Codex Parisino-Petropolitanus – A Qur'ānic Manuscript From 1st Century Hijra

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First Composed: 28th June 2008

Last Updated: 16th February 2019

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Assalamu ʿalaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:

Arabe 328a, f. 10r

Arabe 328a, f. 25r

Arabe 328a, f. 29r

Arabe 328b, f. 61r

Arabe 328b, f. 62r

Marcel 18, f. 6v

KFQ60, (recto)

Vaticani Arabi 1605. Folio 1v


Folios of Codex Parisino-Petropolitanus.

Date

Second half of first century of hijra / 7th century CE.

Déroche has studied this manuscript in detail and suggested it be dated to the third quarter of the 1st / 7th century CE.[1] Noseda places this manuscript more generally in the 1st century of hijra.[2]

History Of The Manuscript

This manuscript was kept at the ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ mosque, Fusṭāṭ until, at the end of the 18th century, a member of French expedition to Egypt, Jean-Joseph Marcel, acquired a few leaves which, in 1864, became part of the collection of what is now known as National Library of Russia at St. Petersburgh. A few years later another Frenchman, Jean-Louis Asselin de Cherville (d. 1822), a consular agent of France in Cairo from 1806 to 1822, was able to buy a larger number of folios. These were passed to the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, in 1833, and became part of Arabe 328 collection of Qur'an manuscripts. Thus it can be surmised that the single folios at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana and Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London, must have the same provenance – the ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ mosque at Fusṭāṭ.[3] However, it does not mean that this manuscript was penned there. By studying the consonantal text of Arabe 328a, Yasin Dutton suggested that this manuscript is written in the qira'at of Ibn ʿAmir, the Syrian.[4] Therefore, it may have been in Syria that this manuscript was actually written.

Size & Folios

Parchment manuscript with a size of 33 cm x 24 cm. Writing area: 30 cm x 20.5 cm. There are 22-26 lines per page. Traces of ruling are visible (folios 1-4), but the copyist did not always keep strictly to the horizontal.[5]

Total number of folios are 98 = 56 (Arabe 328a, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris)[6] + 14 (Arabe 328b, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris)[7] + 26 (Marcel 18/1, National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg)[8] + 1 (Vaticani Arabi 1605, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City)[9] + 1 (KFQ60, Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London).[10] Originally this Qur'an would have contained around 210-220 folios. The extant folios contain about 46% of the text of the Qur'an.[11]

Script & Ornamentation

Ḥijāzī.[12]

The format is vertical, and the script which is thin and slender, also has a distinct vertical emphasis, despite the slant to the right. The codex is written by five copyists each with their own characteristic writing. The text is written in brown-black ink, with occasional diacritical strokes. There is no vocalization. Six oval dots ranked in three pairs punctuate the verses. Every fifth verse is marked by a red alif surrounded by dots. The surahs are separated by a space.

Contents

The contents of the manuscript are gathered primarily from the facsimile edition of Arabe 328a.[13] The content of other folios is noted from their respective sources.

