The “Qur'ān Of ʿUthmān” At Tashkent (Samarqand), Uzbekistan, From 2nd Century Hijra

Islamic Awareness

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First Composed: 1st July 2004

Last Updated: 7th November 2014

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Assalamu ʿalaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:

(a)

(b)		(c)

(d)		(e)

A display of the manuscript of the Qur'an in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, attributed to Caliph ‘Uthman. (a) The manuscript is very fragile and is placed in a cupboard to prevent further damage, (b) a closer view of the manuscript inside the cupboard, (c) a facsimile copy is available for consultation by readers, (d) Christie's 1992, Lot 225, and (e) Christie's 1993, Lot 29; folios from the same manuscript that came from North Africa.

Date

2nd century hijra or 8th century CE.

Shebunin dated this manuscript to the early second century hijra.^[1] On the basis of the orthography as observed in the 1905 facsimile edition prepared by S. I. Pisarev,^[2] Jeffery dated it to the early ninth century.^[3] More recently, Déroche had assigned a date to the second half of the eighth century,^[4] more specifically, under the patronage of the third Abbasid caliph Al-Mahdi (reigned 158 - 169 AH / 775 - 785 CE).^[5] The carbon-dating of a folio from this manuscript was carried out at Oxford. The result showed a 68% probability of a date between 640 CE and 765 CE, and a 95% probability of a date between 595 CE and 855 CE.^[6] Commenting on this result, Rezvan noted that the palaeographic dating of this manuscript also indicated a date at the turn of the eight / ninth century CE.^[7]

Size & Folios

53 cm x 68 cm. The text is 44 cm x 55 cm. Depending on the folio, length and width of the text can vary by several centimetres. The material used for writing is thick, strong parchment. This Qur'an is a plano copy which means each folio is an entire sheet of parchment.

Total number of folios: 378 = 353 (Pisarev's facsimile edition) + 20 (Ms. 248 and Ms. 658) + 1 (Ms. AKM00475) + 1 (Ms. 2004.87) + 3 (Christie's Lot nos. 225, 225A and 29).^[8]

Out of 353 folios in the facsimile edition, 69 are torn out, or lost folios are substituted by paper leaves of equal size. Only 15 folios are complete, the rest are more or less damaged and mended with paper. Tayyar Altıkulaç estimated this manuscript originally comprised 950 folios.^[9]

History Of The Manuscript

Approximately one third of the Qur'an from which these massive folios originate - “the ʿUthmān Qur'an” - is housed in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Late in the 19th century the manuscript was in St. Petersburg, Russia, where it was studied by the Russian orientalist A. N. Shebunin.^[10] He gave a detailed account of the codex and examined the peculiarities of its orthography. So great was the interest in this codex that in 1905 Pisarev (or Pissareff) was encouraged to publish a facsimile edition.^[11] He did this by photographic process after attempting to carefully retrace the text of folios where the writing had been almost obliterated by the hands of the faithful stroking the pages. It has since been recognised that Pisarev's reinking of the text in the dulled folios resulted in many mistakes. These false restorations of the original text have caused scholars to handle this manuscript with caution.^[12] The charges of deliberate changing of the text are not based on sound grounds and have never been substantiated.^[13] It appears that only fifty copies of the facsimile were made of which only twenty-five were offered for sale. In 2004, scholars from the Islamic University, Tashkent, commissioned a facsimile edition (handwritten replica) of the manuscript on parchment. This unique, magnificent copy was loaned to the British Library to accompany its exhibition ‘Sacred’ that opened from the 27th April until 23rd September 2007,^[14] before being returned to the Islamic University, Tashkent, where it presently resides. Pisarev's original 1905 facsimile edition has been digitally scanned into Corpus Coranicum’s database and can now be viewed in its entirety online.

