Hojat-ol-Islam Mohammad Hassan Nourinia, an official with the Astan, said the manuscripts date back to the 11th, 12th, and 13th Hijri centuries (17th, 18th and 19th centuries A.D.). He said they are also precious in terms of their artistic value, IRNA reported.
The Muslim family from New York has also gifted a manuscript copy of the Sahifeh Sajjadiyeh to the museum. Calligraphed by an artist named Hassan Ali bin Abbas Qoli Sultan in the year 1232 Hijri, the copy is embellished with gold and colors.
With some 20,000 Quran manuscripts and Quranic works, as well as 95000 rare Islamic books, the museum of Astan Quds Razavi is the greatest treasury of rare written works in the Muslim world.
Astan Quds Razavi and its subsidiary cultural institutes comprise 38 libraries with an overall collection of 2.5 million books, including manuscripts and lithograph-printed books.