The Holy Qur'an - Early Manuscripts
Ya Ali Madad.
I am still awaiting answer from our Ms A/T.( she has escaped earlier 5 questions as well).
failing to answer a common sense question is ignorance and escapism.
Shirk is in a mind of an ignorant, un blessed and may be a cursed person.
Every year over 70 million leave religion all together because their parents,peer and religious leaders cannot answer their simple questions of rational sense as conceived by them.
eg. why do people ring the bell in church or mandir?
and create noise pollution.
why all this acrobatic acts and for what?
why pray to a unknown and unseen in the first place?
they want know the value,use, logic and reasoning from science and reality of today and NOT A SINGLE word of stories/commands from the past.
I am still awaiting answer from our Ms A/T.( she has escaped earlier 5 questions as well).
failing to answer a common sense question is ignorance and escapism.
Shirk is in a mind of an ignorant, un blessed and may be a cursed person.
Every year over 70 million leave religion all together because their parents,peer and religious leaders cannot answer their simple questions of rational sense as conceived by them.
eg. why do people ring the bell in church or mandir?
and create noise pollution.
why all this acrobatic acts and for what?
why pray to a unknown and unseen in the first place?
they want know the value,use, logic and reasoning from science and reality of today and NOT A SINGLE word of stories/commands from the past.
Tracing the Quran's Journey
A major exhibit in Washington, D.C., showcases the world’s many Qurans.
The first major Quran exhibition in the United States opened its doors in Washington, D.C., this weekend, at the Smithsonian Institution’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of Art. The exhibit, entitled “The Art of the Qur’an: Treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts,” goes on display at a timely moment, amid the lively political debate over the nature and place of Islam in the United States. Unfortunately, over half of the American population has an unfavorable opinion of Islam. It is to be hoped that this exhibition will do its part in introducing more Americans to an appreciation of Islam, via, in this case, the Quran.
The Quran is the holy book of Islam, revered by more than one billion Muslims throughout the world. All the Qurans at the exhibit, numbering around sixty, were on loan from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Istanbul, Turkey. The Qurans included ranged from the Umayyad (661-750 CE) era to the Ottoman (1299-1923) Dynasty, and came from Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, and other places. At some point, the Qurans in the collection were acquired by members of the House of Osman, the Ottoman royal family.
Each Quran’s journey to the Ottoman family is an interesting tale; these stories shed light on related historical events and social and economic trends. Many Qurans show the seals of the owners, libraries, mosques, or other institutions they had passed through, making their journeys traceable. By way of example, there is a gilded Quran in the exhibition that the Ottomans acquired in Yemen after their conquest of that region in the sixteenth century.
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The Quran was placed, as a blessing, in the mausoleum of Ottoman Sultan Murad I (reigned 1362–80) in Busra. The Quran itself was originally copied in Cairo, Egypt, during the Fatimid period (909-1171 CE) in 1028, when the Ismaili Shia Fatimid dynasty was preeminent throughout much of the Islamic world. According to the Smithsonian Institution:
…as a symbol of Fatimid religious authority and political power, Caliph al-Mustansir bi’llah presented this manuscript to Ali al-Sulayhi, the Yemeni ruler of the Sulayhids (1047–1138). The exchange likely took place in 1062, when al-Sulayhi pledged religious and political allegiance to the Fatimid caliph. After that, the lucrative trade routes of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, which the Sulayhids controlled, became integrated within the larger Fatimid sultanate.
As I’ve written before, the Quran is a breathtakingly poetic and beautiful book, “melancholic, wistful, and sharp.” Moreover, Qurans are works of art, as the exhibit demonstrated. They served as talismans, decorations, and markers of prestige, in addition to being read. Individual Qurans are gilded, bound, and illuminated in a variety of ways, many of which often mark the era and place where they were copied. The Qurans on display came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some manuscripts were pocket-sized or even contained just portions of the Quran for reflection. One Quranic verse, about light (Surah 24:35), on display was not even on a manuscript but inscribed on a lamp. At the other end of scale, of particular interest, was a giant Quran created for the Central Asian conqueror Timur; each page measures five feet by seven feet.
Additionally, different Qurans were and are copied using different calligraphic scripts, and calligraphic masters, making each Quran distinct and unique. In general, Arabic writing has grown more curvaceous and flowing over time (though previous styles were still used as new ones developed), from the angular Kufic script of the Umayyads to the airy quality of the Nastaliq script commonly used in the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires after 1500 CE.
Despite the text of the Quran being the same in all the books at the display, there is an amazing variety of styles of beautiful art at the display. Both those new to the art of the Islamic world and those familiar with it will discover something new and interesting at this exhibit. A visit is highly recommended–but one should make haste, as the exhibit will only be at the Smithsonian until February 20, 2017.
http://thediplomat.com/2016/10/tracing- ... s-journey/
A major exhibit in Washington, D.C., showcases the world’s many Qurans.
The first major Quran exhibition in the United States opened its doors in Washington, D.C., this weekend, at the Smithsonian Institution’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of Art. The exhibit, entitled “The Art of the Qur’an: Treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts,” goes on display at a timely moment, amid the lively political debate over the nature and place of Islam in the United States. Unfortunately, over half of the American population has an unfavorable opinion of Islam. It is to be hoped that this exhibition will do its part in introducing more Americans to an appreciation of Islam, via, in this case, the Quran.
The Quran is the holy book of Islam, revered by more than one billion Muslims throughout the world. All the Qurans at the exhibit, numbering around sixty, were on loan from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Istanbul, Turkey. The Qurans included ranged from the Umayyad (661-750 CE) era to the Ottoman (1299-1923) Dynasty, and came from Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, and other places. At some point, the Qurans in the collection were acquired by members of the House of Osman, the Ottoman royal family.
Each Quran’s journey to the Ottoman family is an interesting tale; these stories shed light on related historical events and social and economic trends. Many Qurans show the seals of the owners, libraries, mosques, or other institutions they had passed through, making their journeys traceable. By way of example, there is a gilded Quran in the exhibition that the Ottomans acquired in Yemen after their conquest of that region in the sixteenth century.
Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month.
The Quran was placed, as a blessing, in the mausoleum of Ottoman Sultan Murad I (reigned 1362–80) in Busra. The Quran itself was originally copied in Cairo, Egypt, during the Fatimid period (909-1171 CE) in 1028, when the Ismaili Shia Fatimid dynasty was preeminent throughout much of the Islamic world. According to the Smithsonian Institution:
…as a symbol of Fatimid religious authority and political power, Caliph al-Mustansir bi’llah presented this manuscript to Ali al-Sulayhi, the Yemeni ruler of the Sulayhids (1047–1138). The exchange likely took place in 1062, when al-Sulayhi pledged religious and political allegiance to the Fatimid caliph. After that, the lucrative trade routes of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, which the Sulayhids controlled, became integrated within the larger Fatimid sultanate.
As I’ve written before, the Quran is a breathtakingly poetic and beautiful book, “melancholic, wistful, and sharp.” Moreover, Qurans are works of art, as the exhibit demonstrated. They served as talismans, decorations, and markers of prestige, in addition to being read. Individual Qurans are gilded, bound, and illuminated in a variety of ways, many of which often mark the era and place where they were copied. The Qurans on display came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some manuscripts were pocket-sized or even contained just portions of the Quran for reflection. One Quranic verse, about light (Surah 24:35), on display was not even on a manuscript but inscribed on a lamp. At the other end of scale, of particular interest, was a giant Quran created for the Central Asian conqueror Timur; each page measures five feet by seven feet.
Additionally, different Qurans were and are copied using different calligraphic scripts, and calligraphic masters, making each Quran distinct and unique. In general, Arabic writing has grown more curvaceous and flowing over time (though previous styles were still used as new ones developed), from the angular Kufic script of the Umayyads to the airy quality of the Nastaliq script commonly used in the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires after 1500 CE.
Despite the text of the Quran being the same in all the books at the display, there is an amazing variety of styles of beautiful art at the display. Both those new to the art of the Islamic world and those familiar with it will discover something new and interesting at this exhibit. A visit is highly recommended–but one should make haste, as the exhibit will only be at the Smithsonian until February 20, 2017.
http://thediplomat.com/2016/10/tracing- ... s-journey/
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shivaathervedi_3
- Posts: 354
- Joined: Wed May 16, 2018 7:29 pm
I was reading history of Pir Sadardin and came to know that for his livelihood he did KITABET of Quran (wrote complete Quran for Hadiyah). His hand writing of Arabic was excellent. Not only Pir Sadardin but Pir Hasan Kabiruddin and Syed Imam Shah beside his brothers also did KITABET of Quran. Few years back two hand written Qurans by Syed Imam Shah which were kept at his dargah disappeared. It is said those were disappeared due to conspiracy of Kaka who has converted Imam Shahi into Hinduism. Those hand written Qurans by Syed Imam Shah were valuable assets.
