Historical Quranic Manuscripts

By the Editors of the Madain Project

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This page attempts to enlist the known historical manuscripts of the Quran, the holy scripture of Islam. Although in its strictest definition the term "manuscript" referes to a handwritten work, this list may tentatively include early printed works as well.

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Overview

In Muslim tradition the Quran is a final revelation from God, Islam’s divine text, delivered to the Islamic prophet Muhammad through the angel Jibril (Gabriel). Prophet Muhammad’s revelations were said to have been recorded orally and in writing, through Muhammad and his followers up until his death in 632 CE. These revelations were then compiled by first caliph Abu Bakr and codified during the reign of the third caliph Uthman (reigned 644–656 CE) so that the standard codex edition of the Quran or Muṣḥaf was completed around 650 CE, according to Muslim scholars.

According to Corpus Coranicum, more than 60 fragments including more than 2000 folios (some 4000 pages) are so far known as the textual witnesses (manuscripts) of the Qur'an before 800 CE (within 168 years after the death of Muhammad).

Notable Manuscripts

circa 568-645 CE

Birmingham Quran
The Birmingham Quran manuscript is a parchment on which two leaves of an early Quranic manuscript are written. In 2015 CE the manuscript, which is preserved at the University of Birmingham, was radiocarbon dated to between 568 and 645 CE (in the Islamic calendar, between 56 before Hijri and 25 Hijri). The ancient Quranic manuscript is written in ink on parchment, using an Arabic Hejazi script and is still clearly legible. The extant pages preserve parts of Surahs 19 (Maryam) to 20 (Taha). This manuscript of the holy Quran is the only one that may have existed, during the life of prophet Muhammad.

circa 650 CE

Codex Parisino-petropolitanus
The Codex Parisino-petropolitanus (left: recto of the first folio), possibly the oldest extant Quranic manuscript, dated to the seventh century CE. The largest part of the fragmentary manuscript are held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, designated as BnF Arabe 328(ab), with 70 folia. Another 46 folia of the same codex are kept in the National Library of Russia in Saint-Petersburg. Two additional folia have been preserved, one kept in the Vatican Library (Vat. Ar. 1605/1) and the other in the al-Khalili Collection in London (KFQ 60). Taken together, the extant manuscripts cover about 45% of the text of the Koran.

Rippin 2009, p. 706.

circa 670 CE

Sana'a Script
The Sana'a Manuscript is one of the oldest Quranic manuscripts in existence. It was found, along with many other Quranic and non-Quranic fragments, in Yemen in 1972 during restoration of the Great Mosque of Sana'a. The manuscript is written on parchment, and comprises two layers of text (see palimpsest). The upper text conforms to the standard 'Uthmanic Quran, whereas the lower text contains many variants to the standard text. An edition of the lower text was published in 2012. A radiocarbon analysis has dated the parchment containing the lower text to before 671 CE with a 99% accuracy.

Sadeghi, Behnam; Bergmann, Uwe (2010).

circa 670 CE

Tübingen fragment
The Tübingen fragment is one of the oldest known manuscripts of the Qur'an. This manuscript, today housed at the University of Tübingen in Germany, is thought to date back to the seventh century CE, placing it among the earliest known copies of the holy Qur'an. The fragment contains portions of Surahs (chapters) 17 to 36 and is written in the ancient Hijazi script, a form of Arabic calligraphy that was used during the early Islamic period.

In November 2014 CE, the University of Tübingen, after which the fragment takes its name, in Germany announced that a partial Kufic manuscript in their possession (Ms M a VI 165), had been carbon dated (with a confidence of 95%), to between 649 and 675 CE. The manuscript consists of the Quranic verses 17:36, to 36:57 (and part of verse 17:35). The Tübingen Fragment is significant because it provides scholars with important insights into the early transmission and textual history of the Qur'an. The manuscript's age and the script in which it is written make it a valuable resource for studying the development of the Qur'an's text and its preservation over time.

"Kufisches Koranfragment". Universität Tübingen.

circa 680-720 CE

Mashhad Codex
The term Codex Mashhad refers to an ancient Quranic codex primarily contained in two manuscripts, MSS 18 and 4116, housed in the Āstān-i Quds Library in Mashhad, Iran. Together, the first manuscript with 122 folios and the second with 129 folios make up over 90% of the Qur'an text. It is possible that other sections may be discovered in Mashhad or other locations around the world. Codex Mashhad has almost all the elements and features of the oldest known Qurʾānic codices. The dual volumes of the main body, written in ḥijāzī or māʾil script, are the only ḥijāzī manuscripts in vertical format in Iran.

circa 700-750 CE

Topkapi Manuscript
The Topkapi Manuscript is an early manuscript of the Quran dated to the late first to early second century Hijri (i.e. early to mid eighth century CE). This historic manuscript is kept in the Ottoman period Topkapi Palace Museum in modern day Turkey. Initially it was wrongly attributed to the third caliph of Islam Uthman Ibn Affan (died 656 CE), but judging from its illumination, the Topkapi manuscript does not date to the said period (i.e. mid seventh century CE) when the copies of the Caliph Uthman were written.

The paleographic assessment indicates that the Topkapi manuscript comes closest to those writings that date back to the eighth century CE. (cf. the examples in Déroche: Abbasid, page 36). Considering the script characteristics, the this particular mushaf must have been copied from the Muṣḥafs attributed to Caliph ʿUthmān.

Topkapi Museum Official.

circa 800-900 CE

Blue Quran
The Blue Qur'an (المصحف الأزرق) al-Muṣḥaf al-′Azraq) is a late ninth to early tenth-century CE dating back to the Fatimid dynasty of Tunisia. The Blue Qur'an manuscript is inscribed in the Kufic calligraphic style (characterized by sharp angles and the absence of vowel markings), probably created in North Africa for the Great Mosque of Kairouan. It is among the most famous works of Islamic calligraphy, and has been called "one of the most extraordinary luxury manuscripts ever created". Although scholars generally agree on its provenance and dating, recent scholarship by Alain George dates the manuscript rather earlier, to the early Abbasid caliphate (circa 750-800 CE).

circa 820 CE

Samarkand Kufic Quran
The Samarkand Kufic Quran, also known as the Uthman Quran, Samarkand codex, Samarkand manuscript and Tashkent Quran, preserved at Tashkent, is a Kufic manuscript. In Uzbek tradition it is identified as one of the caliph Uthman's manuscripts, but dated to the eighth or ninth century CE by both paleographic studies and carbon-dating of the parchment. Radio-carbon dating showed a 95.4% probability of a date between 795 and 855 CE. Today it is kept in the Hast Imam library, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. A folio containing a page from the sura al-Anbiya is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, US.

Manuscripta Orientalia, 2000

circa 1000 CE

Ibn Bawwab Quran
The Ibn al-Bawwab Quran Manuscript is a fully-surviving Quran in cursive style (Nakshi script). It is currently placed in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. This Manuscript was written by an Arab Calligrapher, Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn-Hilal, commonly known as Ibn al-Bawwab in Baghdad. This manuscript dates back to 391 Hj.

circa 1537 CE

First Printed Quran
Between 1537 and 1538 Paganini and his son published what was probably the first printed edition of the Quran in Arabic. This work was likely intended for export to the Ottoman Empire, with which Venice had extensive trade ties. In the end, the venture was unsuccessful; the entire print run is reported by various contemporaries to have been lost, though the explanations for the disappearance vary widely. However, one copy of this printed Quran was found in 1987 in a monastery in Isola di San Michele (Venice).

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