Qur'anic Manuscripts

Qur'ānic Constructive Critical Discourse Analysis: Action-Research Approach Manuscripts Introduction Hayat Faqeer Content • • • • Introduction Manuscripts Examples Implications Conclusion Introduction ‘The earliest writing form was written on clay tablets. It developed from the culture of the culture of the Sumerians in Mesopotamia. Existing Purely pictographic signs to express ideas were improved to represent not the picture but their sound. That improvement has been called the massive leap of humankind’ (Finkel, 2016). ‘The Nabateans [7th B.C] - Hellenized, produced rock inscriptions…’ (James, April 2012). ‘The Nabataens history, culture, religion, technologies and architecture reflect two worlds [in Jordan]: one authentically Arabian and the other Hellenized [Greco-Roman]’ (Corbett, 2017). • ‘Early calligraphic inscription included Chinese and Japanese script, and illuminated bibles from north-west Europe’ (Victoria and Albert Museum). Calligraphic inscription was inscribed on the Dome of The Rock in Jerusalem built in AD 691 (ibid.). • ‘A Stone inscription in Kufi script, 14th century, Quanzhou. The text reads, "And the places of worship are for God alone: so invoke not anyone along with God." (Quran 72:18). [Quanzhou Zongjiao Shike, plate A17.1]’ (Islamic Calligraphy in China, No. 5, March 2006). • After the Russian revolution of 1917, some of the Turkish communities migrated to different regions of the world. The Kazan Turks, who had migrated to Tokyo, established a community called “Mahalle-i İslamiye” (i.e. Islamic District) led by Abdulhay Kurban Ali and Abdurreşid İbrahim and built a Cami (Mosque) and school in 1938. Japanese community gave a considerable support to the community’s services both economically and socially (Islamic Arts and Architecture). • With years of wear and tear, the ageing mosque structure had to be replaced by a new largecapacity mosque. On behalf of Turksih Republic Religious Affairs Presidency, Mr. Mehmet Nuri Yılmaz founded the Tokyo Camii Foundation (i.e. Tokyo Camii Vakfı). Tokyo Camii Foundation imitated the Mosque’s construction in 1998 which was subsequently completed in the year 2000 (ibid.). Examples • Abundant manuscripts have been collected and preserved. It has been observed that some manuscripts have been dated to the eras prior to Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] time. For example, a UNESCO preserved Yemen manuscript of chapter (Maryam: 90 - onwards) and Taha (39 + 40) was dated 1 A.D. However, multiple Qur’ānic manuscripts include Kufic calligraphic script which ‘could not have been written earlier than 150 years after the ‘Uthmanic Recension was compiled’ (Gilchrist: 1989: 144-147). One specific manuscript which includes part of chapter 30 named Ar-Room included a slight linguistic and content deviation from the current standard edition. The current verse mentions, ‘many people do not know’ (30: 6) while the manuscript mentions that, ‘many people do learn’ (30: 6). The manuscript script and paper are unique in the manner that is different from other manuscripts found from Yemen. The text does not overwrite another one observed to be written backward in some other manuscripts from Yemen. The script reflects author straightforward nature, and is not vertically or horizontally elongated. Examples of manuscripts in numerous geographical areas will be mentioned. Example I A manuscript attached to Qur'ānic manuscript book written in 15th CE in Northern India. It includes the Arabic alphabet with examples for each letter. The early pages of the book includes an inscription of verses 77 – 80 from chapter 65 (Surat Al-Waqi’ah). It reads as ‘It is surely the Noble Qur’an (77). Recorded already in a protected book (the Preserved Tabled) (78). That is not touched except by the purified ones (the angels) Museum] (79). [The Walters Art Qur’an Folio Central Asia - 14th CE [Islamic Art and Example II Architecture] Qur’an production from the eleventh century onwards was marked by a change in the selection of script styles. One of the scripts that gradually replaced the Kufic of earlier Qur’ans as the predominant style was the rectilinear but more monumental muhaqqaq featured on this folio. The earliest known Qur’an written in this script