Al-tawhid Some Old Manuscripts of the Holy Qur'an
- Manuscripts Ascribed To the Imams, Sahabah and Tab'iun ==========================================================
Fortunately we have today some very ancient Qur'anic manuscripts which date back to the time of the Sahabah of the Prophet (S). Though the authenticity of the ascription of each one of them to its purported writer is not certain, to be sure there exist among them Qur'ans of the period of the Sahabah, a number of whom lived until the end of the 1st/7th century. 61
12. Codices Attributed to al-'Imam al-Hasan (A)
Among the codices attributed to some famous sahabah of the Prophet (S) - other than 'Uthman and 'Ali (A), which have been already discussed - are three codices ascribed to al-'Imam al-Hasan al-Mujtaba (A). The first one is kept in the Qur'anic collection of Astaneh e Quds-a Radawi. It bears the serial number 12 and contains from the twenty third juz' to the twenty-fifth juz' of the Qur'an in 122 folios of deerskin. 62 In Kufic script, it has inscribed on it the words: "al Hasan ibn 'Ali ibn Abi Talib" with the date 41 H. On the first folio is a dedication (waqfnameh) by Shah 'Abbas Safawi and bearing the signature of al-Shaykh al-Bahai who attributes it to al-'Imam al-Hasan (A), who is mentioned thus:
The second codex is the one placed upon the sarcophagus at the tomb of 'Ali (A) at Najaf. 63 The third one, written on ten folios of deerskin, was seen by this writer in the library of Ustad Mahmud Farrukh Khurasani. Apparently, it is still in the possession of his family. It starts with the twelfth verse of Sura al Nisa' and ends at the seventh verse of Surat al-Tawbah. It bears the signatures of Hasan ibn 'Abbas, al-Safawi Bahadur Khan and Isma'il al-Musawi al-Hasani Bahadur Khan, indicating that they got the blessed chance to view this manuscript 64 It is not very unlikely that this third manuscript is a part of either the Qur'an at Astaneh-ye Quds-e Radawi or the one at Imam Ali's tomb, from which it might have been separated.
Incidentally, it should be remembered that the Qur'an in the possession of Ustad Farrukh and his family does not contain more than 10 leaves and it cannot comprise nearly six parts (juz') of the Qur'an, i.e. from the fourth to the tenth. Without doubt it consists of scattered leaves of the Qur'an attributed to the Imam that were collected and bound without attention to sequence.
13. The Codex of al 'Imam al-Husayn (A)
It consists of 41 folios of deerskin in the Kufic script with the inscription the sixteenth juz' of the Qur'an starting from verse 72 of Surat al-Kahf and ending with the last verse of Surat Ta Ha. 65 Each of the pages of this pocket-size codex have seven lines. Its serial number is 14.
14. The Codex of 'Aqabah ibn 'Amir
It was written in the Kufic script in 52/672 by 'Aqabah ibn 'Amir, a Companion of the Prophet (S) who lived in Damascus. He was appointed in 44/664 by Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan as the governor of Egypt where he died in 58/678. He used to recite the Qur'an in a good voice. 66 In Taqrib al-tahdhib, his tenure in Egypt is mentioned as three year and it goes on to add that he was a faqih and a scholar. Al-Suyuti, in Husn al muhadarah writes: He was an eloquent qari and a faqih among the sahabah. 67 This Qur'an is kept at the al-'Amanah Library, Istanbul, with the serial number 40. Its microfilm, numbered 10, exists at Mahad al Makhtutat al-'Arabiyyah, Cairo.68 15. The Codex of Khadij ibn Mu'awiyah
Another codex exists in the Maghribi script by Khadij ibn Mu'awiyah ibn Salamah al-'Ansari, who is definitely other than the father of Rafi' ibn Khadij, a Companion, because the grandfather of Rafi (the father of Khadij) is 'Adi and the father of this Khadij is Mu'awiyah. 69 Khadij completed this codex in 47/667 at the city of Qayrawan for Amir 'Aqabah ibn Nafi' al-Fahri. It is kept at the al-'Amariah Library, Istanbul, with the number 44. Its microfilm, numbered 9, is at Ma'had al Makhtutat al 'Arabiyyah, Cairo. 16. The Codex of al 'Imam Zayn al 'Abidin (A)
It is attributed to al-'Imam al Sajjad Zayn al Abidin 'Ali ibn al-Husayn (A) and is kept at the library of Astaneh-ye Quds-e Radawi, under the serial number 15. Its deerskin folios of 30x20 cms size contain from verse 180 of Surat al-Baqarah to the end of the Qur'an. Subsequently the original folios were bound and the margins were illuminated. 17. The Codex of al Imam al-Sadiq (A)
The codex attributed to Ja'far ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq (A) is kept at the al-'Amanah Library, Istanbul, and has been given the number 39. Its microfilm bearing number 11 is at the Ma'had al Makhtutat al-'Arabiyyah 70 18. The Codex of al-'Imam Musa ibn Ja'far (A)
The codex attributed to Musa ibn Ja'far (A) contains verses beginning from verse 265 of Surat al-Baqarah and ending with verse 84 of Surat Al 'Imran. It is written on medium octavo folios with each page comprising 6 lines. It is kept at the library of al-'Imam al-Rida's shrine and bears the serial number 20. It has been endowed to the sacred shrine by Shah 'Abbas Safawi. In earlier times the text and the margins of this Qur'an written on parchment were pasted with a thick paper of the same color. 19. The Codex of al-'Imam al-Rida (A)
The codex attributed to al-'Imam al-Rid a (A) bears the number 86 of the library of the Astaneh-ye Quds-e Radawi. It contains only a part of the Qur'an71 written on octavo size deerskin folios with each page containing 16 lines. On the first page is written:
bears an, oval seal with the inscription In addition to the aforementioned codices, there are many other 'ancient codices in the Kufic script some of which even do not have such marks as the madd and shaddah, which came to be used in Qur'anic writing only later. Most of them have red dots in the place of the now usual diacritical marks (i'rab) because that was the mode of indicating 'vowels before the use of i'rab. Most of them do not contain the name of the scribe and the date of completion, because most of their pages have been lost or have been scattered into several parts.
Such manuscripts, which are present in large numbers in museums and libraries around the world, have been - according to the experts who date them - mostly written between the 2nd/8th and 4th/10th centuries when the Naskhi script had not yet replaced the Kufic script. Precious specimens of these manuscripts can be seen at the exquisite collection of the Astaneh-ye Quds-e Radawi, the Iran Bastan Museum, the museum of the shrine at Qumm, the library and museum of Shiraz and Kitabkhanehye Waziri at Yazd, as well as several libraries abroad.