My question is any hand written Quran By Pir Sadardin survived and is available in British library, or in any university library, or in collection of Hazar Imam, or ISS, or Toronto Museum.
My question is any hand written Quran By Pir Sadardin survived and is available in British library, or in any university library, or in collection of Hazar Imam, or ISS, or Toronto Museum.
I don't know but from time to time some old manuscripts are surfacing with valiance such as the one found in Bhankipore with the Surah al - Narayanshivaathervedi wrote: My question is any hand written Quran By Pir Sadardin survived and is available in British library, or in any university library, or in collection of Hazar Imam, or ISS, or Toronto Museum.
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shivaathervedi_3
- Posts: 354
- Joined: Wed May 16, 2018 7:29 pm
Dai ul Mutaliq of Bohra Ismaili community has many hand written copies of Quran in his possession which were written in Yemen and other places by Ismaili dais in Fatimid era. Hazar Imam also has many manuscripts of that era. If these manuscripts are made available, should be beneficial for scholars and Ismailis particularly youth.Admin wrote:I don't know but from time to time some old manuscripts are surfacing with valiance such as the one found in Bhankipore with the Surah al - Narayanshivaathervedi wrote: My question is any hand written Quran By Pir Sadardin survived and is available in British library, or in any university library, or in collection of Hazar Imam, or ISS, or Toronto Museum.
5 minutes with... A monumental royal Mamluk Qur’an
‘Mamluk Qur’ans of this size with a royal dedication are extremely rare. This is why they get so much attention when they come to market,’ says William Robinson, International Head of Islamic Art. The Qu’ran is offered in London on 2 May
According to William Robinson, International Head of Islamic Art at Christie’s in London, there are three primary factors that make this monumental royal Mamluk Qur’an extraordinary.
The first lies in its royal provenance. ‘From the dedicatory inscription on its double-page illuminated frontispiece, we know that this Mamluk Qur’an was made for the Sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qaytbay, who reigned from 1468 to 1496,’ states Robinson.
The inscription in gold thuluth, an elegant angular Islamic script, is painted on a lapis lazuli ground. ‘It’s rather unusual for a Qur’an dating to this period to come complete with its original and unrestored front and back pages, as well as the name and date of the scribe,’ explains the specialist. ‘Mamluk Qur’ans of this size with a royal dedication are extremely rare. This is why they get so much attention when they do come to market.’
Quran, signed Tanam al-Najmi al-Maliki al-Ashrafi, Mamluk Egypt, dated 21 Jumada I 89430 April 1489. Folio 26¾ x 18 in (68 x 45.5 cm). Estimate £500,000-800,000. Offered in Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs and Carpets on 2 May 2019 at Christie’s in London
Qur’an, signed Tanam al-Najmi al-Maliki al-Ashrafi, Mamluk Egypt, dated 21 Jumada I 894/30 April 1489. Folio 26¾ x 18 in (68 x 45.5 cm). Estimate: £500,000-800,000. Offered in Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs and Carpets on 2 May 2019 at Christie’s in London
For Robinson, Sultan Qaytbay of Egypt was the last great sultan of the Mamluk period (1250-1517). His reign — over an area that spanned present-day Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Israel and Syria, as well as parts of Arabia — witnessed the last period of Mamluk stability and the construction of spectacular institutions and foundations across the region, from Cairo to Mecca.
Illuminated monumental Qur’ans were a speciality of the middle and later Mamluk periods and were often commissioned by Mamluk sultans as endowments for these institutions, where many still reside. This explains why there are very few Qur’ans of this size in private hands.
‘Although this monumental Qur’an is more than 500 years old, its pages are in excellent condition and retain their bright, fresh, cream colour’ — William Robinson
The second factor is the size of the folio, which measures 68 cm by 45.5 cm (26¾ in x 18 in). This roughly equates to the half-Baghdadi size of paper developed in the city of Baghdad and adopted throughout the medieval Islamic world. For Robinson, its great size — large Qur’ans from this period are usually quarter-Baghdadi in size or smaller — suggests that it was indeed endowed to one of Qaytbay’s foundations, and only later sold to a private collector.
‘Mamluk paper is generally of very good quality,’ he says. ‘Although this monumental Qur’an is more than 500 years old, its pages are in excellent condition and retain their bright, fresh, cream colour.’ They are also free from two of the deadliest scourges of ancient books of the Islamic world: insects and damp.
The third factor that makes this Qur’an so exceptional is its script. ‘It's rare to see naskh script on this scale in a volume of this size,’ the specialist explains. ‘Its compact nature makes it more commonly employed in volumes on a far smaller scale.’
In substantial Qur’ans such as this one, one would normally expect to see muhaqqaq, a script with much longer, elegant verticals. ‘Yet, on this scale,’ says Robinson, ‘the large naskh is wonderfully easy to read.’ The naskh in this volume has flow, strength, and individuality. ‘The scribe plays with form here and allows himself quite a bit of freedom,’ observes the specialist.
Images at:
https://www.christies.com/features/A-mo ... sc_lang=en
‘Mamluk Qur’ans of this size with a royal dedication are extremely rare. This is why they get so much attention when they come to market,’ says William Robinson, International Head of Islamic Art. The Qu’ran is offered in London on 2 May
According to William Robinson, International Head of Islamic Art at Christie’s in London, there are three primary factors that make this monumental royal Mamluk Qur’an extraordinary.
The first lies in its royal provenance. ‘From the dedicatory inscription on its double-page illuminated frontispiece, we know that this Mamluk Qur’an was made for the Sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qaytbay, who reigned from 1468 to 1496,’ states Robinson.
The inscription in gold thuluth, an elegant angular Islamic script, is painted on a lapis lazuli ground. ‘It’s rather unusual for a Qur’an dating to this period to come complete with its original and unrestored front and back pages, as well as the name and date of the scribe,’ explains the specialist. ‘Mamluk Qur’ans of this size with a royal dedication are extremely rare. This is why they get so much attention when they do come to market.’
Quran, signed Tanam al-Najmi al-Maliki al-Ashrafi, Mamluk Egypt, dated 21 Jumada I 89430 April 1489. Folio 26¾ x 18 in (68 x 45.5 cm). Estimate £500,000-800,000. Offered in Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs and Carpets on 2 May 2019 at Christie’s in London
Qur’an, signed Tanam al-Najmi al-Maliki al-Ashrafi, Mamluk Egypt, dated 21 Jumada I 894/30 April 1489. Folio 26¾ x 18 in (68 x 45.5 cm). Estimate: £500,000-800,000. Offered in Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Including Oriental Rugs and Carpets on 2 May 2019 at Christie’s in London
For Robinson, Sultan Qaytbay of Egypt was the last great sultan of the Mamluk period (1250-1517). His reign — over an area that spanned present-day Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Israel and Syria, as well as parts of Arabia — witnessed the last period of Mamluk stability and the construction of spectacular institutions and foundations across the region, from Cairo to Mecca.
Illuminated monumental Qur’ans were a speciality of the middle and later Mamluk periods and were often commissioned by Mamluk sultans as endowments for these institutions, where many still reside. This explains why there are very few Qur’ans of this size in private hands.
‘Although this monumental Qur’an is more than 500 years old, its pages are in excellent condition and retain their bright, fresh, cream colour’ — William Robinson
The second factor is the size of the folio, which measures 68 cm by 45.5 cm (26¾ in x 18 in). This roughly equates to the half-Baghdadi size of paper developed in the city of Baghdad and adopted throughout the medieval Islamic world. For Robinson, its great size — large Qur’ans from this period are usually quarter-Baghdadi in size or smaller — suggests that it was indeed endowed to one of Qaytbay’s foundations, and only later sold to a private collector.
‘Mamluk paper is generally of very good quality,’ he says. ‘Although this monumental Qur’an is more than 500 years old, its pages are in excellent condition and retain their bright, fresh, cream colour.’ They are also free from two of the deadliest scourges of ancient books of the Islamic world: insects and damp.
The third factor that makes this Qur’an so exceptional is its script. ‘It's rare to see naskh script on this scale in a volume of this size,’ the specialist explains. ‘Its compact nature makes it more commonly employed in volumes on a far smaller scale.’
In substantial Qur’ans such as this one, one would normally expect to see muhaqqaq, a script with much longer, elegant verticals. ‘Yet, on this scale,’ says Robinson, ‘the large naskh is wonderfully easy to read.’ The naskh in this volume has flow, strength, and individuality. ‘The scribe plays with form here and allows himself quite a bit of freedom,’ observes the specialist.
Images at:
https://www.christies.com/features/A-mo ... sc_lang=en
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swamidada_1
- Posts: 239
- Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2018 9:21 pm
The Qur’an Illuminated
June 8, 2017
Yael Rice on Islamic Book and Manuscript Arts in America
In October 2016, during the final month of a fractious presidential election that saw the GOP contender (now President of the United States) campaign on a promise to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the country, an exhibition of Qur’an manuscripts opened at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C., a few blocks from the White House. “The Art of the Qur’an: Treasures From the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts,” which closed on February 20, was the most ambitious exhibition of Qur’an manuscripts ever undertaken in the United States. It is worth letting that point sink in: the very first large–scale exhibition of Qur’an manuscripts in the United States was mounted in 2016–17 at a governmentally administered museum. Given the rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric and Islamophobic attacks, some might say an exhibition like this one was timely. I’d say it was long overdue.
