Catalog Record: chicago.apis.7821 [xml]
Title | Qur'an |
---|---|
Summary | Surah 2:283-286 and 2:286-3:7 (Kufan system) |
Citations | |
Inv. Id | O.I. 6962 |
Support/Dimensions | Parchment ; 26.5 x 31.5 cm |
Condition | Fine large parchment originally of 18 lines. It is considerably damaged along the margins and well into the text. This belongs to the same copy of the Qur'an as O.I. A6963 and they are successive folios. |
Lines | On recto and verso: 18 lines each in Arabic |
Recto/Verso | Source of description: On recto and verso: Qur'an |
Hands | This and O.I. A6963, A6993, A6961, and A7007 have the same general type of Kufic script as Arabic Palaeography (1905) pls. 31-36 dated by Moritz to the 2nd-3rd century. In The Islamic Book (1929), Grohmann (p. 44ff) gives the further information that pls. 31-34 came from a Qur'an written by the Imam Ja'far ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq (d. 148/765). The letters of all 5 of these manuscripts are large and heavy, though the vertical strokes are comparatively short. The lines are 1.8 cm apart and words and letters are well, but not extravagantly spaced. The words are frequently divided at the end of a line. The inks, red and brown, have retained their color on both sides of the parchment remarkably well. Diacritical strokes are used fully and freely. A double vowel system is used. The older red dots are used rather consistently, but they are reinforced by the addition of newer symbols, such as a miniature alif and w. The dot below is not reinforced. This confirms the theory that modern fathah, dammah, and (by inference) kasrah have their origins in the letters alif, w, and y respectively. Both types of vowel markings are in orange-red ink, but those of the newer system are generally slightly lighter in shade owing, it seems, to the use of a thinner solution of the same ink. In several instances, both types are in the same shade of ink. This would indicate that though the newer vowel signs were on the whole added after the dots, they are nevertheless original with the text and represent the practice of the period of transition from the older system of dots to the newer one. Further evidence of this can be seen in several instances of placing the newer u sign not above the dot, but to the side of it on a line with the letters. Nunation is indicated by two red dots one above the other. A small semicircle is used for hamzah (recto 10, 13, verso 5) and also for shaddah (verso 12). A red dot for u is frequently placed after the pronominal endings -hum and -kum, a practice which seems to have been accepted by some who preferred this vocalization to the sukun. Above the narrow decorative band that separates surahs, written in dull red ink in a small Kufic hand, are the title and number of verses of the surah following. Not only ink and script, but also spacing, show the red to be a later addition. |
Origin | Unknown |
Language | Arabic |
Date | IInd century A.H. |
Note (general) | Three or four strokes mark the ends of verses. A large circular ornament in green with a red center and red circumference separates groups of 10 verses. From this folio, we learn that the Qur'an to which O.I. A6963 and A6962 belonged used a narrow decorative band to separate the surahs. (See also Moritz 1905 pls. 13-16 and 19-21.) The motif here is a simple one, consisting of green X's with four red dots around their centers alternating with green lozenges containing red and green dots and accompanied by four red semicircles apiece, one projecting from each side. Green scrolls connect these successive elements. |
Note (general) | Location: Oriental Institute |
Note (general) | Pub. status: Published: recto and verso |
Subjects | Islam; Qur'an; Literary; Parchment |
License | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License. |
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