A Rock Inscription From Makkah Containing Qur'an 56:28-40, 80 AH / 699-700 CE

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Assalamu ʿalaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:

(a)

(b)

Figure: (a) Original inscription and (b) its content.

Date

80 AH / 699-700 CE.

Size & Script

100 cm x 110 cm. Written in kufic script.

Contents

The translation of the inscription is:

1. "[They will be] among Lote tree without horns. Among Ṭalḥ trees
2. with flowers, piled one above another; in shade long-extended; by water
3. flowing constantly and fruit in abundance.
4. whose season is not limited nor [supply] forbidden. And
5. on couches raised high, We have created them of special creation.
6. And made them pure [and undefiled], full of love [for their mates], equal in age. For the
7. Companions of the Right Hand. What will be the Companions of the Right Hand.
8. A [goodly] number from those of old. And a [goodly] number from those of later times."
9. This was inscribed by ʿUthmān bin Wahran.

Comments

The dating of this inscription is based on the fact that ʿUthmān bin Wahran also left two inscriptions (1, 2) close by where he dated them to 80 AH / 699-700 CE.

The inscription contains complete Qur'an 56:28-40 as shown below with an addition of the phrase "What will be the Companions of the Right Hand" between verses 38 and 39 perhaps to give a fitting conclusion to the inscription.

Location

Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Picture taken from here.

References

[1] Saʿd b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Rāshid, Kitābāt Islāmiyya Min Makkah al-Mukarramah, 1995, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), pp. 164-165.

[2] Nāṣir b. Alī Al-Hārithī, "Nuqūsh Islāmīyyah Mabkarah Fī Wādī Al-ʿAshīlah Bi-Makkah Al-Mukarramah", ʿĀlam Al-Makhṭūṭāt Wa Al-Nawādir, 1997, Volume 2, No. 1, pp. 12-65, esp. p. 35 and p. 49.

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