The “Qur'ān Of ʿUthmān” At The Topkapi Museum, Istanbul, Turkey, From 1st / 2nd Century Hijra

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First Composed: 19th November 2003

Last Updated: 31st July 2008

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Assalamu ʿalaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)


(e)

A display of what is widely held to be the ‘Uthmanic manuscript of the Qur'an in the Topkapi Museum, Istanbul, Turkey. (a) A distant view showing folios 4b and 5a, (b) a closer view of left folio (i.e., folio 5a), (c) folio 42b showing vowels using red dots, (d) folio 333a showing no vowels and (e) folio 253b showing end of surah al-Qaṣaṣ and beginning of surah al-ʿAnkabūt.

Date

Late 1st century / early 2nd century of hijra.

Accession Number

H.S. 194. The number was later changed as H.S. 22 and later shown as H.S. 44/32.

Size & Folios

Size: 41 cm x 46 cms. The text is 32 cm x 40 cm, written on vellum. The thickness of the codex is 11 cm.

Total number of folios: 408. Only two folios are missing. The extant folios contain more than 99% of the text of the Qur'an.

History Of The Manuscript

Mehmed Ali Pasha, Governor of Egypt, sent this muṣḥaf to the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II as a gift in 1226 AH / 1811 CE. A note in the beginning of the muṣḥaf says that it was brought to the Topkapi Palace and kept in the Holy Relics Department, which was built during the reign of Sultan Selim I. A facsimile edition of this manuscript appeared in the year 2007.[1]

Did this Qur'an belong to the third caliph ʿUthmān? The answer is no. There are good number of other Qur'ans [such as the ones at St. Petersburg, Samarqand, Istanbul and two at Cairo, viz., at al-Hussein mosque and Dār al-Kutub al-Misriyya] having at times turned up in different parts of the Islamic world, almost all purporting to show the traces of the blood of the third caliph ʿUthmān upon certain pages, and thus the genuine ʿUthmānic Qur'an, the imām, which he was reading at the time of his death. Moreover, the manuscript clearly shows the script, illumination and marking of vowels that are from the Umayyad times (i.e., late 1st century / early 2nd century of hijra).[2] Furthermore, this manuscript was also briefly discussed by Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Munajjid who did not consider it to be from the time of caliph ʿUthmān.[3]

Script & Ornamentation

Kufic.

It is extensively dotted perhaps by a later hand. A general examination of the codex indicates that its script varies in thickness and size. For example, parts between folios 1b-6b and 11a-11b exhibit a different hand as compared with the script in rest of the codex. This needs to be further investigated. It could be that some of the folios were lost and damaged for some reason and were rewritten and added to the codex later. If so, these additions must have been made within short intervals of time.

The letters contain vowel marks in the form of red dots according to the method of Abū al-Aswad al-Duʾalī (d. 69 AH / 688 CE). Single dots were placed above, beside or below the letters. Two dots were placed to indicate the nunation known as tanwīn. Diacritical marks are represented by dashes.

The surahs are separated by wide horizontal bands in the form of rectangles. Sometimes the corners of these rectangles are decorated. The sequence of the surahs is just like what is seen in modern day copies of the Qur'an.

The codex is contains rosettes in the form of big circles after every 5 and 10 verses, rectangular shaped signs after every 100 verses and signs of similar shape following every 200 verses in surahs such as al-Baqarah, āl-ʿImrān and al-Shuʿarā. These rosettes are illuminated in a colour different from the other signs.

Contents

The contents of the manuscript, as tabulated below, are gathered from the facsimile edition.