The curators of the show, Massumeh Farhad and Simon Rettig, had their work cut out for them. The exhibition showcased over sixty manuscripts, two-thirds of which were borrowed from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul. To coordinate a loan show of this scale is no small feat, not least when you take into account the failed military coup that took place in Turkey in July 2016, and the purge of civil servants that followed. Negotiations between the Turkish and U.S. institutions, which were years in the making, could have easily derailed.
Another challenge the curators faced was the task of contextualizing a scripture whose unusual format resists facile explication. Although the Qur’an is often characterized as a book, it is better understood as an orally proclaimed text. It is in this state that, according to Islamic tradition, the Qur’an was transmitted from God to the Prophet Muhammad (c. 570–632), via the Archangel Jibra’il (Gabriel). Muhammad received the revelations over a period of twenty-two years, and in two different locales (Mecca and Medina). When the Qur’anic text was compiled as a single corpus, following the Prophet’s passing, its 114 suras (chapters) were arranged not in chronological, geographical, or thematic order, but according to length. Barring the first sura (al-Fatiha, “the opening”), the Qur’an proceeds from the longest to the shortest sura. The text is also often divided into thirty roughly equal parts (azja’). This organizational scheme likely served to facilitate recitation and memorization of the divine text and thus ensure its preservation. The practice of committing the Qur’an to memory, considered to be a pious act, continues to this day.
If the arrangement of the Qur’anic corpus aids recitation and memorization, it also amplifies the text’s nonlinear qualities. The Qur’an lacks a clear narrative arc, and each of its suras functions in effect as a standalone text unit. The oneness of God, the finality of the revelations, and a self-conscious awareness of its place vis-à-vis other scriptural traditions are themes that run throughout the Qur’anic corpus, but the individual suras take up many other issues that have little or no connecting thread between them. Even more, the text employs a diversity of literary forms and rhetorical devices to create an intensity of expression that reinforces its sanctified nature. The combined thematic and formal heterogeneity can make the Qur’an a difficult subject to broach with a general audience.
Tasked with this challenge, the curators used the upper story of the exhibition space to flesh out some of the Qur’an’s most salient themes. These include its monotheistic message, eschatological emphasis, and self-referentiality. A series of didactic texts on the prophets and other holy personages that appear in the Qur’an introduced Muhammad alongside ‘Isa (Jesus), Maryam (Mary), and Ibrahim (Abraham), thereby underscoring Islam’s status as an Abrahamic religion. The prophets also play a fundamental role as models of conduct, and the Qur’an itself is considered to be the ultimate moral and ethical guide, providing instruction on dietary restrictions, divorce, and more.
Two folios from a monumental, dispersed Qur’an attributed to the calligrapher ‘Umar Aqta’ greeted visitors as they descended from one level of the exhibition to the next. The original manuscript was probably produced in Samarqand, Uzbekistan around 1400. Art and History Collection, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, LTS1995.2.16.1, LTS1995.2.16.2
Two folios from a monumental, dispersed Qur’an attributed to the calligrapher ‘Umar Aqta’ greeted visitors as they descended from one level of the exhibition to the next. The original manuscript was probably produced in Samarqand, Uzbekistan around 1400. Art and History Collection, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, LTS1995.2.16.1, LTS1995.2.16.2
The array of manuscripts on display in the introductory galleries made a stunning backdrop to the presentation of the Qur’an’s core tenets—still, one could not help being pulled into the glimmer of the verse markers’ gilding and the rhythms of the calligraphy’s dark, inky curls. An enormous Safavid Qur’an manuscript that greeted the viewer upon entering the exhibition seemed to revel in its own massive physicality. For those literate in Arabic, the manuscripts signified in yet other ways. The exhibition proceeded from these anterior galleries into a transitional space containing cases filled with pens, burnishing tools, gold leaf, and pigments. One then descended a staircase overlooking Qur’an pages that measure nearly six feet in height. Produced in Samarqand, in present-day Uzbekistan, around the early fifteenth century, the monumental folios combine joined bands of thick paper with ink, watercolor paint, and gold, forming a magnificent field of masterfully executed calligraphy and illumination. In spite of its very large size, the original manuscript—perhaps produced for the great ruler Timur (d. 1405)—was carried beyond Samarqand (probably taken as plunder) and dispersed. If the Qur’an is at once timeless and immaterial, its instantiation in the form of a manuscript is most certainly not; the mammoth Timurid pages reminded us of that point.
The remainder of the exhibition concentrated on the history of the Qur’an’s production and use. Here the Qur’an manuscript emerged as a thoroughly physical entity: a container for divine revelation and, on occasion, non-Qur’anic prayers; a material vehicle for the transmission of baraka (divine blessing); a bearer of the calligrapher’s trace; a site for the negotiation of and experimentation with aesthetic and linguistic practices; and a statement of filial and political loyalty and religious devotion. Qur’an manuscripts seldom stayed in one location, but rather circulated widely as gifts, booty, and pious endowments.
Folio from a Qur’an manuscript on parchment produced in Iran or Iraq at the end of the eighth century AD. As was typical for this period, the calligrapher here used an angular script known as kufic. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, LTS1998.2.3 (Photograph: Freer|Sackler staff)
Folio from a Qur’an manuscript on parchment produced in Iran or Iraq at the end of the eighth century AD. As was typical for this period, the calligrapher here used an angular script known as kufic. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, LTS1998.2.3 (Photograph: Freer|Sackler staff)
The story began with the Qur’an’s compilation as a written text during the seventh through tenth centuries. Parchment, rather than paper—which only came into use in the broader Islamic world around the tenth century—, was the most commonly used support during this period. In many of the examples of Qur’an manuscript pages on view, the calligraphers wrote in an angular script known as kufic, stretching select letters along the baseline to shape the divine text into a geometrically harmonized block. Economical use of the expensive animal skin was not necessarily an overriding concern. Only during the latter phase of this period was a more regular system for pointing, a system of diacritical marks used to differentiate Arabic letter forms that have the same basic configuration, and short vowel marking advanced. Considered alongside the emergence of more elaborate and distinctive text divisions for chapter titles and verse markers, these developments suggest the Qur’an manuscript’s changing function from a mnemonic device to a read text. Throughout this early phase, the Qur’an remained (and continues to remain) unillustrated.
Single-volume Qur’an on paper produced in eastern Iran or Afghanistan around 1020–30 AD. Although a certain Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali copied the text, the manuscript bears a spurious attribution to the famed calligrapher and illuminator Ibn al-Bawwab. Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, TIEM 449 (Photograph: Freer|Sackler staff)
Single-volume Qur’an on paper produced in eastern Iran or Afghanistan around 1020–30 AD. Although a certain Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali copied the text, the manuscript bears a spurious attribution to the famed calligrapher and illuminator Ibn al-Bawwab. Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, TIEM 449 (Photograph: Freer|Sackler staff)
The spread of papermaking technology around the end of the tenth century had an indelible effect on Qur’an manuscript production. Since paper was comparatively more affordable than parchment, the pool of patrons and manuscripts expanded. With the intensification and diffusion of production came new and more legible scripts and a greater range of styles of ornamentation. The names of calligraphers also began to appear in manuscript colophons. The Baghdad-based scribe and illuminator Ibn al-Bawwab (d. 1022) gained such widespread fame that his name was spuriously added to a spectacular eleventh-century Qur’an included in the exhibition. The owner of the manuscript apparently deemed the hand of the original calligrapher, a certain Abu’l Qasim ‘Ali, to hold insufficient prestige. Pages from a diminutive tenth-century parchment Qur’an also on view were, in sixteenth-century Iran, inscribed with the “signature” of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 660), the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet. ‘Ali is not only a supremely important spiritual figure for Shi’i Muslims, but he is also popularly identified as the progenitor of the kufic script. The addition of his name was likely intended to elevate the manuscript’s spiritual value.
Qur’an manuscripts, as conceived in the Sackler installation, are deeply layered objects; they are mediums for the divine words of God, but they can also give voice to a diverse range of sectarian, devotional, artisanal, and dynastic claims. The Ottomans here took center stage, since the exhibition loans had been held in long-established personal and institutional collections across the Ottoman Empire prior to their transfer to the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art in the early twentieth century. Many Ottoman elites acquired Qur’ans that were associated with esteemed (or politically subdued) royal lineages, individuals, and cultural centers. They also collected Qur’an manuscripts because of the special baraka these books were perceived to possess. Two such manuscripts—one made in 1577 in the Prophet’s mosque in Medina, the other made around 1250–1300 in Konya, burial place of the great Sufi Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273)—were spiritually activated by virtue of their places of production.
