior during the earthquake, seeing their movements and cries as natural expressions of praise to God

1

Josh Mugler @jmugs.bsky.social · Mar 13

Manuscript 3799 at the Imam Essayouti library in Timbuktu is a firsthand West African Arabic account of the 1755 earthquake that devastated Lisbon and reshaped the thought of European philosophers like Voltaire and Kant w3id.org/vhmml/readin...