Heritage, as widely known, is one of the most significant aspects of national identity for peoples
- Preserving heritage must be a national priority since it reflects the authenticity of nations, reveals the depth of civilizations, and works as an indicator of cultural survival
Souad Khalil | Libya
Reviving heritage is considered one of the most critical issues amidst the overwhelming contemporary cultural changes, especially those that threaten national and regional identities and attempt to marginalize them within dominant global culture, rejecting cultural diversity and undermining ethnic legacies. From this standpoint emerges the importance of reviving Arab heritage and highlighting its role in establishing, grounding, and shaping a collective cultural identity among world cultures.
Heritage, as widely known, is one of the most significant aspects of national identity for peoples, particularly in the Arab world, as Arabic is among the oldest branches of Semitic languages. Its heritage extended across civilizations throughout history, influencing other cultures—for instance, the impact of Arabic maqāmāt on Hebrew, as well as the translations of Arabic works into Latin and Castilian through the School of Translators in Toledo, involving Jews, Arabs, and Spaniards. This reflected the humanitarian nature of Arab heritage, which expanded its sphere of influence and established historical interaction with its surrounding cultures. Thus, heritage remained a core component shaping the Arab personality and protecting it from extinction, making it a future developmental project safeguarding the nation intellectually and culturally.
It is therefore necessary to preserve our heritage, disseminate it, and translate it, so that others may recognize this invaluable cultural inheritance that we—Arabs and Muslims—possess. Yet the question remains: how can it be protected, and how can it be introduced to others?
In a study on safeguarding national cultures, Dr. Abdel Azeem Mahmoud Hanafi emphasized that Arab heritage did not advocate intolerance, nor did it emerge from an isolated or closed cultural environment. Instead, those who belonged to this heritage engaged with foreign intellectual approaches, examining, researching, analyzing, and uncovering its depths. Without such openness and intellectual pursuit, much of what we possess today would not have survived for us to study and exchange discourse about.
Silence regarding our lost heritage, neglecting its revival, or abandoning efforts toward renewal represents a mistake that history will hold us accountable for. One must learn from medieval translations of Arab works into Hebrew made by Jewish scholars such as Saadiah Gaon, Maimonides, and others. These works have subsequently become part of Jewish intellectual legacy, while originally belonging to the body of Arab civilization. It is thus our responsibility to reclaim what is part of our heritage and identity, even after centuries of displacement.
There are many topics considered essential within the fabric of heritage due to their articulation in the Arabic language and development through Arab scholars. These topics remain foundational and require deep investigation, critical study, and preservation.
Arab heritage belongs to a rational and humanistic nation that contributed knowledge within numerous scientific, philosophical, and intellectual fields—an achievement that no biased observer can deny. Heritage represents the living memory of this nation and documents the continuity of its intellectual contributions, despite historical devastations, including the Mongol invasions of Baghdad during the 7th century AH, which nearly obliterated Arab heritage and erased intellectual identity. Nevertheless, great scholarly efforts ensured the continuation of its enlightened mission.
Among these efforts were those supported through the printing of heritage at Bulaq Press, the National Coptic Press, the Charitable Press, and the Azhar Press. Scholars engaged in transcription, verification, and editing, often without profit, driven purely by dedication to the intellectual mission.
Manuscripts continue to occupy an enormous portion of Arab heritage, constituting testimonies of Arab civilization. Many remain unedited, unindexed, or unpublished. Their retrieval and cataloguing are urgent necessities, especially since numerous European libraries possess looted manuscripts during colonial and wartime periods. Some collections were reproduced and indexed, including those held by the Egyptian National Library, which contains more than fifty thousand manuscripts, and Al‑Azhar Library with approximately thirty thousand manuscripts. Many additional priceless manuscripts exist in Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Oman, and Mauritania, in addition to collections in Istanbul, Rome, London, Madrid, Paris, Moscow, Berlin, Oxford, Cambridge, and the Library of Congress.
This heritage remains a trust passed down generation after generation—a vast cultural asset that has illuminated humanity for more than fourteen centuries. No other intellectual corpus has sustained similar continuity or preserved its essence in the same magnitude.
Therefore, preserving heritage must be a national priority since it reflects the authenticity of nations, reveals the depth of civilizations, and works as an indicator of cultural survival. Cutting the link between a nation and its heritage threatens its identity and collective memory. Modernity does not necessarily require suppressing heritage but rather engaging with it critically, benefiting from it, and adapting its intellectual value to contemporary realities.
The fields of heritage remain vast and multidimensional—spanning social knowledge, philosophical thought, literature, natural sciences, and more. Our civilizational history is filled with pioneers whose contributions remain foundational to global knowledge. It is sufficient to recall outstanding figures such as Jabir Ibn Hayyan, Ibn al‑Haytham, Ibn Nafis, Al‑Biruni, Al‑Khwarizmi, Al‑Razi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd, Al‑Farabi, Al‑Kindi, among many others. Their works formed identity, theory, and experimental science for centuries.
Thinking today of establishing an academic institution dedicated to heritage revival is far from unusual, considering the legacy of Bayt Al‑Hikma (House of Wisdom) established during the Abbasid era, through which sciences of predecessors were compiled and translated.
Currently, the revival of heritage requires expanding verification efforts and benefiting from both Arab and Western scholarly methodologies. Organizing international conferences dedicated to manuscript studies is essential, similar to those previously held in Europe and earlier by the Arab League in Baghdad.
Thus, turning attention toward heritage, studying its foundations, critiquing its interpretations, and employing its knowledge within modern contexts is essential. There is no contradiction between embracing heritage and modernity; the two are mutually sustaining if approached through critical understanding and re‑articulation.
Re‑examining Arab heritage philosophically, methodologically, and comparatively alongside Western heritage ensures its survival within globalization. Arab heritage is rooted in values of justice, spirituality, and human dignity. Preserving it means protecting cultural diversity, strengthening intellectual dialogue, and ensuring historical continuity between past and present.
Read: The Literature as Genres
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Souad Khalil, hailing from Libya, is a writer, poet, and translator. She has been writing on culture, literature and other general topics.
