Studying the Scripts of the Noble Qur'an: Between Orientalist Methods and Arab Efforts

This lecture was delivered on the third day of the “Scripts of the Codices” seminar, within the “Mushaf Course: History and Characteristics,” organized by the Center for Manuscripts and the Center for Calligraphy Studies at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (5 to 9 August 2018), and presented by Dr. Mohamed Hassan alongside Prof. Bashir al-Humairi. It aims, in both its theoretical and applied aspects, to establish the knowledge foundation of the “paleography of Qurʼans” and to clarify the gap between the Western and Eastern schools in this field. What follows is a structured record of its main themes, allowing it to be read as a text alongside watching it in full in the video above.

The Knowledge Gap: The Tip of the Iceberg

The problem of the Arab lag in this field began to become clearly evident with the intellectual stir caused by the researcher Alba Fedeli when she discovered two folios that later became known as the “Birmingham Quran Manuscript.” This event was but the tip of the iceberg, revealing two things:

1. The great European superiority in the field of paleography relating to the noble Qur’an.
2. The severe scholarly and academic lag in our Arab East in studying the writings and scripts relating to the codices.

The researcher Alba is a student of the Orientalist Sergio Noja Noseda, one of the most important Orientalists who attained a great standing in studying the development of Qur’anic writings and published many Qur’anic parchments before his death in 2008.

The Orientalist School and the Methodology of François Déroche

The French scholar François Déroche is the foremost authority in this area; his importance lies in his codification of a large number of terms and designations across his works, perhaps the most prominent of which are:

1. Qurʼans of the Umayyads.
2. The Abbasid Tradition.

In these works, Déroche sought to derive “paleographic script rules” that clearly track the trends of the development of the scripts, and he grounded his idea through the study of the Nasser Khalili Collection of Islamic art and the collections preserved in the National Library of France (BNF).

The concept of paleography: it is the science and art of reading the development of scripts, determining their place and the civilization that prevailed in them, while taking into account the codicological factors that influenced them, such as the type of paper, the inks, the pens, and the manner of cutting the pen.

Déroche absorbed these foundations and built analytical tables of the distinctive letters at the end of each chapter, allowing one to grasp the visual development of the codex and to date it, and even to determine whether the manuscript was written by more than one hand.

The Extension and Diversity of the Western Methods

The Western schools were not confined to Déroche; rather, diverse geographical and material trends appeared, including:

• The geographical trend: the attempt to root the codices geographically (linking them to specific regions), such as the studies of Jeremy Johns on the “Palermo Quran,” and the studies of Éléonore (Cellard) on the “Quran of the ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAs Mosque” in Fustat.
• Papyrology: researchers such as Dr. Capelloni studied the Qur’anic passages recorded on ancient papyrus pages.

The State of Studies in the Arab East: The Problem of the “Geometric Rule”

Against this Western momentum, the efforts in the East are marked by dispersal or reduction. Dr. Bashir al-Humairi is to be credited for his great effort in the “Dictionary of ʿUthmanic Orthography” (twelve years of work), but on the level of “the scripts,” we face a methodological problem.

The venerable master Muhammad Abd al-Qadir (may God have mercy on him), who derived the rule of the Qur’anic Kufic script that is taught in the schools of calligraphy to this day, fell into two methodological problems when dealing with the manuscripts in 1975:

1. The geometric approach: he established a strict geometric rule that does not reflect the spontaneous nature of the movement of the reed and the ink on the parchments.
2. The aggregative view: he gathered multiple forms of a single letter (such as the alif) from scattered codices and merged them into one rule, ignoring that each codex possesses a calligraphic and design (layout) rule of its own. (Unlike the West, where the rule of each codex is studied on its own, such as the codex of the “wet-nurse of al-Muʿizz ibn Badis al-Sanhaji,” studied by the calligrapher Amer Ben Jeddou.)

The Knowledge Levels of Paleographic Analysis

To correct this course, the Qur’anic manuscript must be dealt with through specific visual knowledge levels that go beyond the superficial view; when evaluating any Qur’anic page, one must study:

1. Page design (layout): the format (horizontal or vertical), the dimensions, and the interstitial spaces.
2. Textual statistics: the number of lines on the page, and the number of words on each line.
3. The calligraphic structure: the structure of the letter, its thickness (rigidity/thickness), and the breaking of words across lines.
4. The artistic elements: the illumination, the ornaments, the letter-distinguishing dots, and the “outlining” (tazmik, framing the word).

The Problem of the Codices Attributed to ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan

To apply these criteria, let us consider the six codices historically attributed to our master ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan; the paleographic analysis makes clear that there is no calligraphic or design link joining them, which negates their belonging to the same era or source:

1. The codex of al-Mashhad al-Husseini / Sayyida Zaynab (Cairo): its weight exceeds 80 kg, its lines number 12, and it is distinguished by a special form of certain letters such as the “returning yāʼ.”
2. The codex of the Egyptian National Library (Cairo): the structure of its letters differs, appearing more rigid and thick compared to the previous copy.
3. The Topkapı Palace codex (Istanbul): gifted by Muhammad Ali Pasha to the Ottoman sultan, and edited by Dr. Tayyar Altıkulaç under the umbrella of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (the IRCICA center), by comparing the verses line by line and noting the differences of the ʿUthmanic orthography.
4. The codex of the Museum of History and Civilization (Istanbul): entirely different visually; the interstitial spaces between the words are very wide, and the “outlining” (tazmik) is clear in it (writing in gold with a black frame).
5. The Samarkand / Tashkent codex: distinguished by a huge script size and a different design. A folio was removed from it that is now in the Metropolitan Museum, and its belonging to it can be proven by matching the structure of the letter, the page design (layout), and the materials used (the inks and parchments).
6. The codex of the Institute of Oriental Studies in Saint Petersburg: a codex in vertical format, all of whose pages were converted to pure gold in Russia for diplomatic and political purposes.

The Need for a Scholarly and Institutional Foundation

There are those who study the codex linguistically, and those who study it archaeologically or historically, and there are studies of epigraphy, diplomatics, and papyrology; but the problem lies in fragmentation and the lack of integration of these disciplines. This fragmentation has allowed some currents of Orientalism (which have ideological agendas to impugn the integrity of the Qur’anic text, as in their attempts with the Sana’a codices) to dominate the scholarly narrative.

Moreover, the current catalogues of the Arab libraries offer nothing new; they suffice with mentioning “a codex from such-and-such period” or mentioning the “colophon,” without any paleographic indications about the development of the script, the identity of the calligrapher, or the calligraphic lineage of the manuscript.

Methodological recommendations and essential references: we are in urgent need in the coming years to establish a generation of researchers who combine codicology, paleography, and ʿUthmanic orthography. To achieve this, those interested are advised to return to the following foundational references:

• The book The Scripts of the Codices by Dr. Adham Muhammad Hanash.
• The distinguished doctoral dissertation of Dr. Mohamed Saïd Chérifi (supervised by Dr. Ibrahim Chabbouh and Dr. Ibrahim Gomaa).
• The publications of Qatar Museums and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, especially the books Reading Qurʼanic Manuscripts and The Journey of the Noble Qurʼan.
• The articles of François Déroche translated by the researcher Murad Tadghout.
• The studies of Dr. Tayyar Altıkulaç and the publications issued by the IRCICA center.

In conclusion, the study of the Qur’anic Kufic script, which branches into more than 74 types (as documented by Muhammad Asif Fikr), is not merely an artistic study, but a reading into the very heart of the vessel of knowledge that preserved our civilization, which requires serious work to reclaim leadership in this field.