Single-volume Qur’an copied by Khalil Allah ibn Mahmud Shah and illuminated by Muhammad ibn ‘Ali in Istanbul in September 1517 and later gifted by the Ottoman princess Ismihan to the tomb of her father, Selim II (r. 1566–74). Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, TIEM 224 (Photograph: Freer|Sackler staff)
Single-volume Qur’an copied by Khalil Allah ibn Mahmud Shah and illuminated by Muhammad ibn ‘Ali in Istanbul in September 1517 and later gifted by the Ottoman princess Ismihan to the tomb of her father, Selim II (r. 1566–74). Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, TIEM 224 (Photograph: Freer|Sackler staff)
The concentration of Qur’an manuscripts in royal libraries, mosques, and mausoleums could magnify the baraka in those spaces. The tomb of Sultan Selim II (r. 1566–74), in Istanbul, once held eighteen Qur’an manuscripts, including one that his daughter Ismihan presented to augment the site’s blessedness and broadcast her own religious and filial devotion. A large number of Ottoman elites participated in these public demonstrations of piety and dynastic loyalty; as a result, the purchase, trade, and gifting of Qur’an manuscripts flourished, and charitable donations of these materials to religious institutions multiplied.
Around 1911, the process to transfer many of these manuscript bequests to the Museum of Islamic Endowments (renamed the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in 1923) was initiated. Taking the exhibition’s premise to its logical conclusion, one might ask: Does this early twentieth-century episode represent a complete break from or a continuation of prior collection practices? Further, what does the temporary transfer of forty-eight of these Qur’an manuscripts and folios from Turkey to the United States mean today, in the age of Erdogan and Trump? These questions loomed as specters in the galleries, and they continue to reverberate in the exhibition’s aftermath, as Erdogan and Trump find common ground in their shared opposition to a free press and checks on presidential power; academic institutions are also increasingly under attack in both Turkey and the United States. “The Art of the Qur’an,” if only coincidentally, brought the contradictions and perils of the U.S.-Turkey partnership into sharper relief. For most visitors to the Sackler exhibition, however, the manuscripts offered up powerfully palpable historical resonances, while the stunning beauty of the books acted as another compelling lure. For many, the manuscripts also contained the literal words—and, thus, baraka—of God. For those who accept the Qur’an as revelation, the exhibition manifested a glorious repetition of a text that is enduring and unearthly, and which knows no bounds.
Yael Rice is Assistant Professor of the History of Art and Asian Languages and Civilizations at Amherst College. She specializes in the art and architecture of South Asia and Iran, with a particular focus on manuscripts and other portable arts of the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries.?[email protected].
June 8, 2017
Yael Rice on Islamic Book and Manuscript Arts in America
In October 2016, during the final month of a fractious presidential election that saw the GOP contender (now President of the United States) campaign on a promise to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the country, an exhibition of Qur’an manuscripts opened at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C., a few blocks from the White House. “The Art of the Qur’an: Treasures From the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts,” which closed on February 20, was the most ambitious exhibition of Qur’an manuscripts ever undertaken in the United States. It is worth letting that point sink in: the very first large–scale exhibition of Qur’an manuscripts in the United States was mounted in 2016–17 at a governmentally administered museum. Given the rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric and Islamophobic attacks, some might say an exhibition like this one was timely. I’d say it was long overdue.
The curators of the show, Massumeh Farhad and Simon Rettig, had their work cut out for them. The exhibition showcased over sixty manuscripts, two-thirds of which were borrowed from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul. To coordinate a loan show of this scale is no small feat, not least when you take into account the failed military coup that took place in Turkey in July 2016, and the purge of civil servants that followed. Negotiations between the Turkish and U.S. institutions, which were years in the making, could have easily derailed.
Another challenge the curators faced was the task of contextualizing a scripture whose unusual format resists facile explication. Although the Qur’an is often characterized as a book, it is better understood as an orally proclaimed text. It is in this state that, according to Islamic tradition, the Qur’an was transmitted from God to the Prophet Muhammad (c. 570–632), via the Archangel Jibra’il (Gabriel). Muhammad received the revelations over a period of twenty-two years, and in two different locales (Mecca and Medina). When the Qur’anic text was compiled as a single corpus, following the Prophet’s passing, its 114 suras (chapters) were arranged not in chronological, geographical, or thematic order, but according to length. Barring the first sura (al-Fatiha, “the opening”), the Qur’an proceeds from the longest to the shortest sura. The text is also often divided into thirty roughly equal parts (azja’). This organizational scheme likely served to facilitate recitation and memorization of the divine text and thus ensure its preservation. The practice of committing the Qur’an to memory, considered to be a pious act, continues to this day.
If the arrangement of the Qur’anic corpus aids recitation and memorization, it also amplifies the text’s nonlinear qualities. The Qur’an lacks a clear narrative arc, and each of its suras functions in effect as a standalone text unit. The oneness of God, the finality of the revelations, and a self-conscious awareness of its place vis-à-vis other scriptural traditions are themes that run throughout the Qur’anic corpus, but the individual suras take up many other issues that have little or no connecting thread between them. Even more, the text employs a diversity of literary forms and rhetorical devices to create an intensity of expression that reinforces its sanctified nature. The combined thematic and formal heterogeneity can make the Qur’an a difficult subject to broach with a general audience.
Tasked with this challenge, the curators used the upper story of the exhibition space to flesh out some of the Qur’an’s most salient themes. These include its monotheistic message, eschatological emphasis, and self-referentiality. A series of didactic texts on the prophets and other holy personages that appear in the Qur’an introduced Muhammad alongside ‘Isa (Jesus), Maryam (Mary), and Ibrahim (Abraham), thereby underscoring Islam’s status as an Abrahamic religion. The prophets also play a fundamental role as models of conduct, and the Qur’an itself is considered to be the ultimate moral and ethical guide, providing instruction on dietary restrictions, divorce, and more.
Two folios from a monumental, dispersed Qur’an attributed to the calligrapher ‘Umar Aqta’ greeted visitors as they descended from one level of the exhibition to the next. The original manuscript was probably produced in Samarqand, Uzbekistan around 1400. Art and History Collection, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, LTS1995.2.16.1, LTS1995.2.16.2
Two folios from a monumental, dispersed Qur’an attributed to the calligrapher ‘Umar Aqta’ greeted visitors as they descended from one level of the exhibition to the next. The original manuscript was probably produced in Samarqand, Uzbekistan around 1400. Art and History Collection, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, LTS1995.2.16.1, LTS1995.2.16.2
The array of manuscripts on display in the introductory galleries made a stunning backdrop to the presentation of the Qur’an’s core tenets—still, one could not help being pulled into the glimmer of the verse markers’ gilding and the rhythms of the calligraphy’s dark, inky curls. An enormous Safavid Qur’an manuscript that greeted the viewer upon entering the exhibition seemed to revel in its own massive physicality. For those literate in Arabic, the manuscripts signified in yet other ways. The exhibition proceeded from these anterior galleries into a transitional space containing cases filled with pens, burnishing tools, gold leaf, and pigments. One then descended a staircase overlooking Qur’an pages that measure nearly six feet in height. Produced in Samarqand, in present-day Uzbekistan, around the early fifteenth century, the monumental folios combine joined bands of thick paper with ink, watercolor paint, and gold, forming a magnificent field of masterfully executed calligraphy and illumination. In spite of its very large size, the original manuscript—perhaps produced for the great ruler Timur (d. 1405)—was carried beyond Samarqand (probably taken as plunder) and dispersed. If the Qur’an is at once timeless and immaterial, its instantiation in the form of a manuscript is most certainly not; the mammoth Timurid pages reminded us of that point.
The remainder of the exhibition concentrated on the history of the Qur’an’s production and use. Here the Qur’an manuscript emerged as a thoroughly physical entity: a container for divine revelation and, on occasion, non-Qur’anic prayers; a material vehicle for the transmission of baraka (divine blessing); a bearer of the calligrapher’s trace; a site for the negotiation of and experimentation with aesthetic and linguistic practices; and a statement of filial and political loyalty and religious devotion. Qur’an manuscripts seldom stayed in one location, but rather circulated widely as gifts, booty, and pious endowments.