is dated 1160 and can be found in the National Library, Cairo (MS. 144; see Lings and Safadi 1976, cat. no. 60). Three lines of text fill the present page; they are enclosed in a ruled margin outlined in red with multi-petalled rosette extensions rendered in gold, pale green, red, and black and framed in turn within stylised palmettes and half-palmettes. A gold rosette also marks the division between the thirty-third and thirty-fourth verses of al-Rum, the thirtieth chapter of the Qur’an. This folio was formerly in the collection of Krikor and Adrienne Minassian in New York (Canby, 2012). Bi-folium from the ‘Blue Qur’an’ North African, 9th – 10th CE This extraordinary bi-folium of gold Kufic calligraphy on indigo-dyed parchment comes from the celebrated “Blue Qur’an”, one of the most lavish Qur’an manuscripts ever created. Careful attention to detail was devoted to every aspect of the manuscript, including the complex and costly technique of chrysography, as described in cat. no. 1. Silver rosettes (now oxidized) were also used to indicate the divisions between the verses. The virtual simplicity of decoration and illumination using the finest materials – indigo-dyed parchment, silver, and gold – combined with the angular Kufic script results in an overwhelming effect on the viewer regardless of his or her level of literacy. No diacritical marks are used to indicate vowels. One scholar has relied on palaeographical and historical evidence to suggest that it was created for the Fatimids, who ruled North Africa from Qayrawan during the first half of the tenth century [as a gift by Al-Ma’mūn in Baghdad] [Bloom 1986, pp. 59– 65; Bloom 1989, pp. 95–99; Bloom 2007, pp. 42– 44), Cited in (Canby, 2012) in Islamic Art and Architecture]. Example III Cat. No. 7: Qur’an folio from al-Andalus Spain, early 13th century In the western Islamic world, a distinct round style of script with generous, sweeping curves of descending letters had developed by the mid-tenth century (Déroche 1999, pp. 239 – 241; Blair 2006, p. 223). Known as maghribi, this script was employed in al-Andalus and the Maghrib, modern-day Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Maghribi-script Qur’ans are usually written in brown or black ink with elaborate illumination in gold. Some, like this one, are on tinted peach-pink paper believed to have been produced in Jativa, site of the earliest documented paper mill in Spain (Fraser and Kwiatkowski 2006, p. 64). The systems used for vocalisation, pointing, and orthography are also peculiar to maghribi script. This Qur’an folio is an elegant example of how the script had evolved by the early thirteenth century. Example IV Implications • ‘The principles of the calligraphic art [within manuscripts] can be described in a scientific manner and carefully explained’ (James, 2012). ‘Early Kufic script reflects the classical period in which it was produced’ (Ibid.). Fifteenth century Egypt Mamluk era manuscripts constitute a valuable content to Mamluk period literature. ‘… [A] local Iranian [script] … becomes incredibly complex, convoluted … to the inexperienced eye … was largely confined to the 19th century Iran … perhaps reflected the political and social convolutions of the time.’ (James, 2012). ‘Information can be used to create order and structure.’ (Al-Khalili, 2016). Conclusion Qur'ānic manuscripts extra-linguistic analysis may lead to a range of implications on many possibilities of the socio-political circumstances of Qur’ānic text publication through many eras (James, 2012). References • Canby, S. (2012) The Qur’ān. Retrieved from http://islamic-arts.org/2012/thequr%E2%80%99an/ • James, D. (2012) Calligraphy - the Geometry of the Spirit. Retrieved from http://islamicarts.org/2012/calligraphy-the-geometry-of-the-spirit/ • Islamic Calligraphy in China. China Heritage Quarterly, No. 5, March 2006. Retrieved from http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/features.php?searchterm=005_calligraphy.inc &issue=005 • Al-Khalili, J., Finkel Order and Disorder [Information], BBC Four. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ynyl7/episodes/guide • Faqeer, H. Qur'ānic Constructive Critical Discourse Analysis: Action-Research Approach. Retrieved from http://ancient-texts-research.blogspot.com