Description
This copy of the Qur'an, Walters manuscript W.557, was made in Iran, probably in the 6th century AH/AD 12th. The text is written in the New Abbasid (Broken Cursive) style with vowels indicated by red dots and orthoepic signs such as tashdid and sukun in green. The codex opens with an illuminated double-page frontispiece (fols. 1b-2a) inscribed with the creed that the Qur'an is God's word uncreated: al-Qur'an kalam Allah ghayr makhluq wa-man qala makhluq fa-huwa kafir bi-Allah al-'Ali al-Azim. The latter is also included in the explicit (fol. 285a). The Qur'anic text begins with an illuminated incipit for chapter 1 (Surat al-fatihah) and chapter 2 (Surat al-baqarah) (fols. 2b-3a). Throughout are illuminated chapter headings with marginal medallions, verse markers in teardrop form, marginal medallions indicating every 10th verse, illumination of the name of Allah, and indications for prostration. The dentelle-style brown goatskin binding with central lobed medallion, pendants, and cornerpieces is attributable to the 10th century AH/AD 16th.
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