The study of Islamic manuscript art does not focus exclusively on illuminated pages decorated richly in gold and jewel-like colours, but also considers many less prominent decorative elements. Based on examples from the library of a Muslim scholar in Marawi City in central Mindanao in the southern Philippines, I would like to illustrate three different modes of cultural interaction evident in Islamic manuscript art from Southeast Asia.
　　First, technical diagrams within books illustrate the transmission of classical Islamic texts eastwards to Southeast Asia, and show how Muslim communities in Mindanao were firmly connected with scholarly Islamic networks, yet encouraged the creative local treatment of artistic elements. My second subject, the 'seal of Solomon,' traces the adoption of the name of a powerful talisman from the Islamic west and its application to an auspicious motif deeply rooted in Southeast Asia. Finally, a highly distinctive composition of 'three fish with one head' is shown to have been disseminated over an extraordinarily wide religious, social and cultural arena, and yet its path of transmission is still not fully understood: did this motif travel from west to east, or from east to west, and then back again?
　　Each of these examples illustrates the rich diversity of cultural interactions evident in the Islamic manuscript art of Southeast Asia.