Samarkand Kufic Quran

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"Uthman Quran" redirects here. Not to be confused with Uthman Taha Quran.
Detached folio. Surah Al-Anbiya Ayah 105-110 from the Samarkand Kufic Quran in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
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The Samarkand Kufic Quran (also known as the Uthman Quran, Samarkand codex, Samarkand manuscript and Tashkent Quran) is an 8th or 9th century

Samarkand (present-day Uzbekistan). Today it is kept in the Hast Imam library, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan
.

It is said to have belonged to the third

Uthman ibn Affan.[1]

Dating the manuscript

Based on orthographic and palaeographic studies, the manuscript probably dates from the 8th or 9th century.[2][3] Radiocarbon dating showed a 95.4% probability of a date between 775 and 995.[3] However, one of the folios from another manuscript (held in the Religious Administration of Muslims in Tashkent) was dated to between 595 and 855 A.D. with a likelihood of 95%.[3]

History

Tradition vs scholarship

The copy of the Quran is traditionally considered to be one of a group commissioned by the third caliph Uthman. According to Islamic tradition, in 651, 19 years after the death of the Islamic Prophet,

Origin and development of the Quran).[1] Five of these authoritative Qurans were sent to the major Muslim cities of the era, and Uthman kept one for his own use in Medina, although the Samarkand Quran is most likely not one of those copies. The only other surviving copy was thought to be the one held in Topkapı Palace in Turkey,[1][4] but studies have shown that the Topkapı manuscript is also not from the 7th century, but from much later.[5][6]

Uthman was succeeded by

sufi master, as a gift after he had cured the ruler. The Quran remained in the Khoja Ahrar Mosque of Samarkand for the next four centuries.[1]

Certified history

In 1869, the Russian general Abramov bought it from the

Russian National Library).[1]
It attracted the attention of Orientalists and eventually a facsimile edition was published in Saint-Petersburg in 1905. The 50 copies soon became rarities. The first thorough description and dating of the manuscript was undertaken by the Russian Orientalist Shebunin in 1891.

After the

Turkestan ASSR, the Quran was returned to Central Asia, to Tashkent, in 1924, where it has since remained.[1]

Current state

The Samarkand manuscript, now kept in Tashkent

The

Islamic scholar
.

A folio containing a page from the sura Al-Anbiya is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, US.

The manuscript is incomplete:[1] it begins in the middle of verse 7 of the second sura and ends at Surah 43:10. The manuscript has between eight and twelve lines to the page and, showing its antiquity, the text is devoid of vocalisation as was the case with Arabic script back then.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Ian MacWilliam (2006-01-05). "Tashkent's hidden Islamic relic". BBC News. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
  2. ^ "The "Qur'ān Of ʿUthmān" At Tashkent (Samarqand), Uzbekistan, From 2nd Century Hijra". Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  3. ^ a b c E. A. Rezvan, "On The Dating Of An “'Uthmanic Qur'an” From St. Petersburg", Manuscripta Orientalia, 2000, Volume 6, No. 3, pp. 19-22.[1]
  4. ISBN 9789835203732
    – via Google Books.
  5. ^ "Corpus Coranicum". corpuscoranicum.de.
  6. ^ "Al-Mushaf Al-Sharif Attributed to 'Uthman bin 'Affan". www.ircica.org. Archived from the original on 2014-01-05.

External links

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