Inside a family khizana: caring for desert manuscripts

Many Warjlani households still keep a chest of handwritten books. Heat, dust and insects are their enemies — but simple habits can save them.

A khizana can be a single wooden trunk or a whole room. Inside are Qur’ans, legal opinions, letters, poetry and the occasional account book from the caravan years.

The first rule is to do little: keep books flat, away from walls and sunlight, wrapped in clean cotton rather than plastic. Never tape a torn page.

At our February clinic, conservators will show families how to photograph each page so that the text is safe even if the paper is not.

“Every book in the chest is a conversation someone in the family once had.”