Codex Parisino-Petropolitanus
Folios Qur'anic Surah / Ayah Image Publication Comments
1r 2:275 - 2:281 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
1v 2:281 - 2:286 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
2r 3:1 - 3:13 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
2v 3:13 - 3:24 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
3r 3:24 - 3:33 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
3v 3:34 - 3:43 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
4r 3:84 - 3:96 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
4v 3:96 - 3:106 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
5r 3:106 - 3:117 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
5v 3:117 - 3:127 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
6r 3:128 - 3:140 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
6v 3:140 - 3:151 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
7r 3:152 - 3:156 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
7v 3:156 - 3:165 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
8r 3:166 - 3:176 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
8v 3:176 - 3:185 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
9r 3:186 - 3:195 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
9v 3:195 - 3:200, 4:1 - 4:2 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
10r 4:3 - 4:9 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
10v 4:9 - 4:12 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
11r 4:12 - 4:20 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
11v 4:20 - 4:25 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
12r 4:25 - 4:33 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
12v 4:33 - 4:40 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
13r 4:40 - 4:37 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
13v 4:37 - 4:58 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
14r 4:58 - 4:66 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
14v 4:66 - 4:77 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
15r 4:77 - 4:84 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
15v 4:84 - 4:91 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
16r 4:91 - 4:96 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
16v 4:96 - 4:103 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
17r 4:103 - 4:113 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
17v 4:114 - 4:124 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
18r 4:125 - 4:132 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
18v 4:132 - 4:140 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
19r 4:140 - 4:150 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
19v 4:150 - 4:160 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
20r 4:160 - 4:173 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
20v 4:173 - 4:176, 5:1 - 5:3 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
21r 5:3 - 5:6 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
21v 5:6 - 5:14 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
22r 5:15 - 5:23 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
22v 5:23 - 5:33 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
23r 6:20 - 6:33 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
23v 6:33 - 6:44 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
24r 6:44 - 6:56 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
24v 6:56 - 6:68 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
25r 6:68 - 6:76 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
25v 6:76 - 6:91 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
26r 6:91 - 6:99 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
26v 6:99 - 6:112 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
27r 6:112 - 6:123 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
27v 6:123 - 6:134 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
28r 6:134 - 6:142 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
28v 6:142 - 6:148 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
29r 6:148 - 6:154 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
29v 6:154 - 6:162 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
30r 6:162 - 6:165, 7:1 - 7:10 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
30v 7:10 - 7:25 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
31r 7:26 - 7:34 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
31v 7:35 - 7:43 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
32r 7:43 - 7:53 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
32v 7:53 - 7:64 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
33r 7:64 - 7:74 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
33v 7:74 - 7:85 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
34r 7:85 - 7:94 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
34v 7:94 - 7:111 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
35r 7:111 - 7:131 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
35v 7:131 - 7:139 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
36r 7:139 - 7:146 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
36v 7:146 - 7:154 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
37r 7:154 - 7:158 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
37v 7:158 - 7:165 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
38r 7:165 - 7:173 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
38v 7:173 - 7:184 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
