The “Qur'ān Of ʿUthmān” At The Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi (Turkish and Islamic Art Museum), Istanbul, Turkey, From 1st / 2nd Century Hijra

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First Composed: 21st September 2009

Last Updated: 3rd January 2010

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Assalamu ʿalaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:

(a)		(b)

(c)		(d)

(e)

Figures: (a) Folio 4a showing sūrah al-Baqarah - part of verse 30 to part of verse 34. (b) Folio 317b showing sūrah Fāṭir - verse 44 to the end, and sūrah Yāsīn - from the beginning until part of verse 7. (c) Folio 419a showing sūrah al-Muddathir - part of verse 31 to part of verse 56. (d) Folio 432b showing sūrah al-Ḍuḥa - part of verse 4 to end. Sūrah al-Sharh - from the beginning until the end. Sūrah Tīn - from the beginning until end of verse 3. (e) Folio 439 say "Katabah ʿUthmān bin ʿAffān fī sanat thalathyn".

Date

Late 1st century / early 2nd century of hijra. Two folios (183b, 439) of this manuscript were published by Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Munajjid.^[1] A facsimile edition of this manuscript was prepared by Dr. Tayyar Altikulaç in the year 2007.^[2] A folio of this manuscript was also published recently by Seracettin Şahin.^[3]

Interestingly, on the last folio (no. 439) of the manuscript is written in kufic script “katabahu ʿUthmān bin ʿAffān fī sanat thalathyn” (“ʿUthmān bin ʿAffān wrote in the year 30 AH”). However, the script and ornamentation negates this possibility. Dr. Altikulaç considers this manuscript to be from second half of 1st century or first half of 2nd century hijra.^[4] He thinks that it is a Basran muṣḥaf which does not fully confirm with any of 7 or 10 mutawatir readings in terms of dotting or vowelization. It was written, therefore, before the standardization and spread of famous readings. Likewise, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Munajjid did not consider this manuscript to be from the time of caliph ʿUthmān and dates it to second half of 1st century hijra. According to him, this manuscript is the "earliest muṣḥaf we have seen".^[5]

The dating of this manuscript to late 1st century / early 2nd century of hijra is also supported by the fact that the script in this manuscript has interesting similarities to that of codex Mixt. 917, which is also dated to similar time period.

Accession Number

TIEM Inv. No. 457 (‘Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi Inv. No. 457’) .

Size & Folios

Total number of folios: 439. Only 17 folios are missing out of which 14 folios are restored by a later hand, by Dāwūd bin ʿAlī al-Kaylānī on 3rd December, 1437 CE. These folios are 1, 38, 91, 120, 139, 222, 299, 308, 408, 415, 427, 436, 437, 438. The other three missing folios are the ones after folio nos. 9, 215, 406. Size: 32 cm x 23 cms. Written area: 22 cm x 16 cm. Thickness: 13 cm.

History Of The Manuscript

Very little information is available. Transferred from the Aya Sofiya library to the Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi on 30th March, 1912 CE. It was here the manuscript was given the accession no. 457. Remains there till date. Its origins and when it arrived at the Aya Sofia library is unknown. On the first folio, a waqf seal of the Ottoman Sultan Mahmoud I (1730-1754 CE) is present.

Script & Ornamentation

Kufic.

The manuscript is written on gazelle skin. On the other hand, the folios restored in 1437 CE are made of paper.

There are 15 lines per folio except three folios, viz., f. 184a has 16 lines; f. 405a has 14 lines; f. 406a has 13 lines and f. 406b has 14 lines. The folios restored in 1437 CE folios have between 7 and 10 lines per page. The verse endings are marked by a set of diagonal dashes; every fifth verse is marked with a golden ‘d’ shaped character. Every tenth verse is marked with a patterned circular gold medallion connected by blue, green, and red dots [Figures (c) and (d)]. The consonants are frequently differentiated by dashes. The beginning of the sūrah, number of verses and whether Makki or Madani are indicated in gold [Figures (b) and (d)]. It appears that this sūrah separator along with the marking of every fifth verse was done by a different (later?) hand.

On the last folio (no. 439) of the manuscript is written in kufic script “katabahu ʿUthmān bin ʿAffān fī sanat thalathyn”. This statement is enclosed inside a highly ornate rectangular box with a semicircle jutting out from its left hand side [Figure (e)]. This appears to be a floor design of a mosque with mihrab.

There are good number of other Qur'ans [such as the ones at St. Petersburg, Istanbul, two in Cairo (al-Hussein mosque and Dār al-Kutub) and Samarqand] having at times turned up in different parts of the Islamic world, almost all purporting to show the traces of the blood of the third caliph ʿUthmān upon certain pages, and thus the genuine ʿUthmānic Qur'an, the imām, which he was reading at the time of his death. Taking into account the palaeographic considerations, this Qur'an does not belong to time of the third caliph ʿUthmān.

Contents

The contents of the manuscript, as tabulated below, are gathered from the facsimile edition.

Location

Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi (Turkish and Islamic Art Museum), Istanbul, Turkey.

References

[1] S. al-Munajjid, Dirāsāt fī Tārīkh al-Khatt al-ʿArabī Mundhu Bidayatihi ilā Nihayat al-ʿAsr al-Umawi (French Title: Etudes De Paleographie Arabe), 1972, Dār al-Kitāb al-Jadid: Beirut (Lebanon), pp. 56-57, Figs. 26 and 27.

[2] T. Altikulaç, Hz. Osman’a Nisbet Edilen Mushaf- I Şerîf (Türk ve İslâm Eserleri Müzesi Nüshası), 2007, Volumes I and II, İslam Araştırmaları Merkezi (İSAM): Istanbul (Turkey).

[3] S. Şahin, The Museum Of Turkish And Islamic Arts - Thirteen Centuries Of Glory From The Umayyads To The Ottomans, 2009, Blue Dome Press: New York (NY), p. 23 (description), pp. 24-25 (picture).

[4] T. Altikulaç, Hz. Osman’a Nisbet Edilen Mushaf- I Şerîf (Türk ve İslâm Eserleri Müzesi Nüshası), 2007, op. cit., pp. 106-107 (Volume I, Turkish section), pp. 120-121 (Volume I, Arabic section).

[5] S. al-Munajjid, Dirāsāt fī Tārīkh al-Khatt al-ʿArabī Mundhu Bidayatihi ilā Nihayat al-ʿAsr al-Umawi (French Title: Etudes De Paleographie Arabe), 1972, op. cit., p. 55.

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