Folio from a Qur’an manuscript on parchment produced in Iran or Iraq at the end of the eighth century AD. As was typical for this period, the calligrapher here used an angular script known as kufic. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, LTS1998.2.3 (Photograph: Freer|Sackler staff)
Folio from a Qur’an manuscript on parchment produced in Iran or Iraq at the end of the eighth century AD. As was typical for this period, the calligrapher here used an angular script known as kufic. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, LTS1998.2.3 (Photograph: Freer|Sackler staff)
The story began with the Qur’an’s compilation as a written text during the seventh through tenth centuries. Parchment, rather than paper—which only came into use in the broader Islamic world around the tenth century—, was the most commonly used support during this period. In many of the examples of Qur’an manuscript pages on view, the calligraphers wrote in an angular script known as kufic, stretching select letters along the baseline to shape the divine text into a geometrically harmonized block. Economical use of the expensive animal skin was not necessarily an overriding concern. Only during the latter phase of this period was a more regular system for pointing, a system of diacritical marks used to differentiate Arabic letter forms that have the same basic configuration, and short vowel marking advanced. Considered alongside the emergence of more elaborate and distinctive text divisions for chapter titles and verse markers, these developments suggest the Qur’an manuscript’s changing function from a mnemonic device to a read text. Throughout this early phase, the Qur’an remained (and continues to remain) unillustrated.
Single-volume Qur’an on paper produced in eastern Iran or Afghanistan around 1020–30 AD. Although a certain Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali copied the text, the manuscript bears a spurious attribution to the famed calligrapher and illuminator Ibn al-Bawwab. Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, TIEM 449 (Photograph: Freer|Sackler staff)
Single-volume Qur’an on paper produced in eastern Iran or Afghanistan around 1020–30 AD. Although a certain Abu’l-Qasim ‘Ali copied the text, the manuscript bears a spurious attribution to the famed calligrapher and illuminator Ibn al-Bawwab. Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, TIEM 449 (Photograph: Freer|Sackler staff)
The spread of papermaking technology around the end of the tenth century had an indelible effect on Qur’an manuscript production. Since paper was comparatively more affordable than parchment, the pool of patrons and manuscripts expanded. With the intensification and diffusion of production came new and more legible scripts and a greater range of styles of ornamentation. The names of calligraphers also began to appear in manuscript colophons. The Baghdad-based scribe and illuminator Ibn al-Bawwab (d. 1022) gained such widespread fame that his name was spuriously added to a spectacular eleventh-century Qur’an included in the exhibition. The owner of the manuscript apparently deemed the hand of the original calligrapher, a certain Abu’l Qasim ‘Ali, to hold insufficient prestige. Pages from a diminutive tenth-century parchment Qur’an also on view were, in sixteenth-century Iran, inscribed with the “signature” of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 660), the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet. ‘Ali is not only a supremely important spiritual figure for Shi’i Muslims, but he is also popularly identified as the progenitor of the kufic script. The addition of his name was likely intended to elevate the manuscript’s spiritual value.
Qur’an manuscripts, as conceived in the Sackler installation, are deeply layered objects; they are mediums for the divine words of God, but they can also give voice to a diverse range of sectarian, devotional, artisanal, and dynastic claims. The Ottomans here took center stage, since the exhibition loans had been held in long-established personal and institutional collections across the Ottoman Empire prior to their transfer to the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art in the early twentieth century. Many Ottoman elites acquired Qur’ans that were associated with esteemed (or politically subdued) royal lineages, individuals, and cultural centers. They also collected Qur’an manuscripts because of the special baraka these books were perceived to possess. Two such manuscripts—one made in 1577 in the Prophet’s mosque in Medina, the other made around 1250–1300 in Konya, burial place of the great Sufi Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273)—were spiritually activated by virtue of their places of production.
Single-volume Qur’an copied by Khalil Allah ibn Mahmud Shah and illuminated by Muhammad ibn ‘Ali in Istanbul in September 1517 and later gifted by the Ottoman princess Ismihan to the tomb of her father, Selim II (r. 1566–74). Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, TIEM 224 (Photograph: Freer|Sackler staff)
Single-volume Qur’an copied by Khalil Allah ibn Mahmud Shah and illuminated by Muhammad ibn ‘Ali in Istanbul in September 1517 and later gifted by the Ottoman princess Ismihan to the tomb of her father, Selim II (r. 1566–74). Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul, TIEM 224 (Photograph: Freer|Sackler staff)
The concentration of Qur’an manuscripts in royal libraries, mosques, and mausoleums could magnify the baraka in those spaces. The tomb of Sultan Selim II (r. 1566–74), in Istanbul, once held eighteen Qur’an manuscripts, including one that his daughter Ismihan presented to augment the site’s blessedness and broadcast her own religious and filial devotion. A large number of Ottoman elites participated in these public demonstrations of piety and dynastic loyalty; as a result, the purchase, trade, and gifting of Qur’an manuscripts flourished, and charitable donations of these materials to religious institutions multiplied.
Around 1911, the process to transfer many of these manuscript bequests to the Museum of Islamic Endowments (renamed the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in 1923) was initiated. Taking the exhibition’s premise to its logical conclusion, one might ask: Does this early twentieth-century episode represent a complete break from or a continuation of prior collection practices? Further, what does the temporary transfer of forty-eight of these Qur’an manuscripts and folios from Turkey to the United States mean today, in the age of Erdogan and Trump? These questions loomed as specters in the galleries, and they continue to reverberate in the exhibition’s aftermath, as Erdogan and Trump find common ground in their shared opposition to a free press and checks on presidential power; academic institutions are also increasingly under attack in both Turkey and the United States. “The Art of the Qur’an,” if only coincidentally, brought the contradictions and perils of the U.S.-Turkey partnership into sharper relief. For most visitors to the Sackler exhibition, however, the manuscripts offered up powerfully palpable historical resonances, while the stunning beauty of the books acted as another compelling lure. For many, the manuscripts also contained the literal words—and, thus, baraka—of God. For those who accept the Qur’an as revelation, the exhibition manifested a glorious repetition of a text that is enduring and unearthly, and which knows no bounds.
Yael Rice is Assistant Professor of the History of Art and Asian Languages and Civilizations at Amherst College. She specializes in the art and architecture of South Asia and Iran, with a particular focus on manuscripts and other portable arts of the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries.?[email protected].
Curator Conversation: A Most Unusual Qur'an
Completed in 1399 in what is now India, the Gwalior Qur’an has many features that distinguish it from other Qur’ans in the Museum’s Collection. Curator Dr. Marika Sardar delves into the fascinating details in this history-rich short video for the #MuseumWithoutWalls.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IELJyLvHams
Completed in 1399 in what is now India, the Gwalior Qur’an has many features that distinguish it from other Qur’ans in the Museum’s Collection. Curator Dr. Marika Sardar delves into the fascinating details in this history-rich short video for the #MuseumWithoutWalls.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IELJyLvHams
Re: The Holy Qur'an - Early Manuscripts
Early Quranic manuscripts
From Wikipedia
In Muslim tradition the Quran is the final revelation from God, Islam's divine text, delivered to the Islamic prophet Muhammad through the angel Jibril (Gabriel). Muhammad's revelations were said to have been recorded orally, through Muhammad and his followers up until his death in 632 CE. These revelations were then compiled by first caliph Abu Bakr and codified during the reign of the third caliph Uthman (r. 644–656 CE) so that the standard codex edition of the Quran or Muṣḥaf was completed around 650 CE, according to Muslim scholars. This has been critiqued by some western scholarship, suggesting the Quran was canonized at a later date, based on the dating of classical Islamic narratives, i.e. hadiths, which were written 150–200 years after the death of Prophet Muhammad, and partly because of the textual variations present in the Sana'a manuscript. With the discovery of earlier manuscripts which conform to the Uthmanic standard however, the revisionist view has fallen out of favor and been described as "untenable", with western scholarship generally supporting the classical Muslim view.
More than 60 fragments including more than 2000 folios (4000 pages) are so far known as the textual witnesses (manuscripts) of the Qur’an before 800 CE (within 168 years after the death of Prophet Muhammad), according to Corpus Coranicum, a research organisation funded by the Government of Germany. However, in 2015, experts from the University of Birmingham discovered the Birmingham Quran manuscript, which is possibly the oldest manuscript of the Quran in the world. Radiocarbon analysis to determine the age of the manuscript revealed that this manuscript could be traced back to between 6th or 7th century. Selected manuscripts from the first four centuries after the death of Prophet Muhammad (632-1032 CE) are listed below.
Hijazi manuscripts
The recto of the first folio of codex Parisino-petropolitanus.
Further information: Hijazi script
Hijazi manuscripts are some of the earliest forms of Quranic texts, and can be characterized by Hijazi script.
Hijazi script is distinguished by its "informal, sloping Arabic script." The most widely used Qurans were written in the Hijazi style script, a style that originates before Kufic style script. This is portrayed by the rightward inclining of the tall shafts of the letters, and the vertical extension of the letters.
Codex Parisino-petropolitanus
The so-called Codex Parisino-petropolitanus formerly conserved portions of two of the oldest extant Quranic manuscripts. Most surviving leaves represent a Quran that is preserved in various fragments, the largest part of which are kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, as BNF Arabe 328(ab). Forty-six leaves are held at the National Library of Russia and one each in the Vatican Library (Vat. Ar. 1605/1) and in the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art.
BnF Arabe 328(c)
BnF Arabe 328(c), formerly bound with BnF Arabe 328(ab), has 16 leaves, with two additional leaves discovered in Birmingham in 2015 (Mingana 1572a, bound with an unrelated Quranic manuscript).