39r 7:185 - 7:195 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
39v 7:195 - 7:206, 8:1 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
40r 8:1 - 8:13 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
40v 8:13 - 8:25 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
– 1r 8:25 - 8:34 Marcel 18/1
– 1v 8:34 - 8:42 Marcel 18/1
– 2r 8:42 - 8:51 Marcel 18/1
– 2v 8:52 - 8:63 Marcel 18/1
– 3r 8:63 - 8:72 Marcel 18/1
– 3v 8:72 - 9:6 Marcel 18/1
– 4r 9:6 - 9:17 Marcel 18/1
– 4v 9:17 - 9:27 Marcel 18/1
– 5r 9:28 - 9:36 Marcel 18/1
– 5v 9:36 - 9:44 Marcel 18/1
– 6r 9:44 - 9:55 Marcel 18/1
– 6v 9:56 - 9:66 Déroche, 2014 Marcel 18/1
41r 9:66 - 9:73 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
41v 9:73 - 9:81 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
42r 9:81 - 9:90 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
42v 9:90 - 9:97 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
43r 9:97 - 9:105 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
43v 9:106 - 9:113 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
44r 9:113 - 9:121 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
44v 9:121 - 9:129, 10:1 - 10:2 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
45r 10:2 - 10:11 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
45v 10:11 - 10:19 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
46r 10:19 - 10:25 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
46v 10:26 - 10:34 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
47r 10:34 - 10:44 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
47v 10:44 - 10:57 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
48r 10:57 - 10:67 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
48v 10:67 - 10:78 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
10:102 - 10:109, 11:1 - 11:3 Levi Della Vida, 1947 Vaticani Arabi 1605. Folio 1v
11:4 - 11:13 Vaticani Arabi 1605. Folio 1r
11:14 - 11:24 Déroche, 1992 KFQ60 (recto), Nasser D. Khalili Collection
11:24 - 11:36 KFQ60 (verso), Nasser D. Khalili Collection
49r 12:85 - 12:100 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
49v 12:100 - 12:111, 13:1 - 13:2 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
50r 13:2 - 13:13 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
50v 13:13 - 13:23 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
51r 13:23 - 13:33 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
51v 13:33 - 13:43, 14:1 - 14:3 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
52r 14:3 - 14:13 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
52v 14:13 - 14:28 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
53r 14:28 - 14:44 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
53v 14:44 - 14:52, 15:1 - 15:19 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
54r 15:19 - 15:52 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
54v 15:52 - 15:87 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
– 7r 23:15 - 23:31 Marcel 18/1
– 7v 23:32 - 23:52 Marcel 18/1
– 8r 23:53 - 23:74 Marcel 18/1
– 8v 23:74 - 23:97 Marcel 18/1
– 9r 23:97 - 24:1 Marcel 18/1
– 9v 24:1 - 24:13 Marcel 18/1
– 10r 24:14 - 24:25 Marcel 18/1
– 10v 24:26 - 24:33 Marcel 18/1
– 11r 24:33 - 24:40 Marcel 18/1
– 11v 24:40 - 24:52 Marcel 18/1
– 12r 24:53 - 24:60 Marcel 18/1
– 12v 24:60 - 25:2 Marcel 18/1
– 13r 25:2 - 25:17 Marcel 18/1
– 13v 25:17 - 25:32 Marcel 18/1
– 14r 25:32 - 25:48 Marcel 18/1
– 14v 25:48 - 25:65 Marcel 18/1
– 15r 25:65 - 26:7 Marcel 18/1
– 15v 26:7 - 26:36 Marcel 18/1
– 16r 26:36 - 26:67 Marcel 18/1
– 16v 26:67 - 26:109 Marcel 18/1
– 17r 26:109 - 26:143 Marcel 18/1
– 17v 26:144 - 26:175 Marcel 18/1
– 18r 26:176 - 26:209 Marcel 18/1
– 18v 26:209 - 27:7 Marcel 18/1
– 19r 27:7 - 27:22 Marcel 18/1
– 19v 27:22 - 27:37 Marcel 18/1
– 20r 27:37 - 27:49 Marcel 18/1
– 20v 27:49 - 27:63 Marcel 18/1
– 21r 27:63 - 27:83 Marcel 18/1
– 21v 27:83 - 28:06 Marcel 18/1
– 22r 28:6 - 28:18 Marcel 18/1
– 22v 28:18 - 28:28 Marcel 18/1
– 23r 28:28 - 28:39 Marcel 18/1
– 23v 28:40 - 28:53 Marcel 18/1
– 24r 30:58 - 31:13 Marcel 18/1
– 24v 31:13 - 31:23 Marcel 18/1
55r 35:13 - 35:30 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
55v 35:30 - 35:41 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
56r 38:66 - 38:88, 39:1 - 39:4 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
56v 39:4 - 39:15 Déroche and Noseda, 1998 Arabe 328a
57r 41:31 - 41:44 Arabe 328b
57v 41:44 - 41:54 Arabe 328b
58r 42:1 - 42:14 Arabe 328b
58v 42:14 - 42:23 Arabe 328b
59r 42:23 - 42:40 Arabe 328b
59v 42:40 - 42:53 Arabe 328b
60r 43:1 - 43:23 Arabe 328b
60v 43:23 - 43:38 Arabe 328b
61r 43:38 - 43:58 Arabe 328b
61v 43:58 - 43:78 Arabe 328b
62r 43:78 - 43:89; 44:1 - 44:12 Arabe 328b
62v 44:13 - 44:39 Arabe 328b
63r 44:40 - 44:59; 45:1 - 45:7 Arabe 328b
63v 45:8 - 45:20 Arabe 328b
64r 45:21 - 45:32 Arabe 328b
64v 45:32 - 45:37; 46:1 - 46:8 Arabe 328b
– 25r 56:53 - 56:92 Marcel 18/1
– 25v 56:92 - 57:10 Marcel 18/1
– 26r 57:10 - 57:19 Marcel 18/1
– 26v 57:19 - 57:26 Marcel 18/1
65r 60:7 - 60:13; 61:1 - 61:2 Arabe 328b
65v 61:2 - 61:14 Arabe 328b
66r 62:1 - 62:11 Arabe 328b
66v 62:11 - 62:11; 63:1 - 63:9 Arabe 328b
67r 65:2 - 65:11 Arabe 328b
67v 65:11 - 65:12; 66:1 - 66:8 Arabe 328b
68r 66:8 - 66:12; 67:1 - 67:7 Arabe 328b
68v 67:7 - 67:27 Arabe 328b
69r 69:3 - 69:36 Arabe 328b
69v 69:36 - 69:52; 70:1 - 70:28 Arabe 328b
70r 70:28 - 70:44; 71:1 - 71:7 Arabe 328b
70v 71:7 - 71:28; 72:1 - 72:2 Arabe 328b

