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Production history
Islamic manuscripts were produced in different ways depending on their use and time period. Parchment (vellum) was a common way to produce manuscripts. Manuscripts eventually transitioned to using paper in later centuries with the diffusion of paper making in the Islamic empire. When Muslims encountered paper in Central Asia, its use and production spread to Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and North Africa during the 8th century.

Islamic Scripts
The development of scripts in the Islamic Empire, demonstrates the transition from an oral culture to convey information to written.Traditionally speaking in the Islamic empire, Arabic calligraphy was the common form of recording texts. Calligraphy is the practice or art of decorative handwriting. The demand for calligraphy in the early stages of the Islamic empire (circa 7-8th century) can be attributed to a need to produce Qur'an manuscripts. During the Ummayad period, Kufic scrips were typically seen in Qur'an manuscripts.

Common genres of Islamic manuscripts
Islamic manuscripts include a variety of topics such as religious, medical, astrological, and literature.

Religious
Qur'anic:

A common religious manuscript would be a copy of the Qur'an, which is the sacred book of Islam. The Qur'an is believed by Muslims to be a divine revelation (the word of god) to the prophet Muhammed, revealed to him by Archangel Gabriel. Qur'an manuscripts can vary in form and function. Certain manuscripts were larger in size for ceremonial purposes, others being smaller and more transportable. An example of a Qur'an manuscript is the Blue Koran. The Blue Koran is ceremonial in nature, which a Hafiz would utilize. It has gold Kufic script, on parchment dyed blue with indigo. Many Qur'an manuscripts are divided into 30 equal sections (juz) to be able to be read over the course of 30 days. The Chinese practice of writing on paper, presented to the Islamic world around the 8th century, enabled Qur'ans to be begin to be written on paper. The decrease in production costs of Qur'an manuscripts due to the transition from parchment to paper enabled Qur'ans to be utilized more frequently for personal use/worship, rather than just ceremonial settings.

Literature
Scientific Manuscripts:

Many early illustrated Arabic manuscripts are affiliated with scientific subjects. Scientific manuscripts discuss a variety of topics including but not limited to astronomy, astrology, anatomy, botany, and zoology. The development of early illustrated scientific manuscripts began under the Islamic Abbasid dynasty in Baghdad in approximately the mid 8th century. This development is primarily attributed to the translation of Greek scientific and learned works, and the pursuit of original scholarship in science, medicine, and philosophy in Arabic. An example of an Arabic scientific manuscript is the Book of the Fixed Stars by Abd al-Rahman b. Umar al-Sufi. This manuscript is a catalog of stars and their constellations, commissioned by the patron the Buyid prince Adud al-Dawla. The Book of the Fixed Stars based most of its content on Ptolemy's Mathematik Syntaxis (Almagest), which was translated from Greek to Arabic during the 9th century. Al-Sufi's included his own observations of Ptolemy's material into his manuscript as well.