Folios Qur'anic Sūrah Image Publication Comments
1b al-Fātiḥah Altikulaç, 2007 Fragmented
1b - 30b al-Baqarah Altikulaç, 2007 Slight fragmentation of verses 84 - 102, 108 - 109, 113 - 114, 282, 284 - 286
30b - 47a āl-ʿImrān Altikulaç, 2007 Slight fragmentation of verses 3 - 7
47b - 66a al-Nisā Altikulaç, 2007 Slight fragmentation of verses 25 - 27, 31 - 37
66a - 78b al-Mā'idah Altikulaç, 2007 Missing folio containing part of verses 3 - 8
78b - 93a al-Anʿām Altikulaç, 2007 -
93a - 109a al-Aʿrāf Altikulaç, 2007 -
109a - 115b al-Anfāl Altikulaç, 2007 -
115b - 128a Tawbah Altikulaç, 2007 -
128a - 137a Yūnus Altikulaç, 2007 -
137a - 146b Hūd Altikulaç, 2007 -
146b - 155b Yūsuf Altikulaç, 2007 -
155b - 159b al-Rʿad Altikulaç, 2007 -
159b - 163b Ibrāhīm Altikulaç, 2007 -
163b - 167a al-Ḥijr Altikulaç, 2007 -
167a - 176b al-Nahl Altikulaç, 2007 Slight fragmentation of verses 33 - 35, 39 - 40
176b - 183b al-Isrāʾ Altikulaç, 2007 Missing folio containing part of verses 17 - 33
183b - 191b al-Kahf Altikulaç, 2007 -
191b - 196a Maryam Altikulaç, 2007 -
196a - 203a Ṭāhā Altikulaç, 2007 Slight fragmentation of verses 53 - 54, 63
203a - 209b al-Anbiyā Altikulaç, 2007 -
209b - 216a al-Ḥajj Altikulaç, 2007 -
216a - 221b al-Muʾminūn Altikulaç, 2007 -
221b - 228b al-Nūr Altikulaç, 2007 -
228b - 233b al-Furqān Altikulaç, 2007 -
233b - 240a al-Shuʿarā Altikulaç, 2007 -
240a - 246a al-Naml Altikulaç, 2007 -
246a - 253b al-Qaṣaṣ Altikulaç, 2007 -
253b - 259a al-ʿAnkabūt Altikulaç, 2007 -
259a - 263a al-Rūm Altikulaç, 2007 -
263a - 266a Luqmān Altikulaç, 2007 -
266a - 268a al-Sajdah Altikulaç, 2007 -
268a - 275a al-Aḥzāb Altikulaç, 2007 -
275a - 279b Sabʾ Altikulaç, 2007 -
279b - 283b Fāṭir Altikulaç, 2007 Slight fragmentation of verses 40 - 42
283b - 287b Yāsīn Altikulaç, 2007 -
287b - 292b al-Ṣāffāt Altikulaç, 2007 -
292b - 296b Ṣād Altikulaç, 2007 -
296b - 302b al-Zumar Altikulaç, 2007 -
302b - 310a Ghāfir Altikulaç, 2007 -
310a - 314b Fussilat Altikulaç, 2007 -
314b - 319b al-Shūra Altikulaç, 2007 -
319b - 324b al-Zukhruf Altikulaç, 2007 -
324b - 326b al-Dukhān Altikulaç, 2007 -
326b - 329a al-Jāthiya Altikulaç, 2007 -
329a - 332b al-Aḥqāf Altikulaç, 2007 -
332b - 336a Muḥammad Altikulaç, 2007 -
336a - 339a al-Fataḥ Altikulaç, 2007 -
339a - 341b al-Ḥujurāt Altikulaç, 2007 -
341b - 343b Qāf Altikulaç, 2007 -
343b - 345b al-Dhāriyāt Altikulaç, 2007 -
345b - 347b al-Ṭūr Altikulaç, 2007 -
347b - 349b al-Najm Altikulaç, 2007 -
349b - 351b al-Qamar Altikulaç, 2007 -
351b - 354a al-Raḥmān Altikulaç, 2007 -
354a - 356a al-Wāqiʿah Altikulaç, 2007 -
356b - 359b al-Ḥadid Altikulaç, 2007 -
359b - 362b al-Mujādilah Altikulaç, 2007 -
362b - 365a al-Ḥashr Altikulaç, 2007 -
365a - 367a al-Mumtaḥinah Altikulaç, 2007 -
367a - 368b al-Ṣaff Altikulaç, 2007 -
368b - 369b al-Jumuʿah Altikulaç, 2007 -
369b - 370b al-Munāfiqūn Altikulaç, 2007 -