As mentioned earlier, this codex is incomplete and it is not surprising that a number of folios have appeared under the hammer at auction or have been sold privately between collectors. Four folios from the Tashkent manuscript were sold at Christie’s, London, as Lot nos. 225, 225a on the 22nd October 1992; and Lot nos. 29, 30 on the 21st October 1993,^[15] and are presently in private collections. In the years 2000 and 2003, two more folios appeared in Sam Fogg's Islamic Manuscripts / Islamic Calligraphy catalogues.^[16] The provenance for both these folios was given as North Africa, though the folio from 2003 originated from a private collection in Norway. These folios have since been sold on and now reside in the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,^[17] respectively. The Aga Khan Museum have a folio belonging to this manuscript and it has been publicly exhibited since 2007 at various locations around the world.^[18] Another folio from this codex was sold at Sotheby’s, London, in 2008^[19] and it presently resides at the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, which has 24 folios in total from this manuscript.^[20] The extra-ordinary size of these folios from this Qur'an is unparalleled in publications in the Western world.

In 1940, Mendelsohn published notes on the Columbia University facsimile copy of the Tashkent (Samarqand) Qur'an.^[21] A couple of years later, Jeffery and Mendelsohn discussed the orthography of this manuscript.^[22]

So, the big question now is whether this is the Qur'an that belonged to the third caliph ʿUthmān? The answer is no. There are good number of other Qur'ans [such as the one at St. Petersburg, two in Istanbul (Topkapi Library and TIEM), and two in Cairo (al-Hussein mosque and Dār al-Kutub)] having at times turned up in different parts of the Islamic world, some purporting to show traces of blood from 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. Moreover, the writing in the manuscript clearly shows the large, straight, beautiful and rigidly proportional Kufic script which was used during and after the time of Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Malik (compare the script in this manuscript with the inscriptions on the Dome of the Rock). Furthermore, this manuscript was also briefly discussed by Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Munajjid who did not consider it to be from the time of caliph ʿUthmān.^[23]

Script & Ornamentation

Kufic.

It is a massive Qur'anic manuscript on vellum showing a well-formed kufic script without diacritical marks and ornamentation. The verse endings are marked by small panels of diagonals lines; the tenth verse is marked with a square medallion illuminated in blue, green, red and manganese with a stellar design. The parchment has become very brittle with age. There is a restriction on free access and the manuscript is protected from light. Instead, a facsimile copy is available for consultation.

Contents

The table below is reproduced from Shebunin's work.^[24] We have added other folios that have appeared under the hammer at auction and those kept in public and private collections.

Location

Tashkent (Uzbekistan); Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (Qatar); Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (Canada); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (USA); Private collections.

Acknowledgements

We thank "Memory Of The World", UNESCO, for the pictures of the manuscript.

References

[1] A. Shebunin, "Kuficheskii Koran Imp. SPB. Publichnoi Biblioteki", Zapiski Vostochnago Otdieleniia Imperatorskago Russkago Arkheologicheskago Obshchestva, 1891, Volume 6, pp. 69-133, especially the conclusions.

[2] S. Pissareff, Coran Coufique de Samarcand: écrit d'après la Tradition de la Propre Main du Troisième Calife Osman (644-656) qui se trouve dans la Bibliothèque Impériale Publique de St. Petersbourg, 1905, St. Petersberg.

[3] A. Jeffery & I. Mendelsohn, "The Orthography Of The Samarqand Qur'an Codex", Journal Of The American Oriental Society, 1942, Volume 62, No. 3, p. 195.

[4] F. Déroche, "Note Sur Les Fragments Coraniques Anciens De Katta Langar (Ouzbékistan)", Cahiers D'Asie Centrale, 1999, Volume 7, p. 65.

