Vat. Ar. 1605: A Qur'anic Manuscript From 1st Century Hijra In Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
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First Composed: 14th December 2001
Last Updated: 2nd July 2008
Verso
Date
1st century hijra.
Manuscript Number
Vaticani Arabi 1605. Folio 1v.
Size
28.8 x 20.3 cm.
Contents
Recto: Surah Yunus verses 102 to Surah Hud verse 3. Verso: Surah Hud verses 4 to 13. See above picture.
Script
Ḥijazi.
It was written in italic script that was used in copying the Qur'an at that time. Occasional diacritical marks are observed as seen in line 9 for kha and nun.
This manuscript, the one folio in The Nasser David Khalili Collection (Accession No. KFQ 60, published by Déroche) and 56 folios in Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (Arabe 328a) are parts of the same muṣḥaf. They all are dated to first century of hijra. It was shown by Yasin Dutton that this manuscript is written in the qiraa'aat of Ibn ʿAmir.
Location
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City.
References
[1] G. Levi Della Vida, Frammenti Coranici In Carattere Cufico: Nella Biblioteca Vaticana, 1947, Studi e testi no. 132, Citta Del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Vatican City, pp. 1-2 and Tavola 1.
[2] B. Gruendler, The Development Of The Arabic Scripts: From The Nabatean Era To The First Islamic Century According To The Dated Texts, 1993, Harvard Semitic Series No. 43, Scholars Press: Atlanta, GA., p. 171.
[3] F. Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition: Qur'ans Of The 8th To The 10th Centuries AD, 1992, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, Volume I, Oxford University Press, p. 32.
[4] Y. Dutton, "An Early Muṣḥaf According To The Reading Of Ibn ʿAmir", Journal Of Qur'anic Studies, 2001, Volume III (no. I), pp. 71-89.
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