370b - 372a al-Taghābūn Altikulaç, 2007 -
372a - 373b al-Talāq Altikulaç, 2007 -
373b - 375a al-Tahrīm Altikulaç, 2007 -
375a - 377a al-Mulk Altikulaç, 2007 -
377a - 379a al-Qalam Altikulaç, 2007 -
379a - 380b al-Ḥaqqah Altikulaç, 2007 -
380b - 382a al-Maʿārij Altikulaç, 2007 -
382a - 383b Nūḥ Altikulaç, 2007 -
384a - 385a al-Jinn Altikulaç, 2007 -
385b - 386b al-Muzzammil Altikulaç, 2007 -
386b - 388a al-Muddathir Altikulaç, 2007 -
388a - 389a al-Qiyāmah Altikulaç, 2007 -
389a - 390b al-Insān Altikulaç, 2007 -
390b - 391b al-Mursalāt Altikulaç, 2007 -
391b - 393a al-Nabāʾ Altikulaç, 2007 -
393a - 394a al-Nāziʿāt Altikulaç, 2007 -
394a - 395a al-ʿAbasa Altikulaç, 2007 -
395a - 395b al-Takwīr Altikulaç, 2007 -
395b - 396a al-Intifār Altikulaç, 2007 -
396a - 397a al-Mutaffifīn Altikulaç, 2007 -
397b - 398a al-Inshiqāq Altikulaç, 2007 -
398a - 398b al-Burūj Altikulaç, 2007 -
399a al-Tāriq Altikulaç, 2007 -
399a - 399b al-ʿAlā Altikulaç, 2007 -
399b - 400a al-Ghāshīyah Altikulaç, 2007 -
400b - 401a al-Fajr Altikulaç, 2007 -
401a - 401b al-Balad Altikulaç, 2007 -
401b - 402a al-Shams Altikulaç, 2007 -
402a - 402b al-Layl Altikulaç, 2007 -
402b - 403a al-Ḍuḥa Altikulaç, 2007 -
403a al-Sharḥ Altikulaç, 2007 -
403a - 403b al-Ṭīn Altikulaç, 2007 -
403b - 404a al-ʿAlaq Altikulaç, 2007 -
404a al-Qadr Altikulaç, 2007 -
404a - 404b al-Bayyinah Altikulaç, 2007 -
404b - 405a al-Zalzalah Altikulaç, 2007 -
405a al-ʿAdiyāt Altikulaç, 2007 -
405b al-Qāriʿah Altikulaç, 2007 -
405b al-Takāthur Altikulaç, 2007 -
406a al-ʿAsr Altikulaç, 2007 -
406a al-Humazah Altikulaç, 2007 -
406a - 406b al-Fīl Altikulaç, 2007 -
406b al-Quraysh Altikulaç, 2007 -
406b al-Māʿun Altikulaç, 2007 -
407a al-Kawthar Altikulaç, 2007 -
407a al-Kafirūn Altikulaç, 2007 -
407a al-Naṣr Altikulaç, 2007 -
407b al-Masad Altikulaç, 2007 -
407b al-Ikhlās Altikulaç, 2007 -
408a al-Falaq Altikulaç, 2007 -
408a al-Nās Altikulaç, 2007 -

Location

The Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, Turkey.

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References

[1] T. Altikulaç, Al-Muṣḥaf Al-Sharif: Attributed To ʿUthmān Bin ʿAffān (The Copy At The Topkapi Palace Museum), 2007, Organization of the Islamic Conference Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture: Istanbul (Turkey).

[2] ibid., pp. 10-11

[3] S. al-Munajjid, Dirāsāt fī Tārīkh al-Khatt al-ʿArabī Mundhu Bidayatihi ilā Nihayat al-ʿAsr al-Umawi (French Title: Etudes De Paleographie Arabe), 1972, Dar al-Kitab al-Jadid: Beirut (Lebanon), p. 55.

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With the exception for those images which have passed into the public domain, the use of these images for commercial purposes is expressly prohibited without the consent of the copyright holder.

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