[5] F. Déroche, "Twenty Leaves From The Tashkent Qur'an", in S. Blair & J. Bloom (Eds.), God Is Beautiful And Loves Beauty: The Object In Islamic Art And Culture, 2013, Yale University Press: New Haven and London, p. 76. Déroche only very briefly sketches out the case for the attribution to al-Mahdi; elsewhere he points to a future publication of his where it appears he intends to set out the case more fully, see F. Déroche, Qurʾans Of The Umayyads: A First Overview, 2014, Koninklijke Brill nv: Leiden (The Netherlands), p. 128 & footnote 76.

[6] Islamic Art, Indian Miniatures, Rugs And Carpets: London, Tuesday, 20 October 1992 at 10 a.m. and 2.30 p.m., Thursday, 22 October 1992 at 2.30 p.m., 1992, Christie's: London, p. 88 (Lot 225). Also see F. Déroche, "Manuscripts Of The Qur'an" in J. D. McAuliffe (Ed.), Encyclopaedia Of The Qur'an, 2003, Volume 3, Brill: Leiden & Boston, p. 261; Islamic Calligraphy, 2003, Catalogue 27, Sam Fogg: London, p. 12. Sam Fogg's catalogue contains a typographical error here. The carbon dating reads 640-705 CE instead of 640-765 CE.

[7] E. A. Rezvan, "On The Dating Of An “‘Uthmanic Qur'an” From St. Petersburg", Manuscripta Orientalia, 2000, Volume 6, No. 3, p. 19.

[8] As some of these additional folios were already present in Pisarev’s edition, they have not been included in the final tally. It seems the exact number of folios will remain somewhat of an enigma as one cannot be entirely sure precisely where and when folios from this manuscript were removed. See F. Déroche, "Twenty Leaves From The Tashkent Qur'an", in S. Blair & J. Bloom (Eds.), God Is Beautiful And Loves Beauty: The Object In Islamic Art And Culture, 2013, op. cit., pp. 60-61.

[9] T. Altıkulaç, Al-Muṣḥaf Al-Sharif: Attributed To ʿUthmān Bin ʿAffān (The Copy At The Topkapi Palace Museum), 2007, Organization of the Islamic Conference Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture: Istanbul (Turkey), p. 67.

[10] A. Shebunin, "Kuficheskii Koran Imp. SPB. Publichnoi Biblioteki", Zapiski Vostochnago Otdieleniia Imperatorskago Russkago Arkheologicheskago Obshchestva, 1891, op. cit., pp. 69-133.

[11] S. Pissareff, Coran Coufique de Samarcand: écrit d'après la Tradition de la Propre Main du Troisième Calife Osman (644-656) qui se trouve dans la Bibliothèque Impériale Publique de St. Petersbourg, 1905, St. Petersberg.

[12] M. M. al-A‘zami, The History Of The Qur'ānic Text From Revelation To Compilation: A Comparative Study With The Old And New Testaments, 2008 (2011 reprint), Second Edition, Azami Publishing House: Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), pp. 173-174; I. Warraq, "Some Additions To A. Jeffery And I Mendelsohn, And Some Pages From The Samarqand Qur’an Codex", in M. Groß & K-H. Ohlig (Eds.), Vom Koran Zum Islam: Schriften Zur Frühen Islamgeschichte Und Zum Koran, 2009, Verlag Hans Schiler: Berlin, p. 582.

[13] A. Jeffery & I. Mendelsohn, "The Orthography Of The Samarqand Qur'an Codex", Journal Of The American Oriental Society, 1942, op. cit., p. 176.

[14] Whilst in Tashkent, Dr Colin F. Baker and his team tried to negotiate the loan of the original but instead were given access to this one off copy that nobody had ever seen before. He was able to secure its loan for the exhibition, which he described as an excellent substitute (Personal communication, Colin F. Baker, 2008). An image of one of the folios of the handwritten replica can be seen in the companion publication to the exhibition, see F. E. Peters, "The Poet In Performance: The Composition Of The Qur'an", in J. Reeve (Ed.), Sacred: Books Of The Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, 2007, The British Library: London, p. 91.

