# The Deciphering of the "Ai Kitab"

- URL: https://syn.by/en/history/archives/deciphering-ai-kitab/
- Published: 1924-06-21T18:05:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-10T01:40:03+00:00
- Section: Archives
- Language: en
- EN edition: https://syn.by/en/history/archives/deciphering-the-ai-kitab.md
- BE edition: https://syn.by/historya/arkhivy/rasshyfrouka-aj-kitaba.md
- RU edition: https://syn.by/ru/istoriya/arhivy/rasshifrovka-ay-kitaba-2.md

> The Belarusian Scientific Society has sent to Prague a sixteenth-century manuscript written in Belarusian in Arabic letters. The pages already deciphered show that it is an exceptionally valuable monument of old writing.

![](https://syn.by/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/illustration-5635-1024x585.webp)

As we have learned, the manuscript "Ai Kitab" (Holy Book), written in Belarusian in Arabic letters (end of the 16th century), which the Belarusian Scientific Society sent to Prague to be deciphered, is being read under the direction of the Arabist Prof. Ruzicka, with the participation of Prof. Dr. Tauer and Yanka Stankevich.

So far 25 pages of the manuscript have been deciphered (transcribed into Latin letters). From this it can already be concluded that, as regards language, the "Ai Kitab" is the most interesting monument of our ancient writing. Its deciphering will greatly assist scholarly research on the Belarusian language.