The digitization of an estimated 180-year-old Quran manuscript from Aceh, Indonesia, is underway to preserve its fragile pages and safeguard the Islamic knowledge it contains for future generations.

“Digitization is not merely converting a manuscript into digital form, but also preserving the knowledge it contains so it can be studied and passed down,” said Nurrahmi, a doctoral student at UIN Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh.

She said the manuscript’s deteriorating condition, including fragile pages and fading text, has made digitization necessary. The handwritten manuscript belonged to Teungku Chik Lampaloh, an Acehnese scholar also known as Sheikh Abdurrahman Lampaloh. Alongside Quranic text, it contains notes documenting Islamic knowledge and scholarly traditions of its era.

The project is part of Nurrahmi’s research, titled “From Manuscript to Digital Heritage: Preserving Nusantara Islamic Knowledge through the Digitalization of the Teungku Chik Lampaloh Manuscript,” presented at the 10th I-LISS Conference in Malaysia.

The digitization process is designed to reduce physical handling while keeping the manuscript accessible for research. The study also proposes a framework combining preservation, metadata management, and knowledge dissemination that could be adopted by libraries, archives, museums, and cultural heritage institutions.