Location

Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; National Library of Russia; St. Petersburg; Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City; Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London.

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References

[1] F. Déroche, La Transmission Écrite Du Coran Dans Les Débuts De L’Islam: Le Codex Parisino-Petropolitanus, 2009, Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden: The Netherlands, p. 177.

[2] S. Noja Noseda, "Note Esterne In Margin Al 1° Volume Dei ‘Materiali Per Un'edizione Critica Del Corano’", Rendiconti: Classe Di Lettere E Scienze Morali E Storiche, 2000, Vol. 134, Fasc. 1, pp. 19–25.

[3] F. Déroche, La Transmission Écrite Du Coran Dans Les Débuts De L’Islam: Le Codex Parisino-Petropolitanus, 2009, op. cit., pp. 7-19; idem., "The Codex Parisino-Petropolitanus And The Ḥijāzī Scripts", in M. C. A. MacDonald (Ed.), The Development Of Arabic As A Written Language: Papers From The Special Session Of The Seminar For Arabian Studies Held On 24th July 2009, 2010, Supplement To The Proceedings Of The Seminar For Arabian Studies - Volume 40, Archaeopress: Oxford, pp. 113; idem., Qurʾans Of The Umayyads: A First Overview, 2014, Koninklijke Brill nv: Leiden (The Netherlands), pp. 17-18.

[4] Y. Dutton, "An Early Muṣḥaf According To The Reading Of Ibn ʿAmir", Journal Of Qur'anic Studies, 2001, Volume III (no. I), pp. 71-89.

[5] F. Déroche, Catalogue Des Manuscrits Arabes: Deuxième Partie: Manuscrits Musulmans - Tome I, 1: Les Manuscrits Du Coran: Aux Origines De La Calligraphie Coranique, 1983, Bibliothèque Nationale: Paris, pp. 59-60.

[6] ibid., p. 59.

[7] ibid., p. 60.

[8] F. Déroche, La Transmission Écrite Du Coran Dans Les Débuts De L’Islam: Le Codex Parisino-Petropolitanus, 2009, op. cit., pp. 8-13.

[9] G. Levi Della Vida, Frammenti Coranici In Carattere Cufico: Nella Biblioteca Vaticana, 1947, Studi e testi no. 132, Citta Del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Vatican City, pp. 1-2 and Tavola 1.

[10] F. Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition: Qur'ans Of The 8th To The 10th Centuries AD, 1992, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, Volume I, Oxford University Press, p. 32.

[11] F. Déroche, La Transmission Écrite Du Coran Dans Les Débuts De L’Islam: Le Codex Parisino-Petropolitanus, 2009, op. cit., 172.

[12] F. Déroche, Catalogue Des Manuscrits Arabes: Deuxième Partie: Manuscrits Musulmans - Tome I, 1: Les Manuscrits Du Coran: Aux Origines De La Calligraphie Coranique, 1983, op. cit., p. 59; idem., The Abbasid Tradition: Qur'ans Of The 8th To The 10th Centuries AD, 1992, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, Volume I, op. cit., p. 32.

[13] F. Déroche and S. N. Noseda (Eds.), Sources de la transmission manuscrite du texte coranique. I. Les manuscrits de style hijazi. Volume I. Le manuscrit arabe 328a (a) de la Bibliothèque Nationale de France, 1998, Fondazione Ferni Noja Noseda, Leda, and Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris.

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