BnF Arabe 328(c) was part of the lot of pages from the store of Quranic manuscripts at the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As in Fustat bought by French Orientalist Jean-Louis Asselin de Cherville (1772–1822) when he served as vice-consul in Cairo during 1806–1816.
The 16 folia in Paris contain the text of chapter 10:35 to 11:95 and of 20:99 to 23:11.
The Birmingham folia cover part of the lacuna (gap) in the Paris portion, with parts of the text of suras 18, 19 and 20.
Birmingham Quran manuscript
Main article: Birmingham Quran manuscript
Close up of part of folio 2 recto of Birmingham Quran manuscript
The Birmingham Quran manuscript parchment of two leaves (cataloged as Mingana 1572a) has been radiocarbon dated to between 568 and 645 CE with a confidence of 97.2%, indicating the animal from which the parchment was made lived during that time.
The parts of Surahs 18-20 it leaves preserve[16] are written in ink on parchment, using an Arabic Hijazi script and are still clearly legible. The leaves are folio size (343 mm by 258 mm at the widest point),[17] and are written on both sides in a generously scaled and legible script. The text is laid out in the format that was to become standard for complete Quran texts, with chapter divisions indicated by linear decoration, and verse endings by intertextual clustered dots.
The two leaves are held by the University of Birmingham, in the Cadbury Research Library, but have been recognized as corresponding to a lacuna in the 16 leaves catalogued as BnF Arabe 328(c) in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, now bound with the Codex Parisino-petropolitanus.
Marijn van Putten, who has published work on idiosyncratic orthography common to all early manuscripts of the Uthmanic text type has stated and demonstrated with examples that due to a number of these same idiosyncratic spellings present in the Birmingham fragment (Mingana 1572a + Arabe 328c), it is "clearly a descendant of the Uthmanic text type" and that it is "impossible" that it is a pre-Uthmanic copy, despite its early radiocarbon dating.
Tübingen fragment
In November 2014, the University of Tübingen in Germany announced that a partial Quran manuscript in their possession (Ms M a VI 165), had been carbon dated (with a confidence of 94.8%), to between 649 and 675. The manuscript is now recognised as being written in hijazi script, although in the 1930 catalogue of the collection it is classified as "Kufic", and consists of the Quranic verses 17:36, to 36:57 (and part of verse 17:35).
Sana'a manuscript
Main article: Sana'a manuscript
The Sana'a manuscript, is one of the oldest Quranic manuscripts in existence. It contains only three chapters. It was found, along with many other Quranic and non-Quranic fragments, in Yemen in 1972 during restoration of the Great Mosque of Sana'a. The manuscript is written on parchment, and comprises two layers of text (see palimpsest). The upper text conforms to the standard 'Uthmanic Quran, whereas the lower text contains many variants to the standard text. An edition of the lower text was published in 2012. A radiocarbon analysis has dated the parchment containing the lower text to before 671 AD with a 99% accuracy.
Add. 1125
This manuscript was acquired by University of Cambridge from Edward H. Palmer (1840-1882) and EE Tyrwhitt Drake. It was created before 800CE according to Corpus Coranicum.
Ms. Or. 2165
British Library MS. Or. 2165 Early Qur'anic manuscript written in Ma'il script, 7th or 8th century CE.
Kufic manuscripts
Quran in Kufic script
Further information: Kufic script
Kufic manuscripts can be characterized by the Kufic form of calligraphy. Kufic calligraphy, which was later named after art historians in the 19th or 20th century is described by means of precise upstanding letters. For a long time, the Blue Qur'an, the Topkapi manuscript, and the Samarkand Kufic Quran were considered the oldest Quran copies in existence. Both codices are more or less complete. They are written in the Kufic script. It "can generally be dated from the late eighth century depending on the extent of development in the character of the script in each case."
The Blue Quran
Main article: Blue Qur'an
The Blue Qur'an (Arabic: al-Muṣḥaf al-′Azraq) is a late 9th to early 10th-century Tunisian Qur'an manuscript in Kufic calligraphy, probably created in North Africa for the Great Mosque of Kairouan. It is among the most famous works of Islamic calligraphy, and has been called "one of the most extraordinary luxury manuscripts ever created." Because the manuscript was done in Kufic style writing, it is quite hard to read. "The letters have been manipulated to make each line the same length, and the marks necessary to distinguish between letters have been omitted." The Blue Quran is constructed of indigo-dyed parchment with the inscriptions done in gold ink, which makes it one of the rarest Quran productions ever known. The use of dyed parchment and gold ink is said to have been inspired by the Christian Byzantine Empire, due to the fact that many manuscripts were produced in the same way there. Each verse is separated by circular silver marks, although they are now harder to see due to fading and oxidization.
Topkapi manuscript
Main article: Topkapi manuscript
The Topkapi manuscript is an early manuscript of the Quran dated to the early 8th century. It is kept in the Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, Turkey. Originally attributed to Uthman Ibn Affan (d. 656), but because of its illumination, it is now thought the manuscript could not date from the period (mid 7th century) when the copies of the Caliph Uthman were written.
Samarkand Kufic Quran
Main article: Samarkand Kufic Quran
The Samarkand Kufic Quran, preserved at Tashkent, is a Kufic manuscript, in Uzbek tradition identified as one of Uthman's manuscripts, but dated to the 8th or 9th century by both paleographic studies and carbon-dating of the parchment. Radio-carbon dating showed a 95.4% probability of a date between 795 and 855.
Gilchrist's dating of any Kufic manuscript to the later 8th century has been criticized by other scholars, who have cited many earlier instances of early Kufic and pre-Kufic inscriptions. The most important of these are the Quranic inscriptions in Kufic script from the founding of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (692). Inscriptions on rock Hijazi and early Kufic script may date as early as 646. The debate between the scholars has moved from one over the date origin of the script to one over the state of development of the Kufic script in the early manuscripts and in datable 7th-century inscriptions.
Gotthelf Bergsträßer Archive
This almost complete Quranic manuscript was photographed by Otto Pretzl in 1934 in Morocco. In recent years, a few folios from the manuscripts have been sold by private companies and were dated to the 9th century or earlier by Christie's.
Other Manuscripts
The Ma'il Quran
Page from the Ma’il Qur’an. Hijaz, 8th century. British Library
The Ma'il Quran is an 8th-century Quran (between 700 and 799 CE) originating from the Arabian peninsula. It contains two-thirds of the Qur’ān text and is one of the oldest Qur’āns in the world. It is now kept in the British Library.
From Wikipedia
In Muslim tradition the Quran is the final revelation from God, Islam's divine text, delivered to the Islamic prophet Muhammad through the angel Jibril (Gabriel). Muhammad's revelations were said to have been recorded orally, through Muhammad and his followers up until his death in 632 CE. These revelations were then compiled by first caliph Abu Bakr and codified during the reign of the third caliph Uthman (r. 644–656 CE) so that the standard codex edition of the Quran or Muṣḥaf was completed around 650 CE, according to Muslim scholars. This has been critiqued by some western scholarship, suggesting the Quran was canonized at a later date, based on the dating of classical Islamic narratives, i.e. hadiths, which were written 150–200 years after the death of Prophet Muhammad, and partly because of the textual variations present in the Sana'a manuscript. With the discovery of earlier manuscripts which conform to the Uthmanic standard however, the revisionist view has fallen out of favor and been described as "untenable", with western scholarship generally supporting the classical Muslim view.
More than 60 fragments including more than 2000 folios (4000 pages) are so far known as the textual witnesses (manuscripts) of the Qur’an before 800 CE (within 168 years after the death of Prophet Muhammad), according to Corpus Coranicum, a research organisation funded by the Government of Germany. However, in 2015, experts from the University of Birmingham discovered the Birmingham Quran manuscript, which is possibly the oldest manuscript of the Quran in the world. Radiocarbon analysis to determine the age of the manuscript revealed that this manuscript could be traced back to between 6th or 7th century. Selected manuscripts from the first four centuries after the death of Prophet Muhammad (632-1032 CE) are listed below.
Hijazi manuscripts
The recto of the first folio of codex Parisino-petropolitanus.
Further information: Hijazi script
Hijazi manuscripts are some of the earliest forms of Quranic texts, and can be characterized by Hijazi script.
Hijazi script is distinguished by its "informal, sloping Arabic script." The most widely used Qurans were written in the Hijazi style script, a style that originates before Kufic style script. This is portrayed by the rightward inclining of the tall shafts of the letters, and the vertical extension of the letters.
Codex Parisino-petropolitanus
The so-called Codex Parisino-petropolitanus formerly conserved portions of two of the oldest extant Quranic manuscripts. Most surviving leaves represent a Quran that is preserved in various fragments, the largest part of which are kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, as BNF Arabe 328(ab). Forty-six leaves are held at the National Library of Russia and one each in the Vatican Library (Vat. Ar. 1605/1) and in the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art.