[15] Islamic Art, Indian Miniatures, Rugs And Carpets: London, Tuesday, 20 October 1992 at 10 a.m. and 2.30 p.m., Thursday, 22 October 1992 at 2.30 p.m., 1992, op. cit., p. 88 (Lot 225); Islamic Art, Indian Miniatures, Rugs And Carpets: London, Tuesday, 20 October 1992 at 10 a.m. and 2.30 p.m., Thursday, 22 October 1992 at 2.30 p.m., 1992, Christie's: London, p. 89 (Lot 225A); Islamic Art, Indian Miniatures, Rugs And Carpets: London, Tuesday, 19 October 1993 at 10.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m., Thursday, 21 October 1993 at 2.30 p.m., 1993, Christie's: London, p. 20 (Lot 29); Islamic Art, Indian Miniatures, Rugs And Carpets: London, Tuesday, 19 October 1993 at 10.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m., Thursday, 21 October 1993 at 2.30 p.m., 1993, Christie's: London, p. 21 (Lot 30).

[16] Islamic Manuscripts, 2000, Catalogue 22, Sam Fogg: London, pp. 8-9; Islamic Calligraphy, 2003, Catalogue 27, op. cit., pp. 12-13.

[17] M. D. Ekhtiar, P. P. Soucek, S. R. Canby & N. N. Haidar (Eds.), Masterpieces From The Department Of Islamic Art In The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, 2011, The Metropolitan Museum of Art: New York, pp. 25-26 (Ms. 2004.87); N.A., "Departmental Accessions", Annual Report Of The Trustees Of The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, 2004, Volume 134, p. 19.

[18] S. Canby, A. Nanji, A. Froom & A. Merchant, Splendori A Corte: Arti Del Mondo Islamico Nelle Collezioni Del Museo Aga Khan, 2007, Edizioni Olivares: Milan, p. 34 (Ms. AKM00475). This folio has been illustrated in numerous catalogues, see M. S. Graves & B. Junod (Eds.), Treasures Of The Aga Khan Museum: Arts Of The Book & Calligraphy, 2010, Aga Khan Trust for Culture: Geneva & Sakıp Sabancı University & Museum: Istanbul, p. 36.

[19]Arts Of The Islamic World: Including Fine Carpets And Textiles, London, Wednesday 9 April 2008, Sotheby's: London, pp. 12-13 (Lot 1). Sotheby's catalogue contains a typographical error here. The carbon dating reads 640-705 CE instead of 640-765 CE.

[20] See F. Déroche, "Twenty Leaves From The Tashkent Qur'an", in S. Blair & J. Bloom (Eds.), God Is Beautiful And Loves Beauty: The Object In Islamic Art And Culture, 2013, op. cit., pp. 57-77.

[21] I. Mendelsohn, "The Columbia University Copy Of The Samarqand Kufic Qur'an", The Moslem World, 1940, pp. 357-358.

[22] A. Jeffery & I. Mendelsohn, "The Orthography Of The Samarqand Qur'an Codex", Journal Of The American Oriental Society, 1942, op. cit., pp. 177-195.

[23] S. al-Munajjid, Dirāsāt fī Tārīkh al-Khatt al-‘Arabī Mundhu Bidayatihi ilā Nihayat al-‘Asr al-Umawi (French Title: Etudes De Paleographie Arabe), 1972, Dar al-Kitab al-Jadid: Beirut (Lebanon), pp. 50-51.

[24] A. Shebunin, "Kuficheskii Koran Imp. SPB. Publichnoi Biblioteki", Zapiski Vostochnago Otdieleniia Imperatorskago Russkago Arkheologicheskago Obshchestva, 1891, op. cit., pp. 77-79; For a similar table also see A. Jeffery & I. Mendelsohn, "The Orthography Of The Samarqand Qur'an Codex", Journal Of The American Oriental Society, 1942, op. cit., pp. 177-178.

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