• al-Qurʼān: Kufic fragment [IO Loth 5] القرآن الكريم

القرآن الكريم al-Qurʼān: Kufic fragment

• This manuscript is now 42A in the India Office collections.
• [metadata: Otto Loth, A Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, (volume 1), here with notations and hyperlinks]

5.

42A. Size 63/4 in. by 91/2 in.; foll. 181. Sixteen lines in a page.

A large fragment of a Kûfic Koran, containing (foll. 13-20)2 Sûrah. 5, 112-6, 95; (foll. 25-34) 6, 108-7, 63 (fol. 36) 7, 104-126; (foll. 37-38) 7, 138-160; (fol. 35) 8, 20-34; (fol. 39) 9, 7-19; (fol. 21) 9, 38-51; (fol. 41) 9, 74-86; (fol. 42) 9, 108-118; (fol. 24) 10, 12-23; (fol. 22) 10, 34-50; (fol. 23) 11, 29-44; (foll. 1-4) 15, 99-16, 70; (foll. 5-12) 20, 34-21, 68; (foll. 66-75, 116-125, 86-105, 76-85) 21, 88-31, 38; (foll. 40, 44-51, 43, 53, 140-147, 56, 63) 34, 18-39, 63; (foll. 57-64) 41, 20-43, 37; (foll. 65, 54, 134-136) 43, 86-46, 11; (foll. 137-139, 55, 126) 46, 35-48, 26; (foll. 163-166, 162) 50, 1-53, 7; (foll. 133, 127-129, 148-151, 130-132, 152-161, 106-115, 167-176) 53, 36-89, 3; (foll. 177-181) 93, 10 to the end.

Written in rather slender characters, approaching to Naskh. Frequent red dots for vowels. Titles of Sûrahs, in a still more cursive character, and in red, are regularly inserted, but often differ from the usual names, being always derived from the first word. Every tenth verse is marked with the letters serving for figures, according to the older or Maghribî order. Also every two hundredth verse is marked on the margin.

At the end, in the same hand, کتبه عثمان بن عفان. [See ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān]

Seal and signature of Akbar [1542-1605] and others on the last page. "Presented to the Library of the East India House by Major Rawlinson, C. B., the Hon. Company's Political Agent in Turkish Arabia, and H. M.'s Consul at Baghdad, March, 1845."

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2 The leaves have been entirely misplaced in binding.