Aligarh Muslim University Maulana Azad Library (Aligarh, India)

The Library complex of the University consists of a Central Library and over 80 college/departmental libraries. Libraries of the colleges, institutes and departments, cater to the needs of postgraduates and students of professional courses. The collection consists of books, periodicals, pamphlets, manuscripts, paintings and photographs. M.A. Library performs the functions of a National Library so far as its collection of Oriental manuscripts are concerned. The Library has a sizeable collection of early printed books in various languages. The most outstanding among them is the Latin translation of the celebrated Arabic work on optics, opticam prafatis, by Ibn-al-Haitham (965-1039) published in 1572. There are several farmans (decrees) of the Mughal kings like Babur, Akbar, Shahjahan, Shah Alam, Shah Alamgir, Aurangzeb etc. Another prized possession of the library is a 'Shirt' on which the whole Quran is inscribed in khafi script. This shirt is believed to have been worn by a warrior of Mughal army. Among the large collection of Mughal paintings is the painting of Red Blossom, which is magnum opus of Mansoor Naqqash, the celebrated court artist of Emperor Jahangir. Some valuable Sanskrit works translated into Persian have also been preserved in the library. Other possessions worth mentioning is the Ayurved in Telugu and the Bhasa's in Malyalam script written on palm leaves. Abul Faiz Faizi, an eminent scholar of Akbar's court translated several Sanskrit works into Persian, such as Maha Puran, Bhagvat Gita, Mahabharat and Lila Wati, these are also available. his library was determined to have a significant collection of Urdu language materials when the National Bibliography of Indian Literature was compiled in the mid-twentieth century.Listed in the Survey of Manuscripts in India.