BnF Arabe 328(c)
BnF Arabe 328(c), formerly bound with BnF Arabe 328(ab), has 16 leaves, with two additional leaves discovered in Birmingham in 2015 (Mingana 1572a, bound with an unrelated Quranic manuscript).
BnF Arabe 328(c) was part of the lot of pages from the store of Quranic manuscripts at the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As in Fustat bought by French Orientalist Jean-Louis Asselin de Cherville (1772–1822) when he served as vice-consul in Cairo during 1806–1816.
The 16 folia in Paris contain the text of chapter 10:35 to 11:95 and of 20:99 to 23:11.
The Birmingham folia cover part of the lacuna (gap) in the Paris portion, with parts of the text of suras 18, 19 and 20.
Birmingham Quran manuscript
Main article: Birmingham Quran manuscript
Close up of part of folio 2 recto of Birmingham Quran manuscript
The Birmingham Quran manuscript parchment of two leaves (cataloged as Mingana 1572a) has been radiocarbon dated to between 568 and 645 CE with a confidence of 97.2%, indicating the animal from which the parchment was made lived during that time.
The parts of Surahs 18-20 it leaves preserve[16] are written in ink on parchment, using an Arabic Hijazi script and are still clearly legible. The leaves are folio size (343 mm by 258 mm at the widest point),[17] and are written on both sides in a generously scaled and legible script. The text is laid out in the format that was to become standard for complete Quran texts, with chapter divisions indicated by linear decoration, and verse endings by intertextual clustered dots.
The two leaves are held by the University of Birmingham, in the Cadbury Research Library, but have been recognized as corresponding to a lacuna in the 16 leaves catalogued as BnF Arabe 328(c) in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, now bound with the Codex Parisino-petropolitanus.
Marijn van Putten, who has published work on idiosyncratic orthography common to all early manuscripts of the Uthmanic text type has stated and demonstrated with examples that due to a number of these same idiosyncratic spellings present in the Birmingham fragment (Mingana 1572a + Arabe 328c), it is "clearly a descendant of the Uthmanic text type" and that it is "impossible" that it is a pre-Uthmanic copy, despite its early radiocarbon dating.
Tübingen fragment
In November 2014, the University of Tübingen in Germany announced that a partial Quran manuscript in their possession (Ms M a VI 165), had been carbon dated (with a confidence of 94.8%), to between 649 and 675. The manuscript is now recognised as being written in hijazi script, although in the 1930 catalogue of the collection it is classified as "Kufic", and consists of the Quranic verses 17:36, to 36:57 (and part of verse 17:35).
Sana'a manuscript
Main article: Sana'a manuscript
The Sana'a manuscript, is one of the oldest Quranic manuscripts in existence. It contains only three chapters. It was found, along with many other Quranic and non-Quranic fragments, in Yemen in 1972 during restoration of the Great Mosque of Sana'a. The manuscript is written on parchment, and comprises two layers of text (see palimpsest). The upper text conforms to the standard 'Uthmanic Quran, whereas the lower text contains many variants to the standard text. An edition of the lower text was published in 2012. A radiocarbon analysis has dated the parchment containing the lower text to before 671 AD with a 99% accuracy.
Add. 1125
This manuscript was acquired by University of Cambridge from Edward H. Palmer (1840-1882) and EE Tyrwhitt Drake. It was created before 800CE according to Corpus Coranicum.
Ms. Or. 2165
British Library MS. Or. 2165 Early Qur'anic manuscript written in Ma'il script, 7th or 8th century CE.
Kufic manuscripts
Quran in Kufic script
Further information: Kufic script
Kufic manuscripts can be characterized by the Kufic form of calligraphy. Kufic calligraphy, which was later named after art historians in the 19th or 20th century is described by means of precise upstanding letters. For a long time, the Blue Qur'an, the Topkapi manuscript, and the Samarkand Kufic Quran were considered the oldest Quran copies in existence. Both codices are more or less complete. They are written in the Kufic script. It "can generally be dated from the late eighth century depending on the extent of development in the character of the script in each case."
The Blue Quran
Main article: Blue Qur'an
The Blue Qur'an (Arabic: al-Muṣḥaf al-′Azraq) is a late 9th to early 10th-century Tunisian Qur'an manuscript in Kufic calligraphy, probably created in North Africa for the Great Mosque of Kairouan. It is among the most famous works of Islamic calligraphy, and has been called "one of the most extraordinary luxury manuscripts ever created." Because the manuscript was done in Kufic style writing, it is quite hard to read. "The letters have been manipulated to make each line the same length, and the marks necessary to distinguish between letters have been omitted." The Blue Quran is constructed of indigo-dyed parchment with the inscriptions done in gold ink, which makes it one of the rarest Quran productions ever known. The use of dyed parchment and gold ink is said to have been inspired by the Christian Byzantine Empire, due to the fact that many manuscripts were produced in the same way there. Each verse is separated by circular silver marks, although they are now harder to see due to fading and oxidization.
Topkapi manuscript
Main article: Topkapi manuscript
The Topkapi manuscript is an early manuscript of the Quran dated to the early 8th century. It is kept in the Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, Turkey. Originally attributed to Uthman Ibn Affan (d. 656), but because of its illumination, it is now thought the manuscript could not date from the period (mid 7th century) when the copies of the Caliph Uthman were written.
Samarkand Kufic Quran
Main article: Samarkand Kufic Quran
The Samarkand Kufic Quran, preserved at Tashkent, is a Kufic manuscript, in Uzbek tradition identified as one of Uthman's manuscripts, but dated to the 8th or 9th century by both paleographic studies and carbon-dating of the parchment. Radio-carbon dating showed a 95.4% probability of a date between 795 and 855.
Gilchrist's dating of any Kufic manuscript to the later 8th century has been criticized by other scholars, who have cited many earlier instances of early Kufic and pre-Kufic inscriptions. The most important of these are the Quranic inscriptions in Kufic script from the founding of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (692). Inscriptions on rock Hijazi and early Kufic script may date as early as 646. The debate between the scholars has moved from one over the date origin of the script to one over the state of development of the Kufic script in the early manuscripts and in datable 7th-century inscriptions.
Gotthelf Bergsträßer Archive
This almost complete Quranic manuscript was photographed by Otto Pretzl in 1934 in Morocco. In recent years, a few folios from the manuscripts have been sold by private companies and were dated to the 9th century or earlier by Christie's.
Other Manuscripts
The Ma'il Quran
Page from the Ma’il Qur’an. Hijaz, 8th century. British Library
The Ma'il Quran is an 8th-century Quran (between 700 and 799 CE) originating from the Arabian peninsula. It contains two-thirds of the Qur’ān text and is one of the oldest Qur’āns in the world. It is now kept in the British Library.
Re: The Holy Qur'an - Early Manuscripts
BBC
How South Africa's oldest Quran was saved by Cape Town Muslims
Mohammed Allie - BBC News, Cape Town
Tue, August 22, 2023 at 9:23 PM CDT
A Quran - neatly handwritten more than 200 years ago by an Indonesian imam who had been banished to the southern tip of Africa by Dutch colonisers - is the pride of Cape Town Muslims who jealously guard it at a mosque in the city's historic Bo Kaap district.
Builders found it in a paper bag in the Auwal Mosque's attic, while they were breaking it down as part of renovations in the mid-1980s.
Researchers believe that Imam Abdullah ibn Qadi Abdus Salaam, affectionately known as Tuan Guru, or Master Teacher, wrote the Quran from memory at some point after he was shipped to Cape Town as a political prisoner, from Tidore island in Indonesia in 1780, as punishment for joining the resistance movement against Dutch colonisers.
"It was extremely dusty, it looked like no-one had been in that attic for more than 100 years," Cassiem Abdullah, a member of the mosque committee, tells the BBC.
"The builders also found a box of religious texts written by Tuan Guru."
The unbound Quran, comprising loose pages that were unnumbered, was in surprisingly good condition, with the exception of the first few pages that were frayed at the edges.
The black and red ink used for the clearly legible calligraphic writing in Arabic script was, and still is, in very good condition.
The big challenge for the local Muslim community in their quest to preserve one of the most valuable artefacts in their rich heritage, which dates back to 1694, was to ensure that all the pages containing the Quran's more than 6,000 verses were placed in the correct sequence.
This task was undertaken by the late Maulana Taha Karaan, who was head jurist of the Cape Town-based Muslim Judicial Council, in conjunction with several local Quranic scholars. The entire process, which concluded with binding the pages, took three years to complete.
The Quran has since been displayed in the Auwal Mosque, which was established by Tuan Guru in 1794 as the first mosque in what is now South Africa.
