Thousands of Islamic Manuscripts Threatened by Conflicts in Iraq

An Iranian researcher says there are thousands of invaluable Islamic manuscripts in Iraq that are threatened by conflicts in the country.

Hojat-ol-Islam Mostafa Derayati said some of these manuscript copies of Islamic sources could be destroyed by the militants from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Speaking to Tasnim News Agency, he said a great number of Islamic manuscripts, of which no digital copies have been made, are kept in areas in Iraq that are currently controlled by the ISIL terrorists.
He said there is a danger that members of the extremist group might destroy the copies or set them on fire because of their radical views.
Hojat-ol-Islam Derayati underlined that ISIL's presence in Iraq is, among other things, a threat to the written Islamic heritage.
The ISIL terrorists currently control parts of eastern Syria and Iraq’s northern and western regions, where they have been committing heinous crimes in the captured areas including the mass execution of civilians and Iraqi security forces.