In an unassuming house on the Tunisian island of Djerba, Said al-Barouni embarked on a mission to safeguard his Muslim community’s little-known heritage. He makes the use of technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to save age-old religious manuscripts.
The 74-year-old librarian and member of the Islamic offshoot Ibadism took up the reins of his family’s six-generation library in the 1960s. He has been in a race against time to preserve whatever Ibadi manuscripts he can find.
“Look at…