Three unsuccessful attempts to steal the priceless text prompted the committee to secure it in a fire- and bullet-proof casing in the front of the mosque 10 years ago.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits Auwal Mosque on Heritage Day with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex during their royal tour of South Africa on September 24, 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan visited the historic Auwal Mosque in Cape Town in 2019
Tuan Guru's biographer, Shafiq Morton, believes that the scholar in all likelihood started writing the first of five copies while being held on Robben Island - where anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was also imprisoned from the 1960s to the 1980s - and continued doing so after his release.
Most of these copies are believed to have been written when he was between 80 and 90 years old, and his achievement is seen as all the more remarkable as Arabic was not his first language.
According to Mr Morton, Tuan Guru was jailed on Robben Island twice - first from 1780 to 1781 when he was 69 years old, and again between 1786 and 1791.
"I believe one of the reasons he wrote the Quran was to lift the spirits of the slaves around him. He realised that if he were to write a copy of the Quran he could educate his people from it and teach them dignity at the same time," Mr Morton says.
"If you go to the archives and look at the paper that the Dutch used it's very similar to that used by Tuan Guru. It's probably the same paper.
"His pens he would have made himself from bamboo and the black and red ink would have been easy to obtain from the colonial authorities."
Shaykh Owaisi, a lecturer in South African Islamic history who has done extensive research on handwritten Qurans in Cape Town, believes Tuan Guru was motivated by the need to preserve Islam among Muslim prisoners and slaves in what was then a Dutch colony.
"While they were preaching the Bible and trying to convert the Muslim slaves, Tuan Guru was writing the copies of the Quran, teaching it to the children and getting them to memorise it.
"It tells a story of resilience and perseverance. It shows the level of education of the people that were brought to Cape Town as slaves and prisoners."
Bilqees Baker, guide and activist, talks about the history of the district of Bo-Kaap (Upper Cape) on July 25, 2018 in the city centre of Cape Town. - Bo-Kaap was established in the 1760s to house Malay slaves in the then Dutch colony, with some current residents descended from the first slaves to live here
Islam was first practised in what is now South Africa by slaves and prisoners
Tuan Guru also penned a 613-page Arabic textbook entitled Ma'rifat wal Iman wal Islam (The Knowledge of Faith and Religion) from memory.
The book, a basic guide to Islamic beliefs, was used for more than 100 years to teach the Muslims of Cape Town about their faith.
It is still in good condition and is in the possession of the Rakiep family, descendants of Tuan Guru. A replica is kept in the national library in Cape Town.
"He sat down and wrote down just about everything he could remember about his faith and he used that as a text for teaching others," says Shaykh Owaisi.
Of the five copies of the Quran handwritten by Tuan Guru, three can still be accounted for. Apart from the one in the Auwal mosque, the other two are in the possession of his family, including his great-great granddaughter.
About 100 replicas have been produced. In April a one of them was handed over to the library of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem - the third holiest site in Islam - while a few have been handed over to visiting dignitaries.
In May 2019 Ganief Hendricks, leader a Muslim political party in South Africa, Al Jama'ah, used one of the replicas to be sworn in as member of parliament.
Little did the Dutch realise that by banishing Tuan Guru to southern Africa they would inadvertently be the catalyst for spreading Islam to this part of the world, where Muslims now make up around 5% of Cape Town's estimated population of 4.6 million.
"When he came to the Cape, Tuan Guru observed that Islam was in pretty bad shape so he had a lot of work to do," Mr Morton says.
"The community didn't really have their hands on any texts - they were Muslims more from cultural memory than anything else.
"I would say that that first Quran he wrote is the reason why the Muslim community survived and developed into the respected community we have today."
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/so ... 32900.html
How South Africa's oldest Quran was saved by Cape Town Muslims
Mohammed Allie - BBC News, Cape Town
Tue, August 22, 2023 at 9:23 PM CDT
A Quran - neatly handwritten more than 200 years ago by an Indonesian imam who had been banished to the southern tip of Africa by Dutch colonisers - is the pride of Cape Town Muslims who jealously guard it at a mosque in the city's historic Bo Kaap district.
Builders found it in a paper bag in the Auwal Mosque's attic, while they were breaking it down as part of renovations in the mid-1980s.
Researchers believe that Imam Abdullah ibn Qadi Abdus Salaam, affectionately known as Tuan Guru, or Master Teacher, wrote the Quran from memory at some point after he was shipped to Cape Town as a political prisoner, from Tidore island in Indonesia in 1780, as punishment for joining the resistance movement against Dutch colonisers.
"It was extremely dusty, it looked like no-one had been in that attic for more than 100 years," Cassiem Abdullah, a member of the mosque committee, tells the BBC.
"The builders also found a box of religious texts written by Tuan Guru."
The unbound Quran, comprising loose pages that were unnumbered, was in surprisingly good condition, with the exception of the first few pages that were frayed at the edges.
The black and red ink used for the clearly legible calligraphic writing in Arabic script was, and still is, in very good condition.
The big challenge for the local Muslim community in their quest to preserve one of the most valuable artefacts in their rich heritage, which dates back to 1694, was to ensure that all the pages containing the Quran's more than 6,000 verses were placed in the correct sequence.
This task was undertaken by the late Maulana Taha Karaan, who was head jurist of the Cape Town-based Muslim Judicial Council, in conjunction with several local Quranic scholars. The entire process, which concluded with binding the pages, took three years to complete.
The Quran has since been displayed in the Auwal Mosque, which was established by Tuan Guru in 1794 as the first mosque in what is now South Africa.
Three unsuccessful attempts to steal the priceless text prompted the committee to secure it in a fire- and bullet-proof casing in the front of the mosque 10 years ago.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits Auwal Mosque on Heritage Day with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex during their royal tour of South Africa on September 24, 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan visited the historic Auwal Mosque in Cape Town in 2019
Tuan Guru's biographer, Shafiq Morton, believes that the scholar in all likelihood started writing the first of five copies while being held on Robben Island - where anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was also imprisoned from the 1960s to the 1980s - and continued doing so after his release.
Most of these copies are believed to have been written when he was between 80 and 90 years old, and his achievement is seen as all the more remarkable as Arabic was not his first language.
According to Mr Morton, Tuan Guru was jailed on Robben Island twice - first from 1780 to 1781 when he was 69 years old, and again between 1786 and 1791.
"I believe one of the reasons he wrote the Quran was to lift the spirits of the slaves around him. He realised that if he were to write a copy of the Quran he could educate his people from it and teach them dignity at the same time," Mr Morton says.
"If you go to the archives and look at the paper that the Dutch used it's very similar to that used by Tuan Guru. It's probably the same paper.
"His pens he would have made himself from bamboo and the black and red ink would have been easy to obtain from the colonial authorities."
Shaykh Owaisi, a lecturer in South African Islamic history who has done extensive research on handwritten Qurans in Cape Town, believes Tuan Guru was motivated by the need to preserve Islam among Muslim prisoners and slaves in what was then a Dutch colony.
"While they were preaching the Bible and trying to convert the Muslim slaves, Tuan Guru was writing the copies of the Quran, teaching it to the children and getting them to memorise it.
"It tells a story of resilience and perseverance. It shows the level of education of the people that were brought to Cape Town as slaves and prisoners."
Bilqees Baker, guide and activist, talks about the history of the district of Bo-Kaap (Upper Cape) on July 25, 2018 in the city centre of Cape Town. - Bo-Kaap was established in the 1760s to house Malay slaves in the then Dutch colony, with some current residents descended from the first slaves to live here
Islam was first practised in what is now South Africa by slaves and prisoners
Tuan Guru also penned a 613-page Arabic textbook entitled Ma'rifat wal Iman wal Islam (The Knowledge of Faith and Religion) from memory.
The book, a basic guide to Islamic beliefs, was used for more than 100 years to teach the Muslims of Cape Town about their faith.
It is still in good condition and is in the possession of the Rakiep family, descendants of Tuan Guru. A replica is kept in the national library in Cape Town.
"He sat down and wrote down just about everything he could remember about his faith and he used that as a text for teaching others," says Shaykh Owaisi.
Of the five copies of the Quran handwritten by Tuan Guru, three can still be accounted for. Apart from the one in the Auwal mosque, the other two are in the possession of his family, including his great-great granddaughter.
About 100 replicas have been produced. In April a one of them was handed over to the library of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem - the third holiest site in Islam - while a few have been handed over to visiting dignitaries.
In May 2019 Ganief Hendricks, leader a Muslim political party in South Africa, Al Jama'ah, used one of the replicas to be sworn in as member of parliament.
Little did the Dutch realise that by banishing Tuan Guru to southern Africa they would inadvertently be the catalyst for spreading Islam to this part of the world, where Muslims now make up around 5% of Cape Town's estimated population of 4.6 million.
"When he came to the Cape, Tuan Guru observed that Islam was in pretty bad shape so he had a lot of work to do," Mr Morton says.
"The community didn't really have their hands on any texts - they were Muslims more from cultural memory than anything else.
"I would say that that first Quran he wrote is the reason why the Muslim community survived and developed into the respected community we have today."
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/so ... 32900.html