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http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Text/Mss/yem1f.html

The Great Umayyad Qur'n (Codex S an DAM 20-33.1) From The Time Of Caliph Al-Wald, Lat Century Hijra

Date

Late 1st century hijra, 710 - 715 CE in the reign of the Umayyad Caliph al-Wald.

By studying the palaeography, ornamentation and illumination of this manuscript, Hans-Caspar Graf von Bothmer dated it to the last decade of the 1st century

of hijra, around 710 - 715 CE, in the reign of the Umayyad caliph al-Wald.[1] However, the radiocarbon dating of this manuscript suggests an earlier date between 657 and 690 CE.[2]

Husband and wife team Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair are vocal critics of the Umayyad date attached to this manuscript. Bloom and Blair even suggest von Bothmer of being unscientific in his presentation and interpretation of the data.In his article "The Introduction Of Paper To The Islamic Lands And The Development Of The Illustrated Manuscript", Bloom refuses to discuss this manuscript;[3]Blair adopts a more conciliatory stance by explaining the reasons why the presentation of scientific evidence lacks a certain degree of robustness.[4] Oleg Grabar has conducted a detailed interaction and critique of the art-historical methodology adopted by von Bothmer in dating this manuscript and was able to converse

with him directly on the matter.[5]

Inventory No.

DAM 20-33.1

Size & Folios

The original codex had the approximate dimensions of 51 cm (height) x 47 cms(width). It had c. 520 folios.[6] But only 25(?) of them survive.[7] The extantfolios are quite fragmented.

History Of The Manuscript

Although it was found in the Great Mosque in S an this monumental Qur'anic manuscript, perhaps one of the most well-studied in recent times, appears to be origin

ally from Syria. This codex may have been sent from Syria to S

an after the Great Mosque of S an was expanded.

Script & Ornamentation[8]

Kufic.

At present this is the earliest known Qur'anic manuscript in Kufic script. Almost square in format, this Qur'an occupies the middle ground between the vertical format of early h ijz manuscripts and the horizontal codices which were soon tofollow for some two centuries. It has superb calligraphy. The calligrapher's pen

was wide cut which enabled him to draw lines that range from hair-fine to boldand broad.

The rich illumination in this manuscript comprises of full page images, srahdividers and frames. The repertory of ornamental motifs is late classical. This

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manuscript is unique in the sense that it open with a group of full page images:a representation of Paradise based on a 'cosmogram', a classical motif combinin

g an octagon and a circle and, on the reverse, a mosque. The following page alsodepicts a mosque; on the reverse the text begins with the first srah [Figure (d)

]. If the image had not occupied the same leaf as the text, its association witha Qur'an would have been unlikely. These images are the only known Qur'an illus

trations and are absolutely unique among extant Qur'an manuscripts.

The mosque does not portray a specific building but rather a type of mosqueas does the image on the following leaf. This type of mosque was first employedunder the Umayyad caliph al-Wald, in the Great Mosque of Damascus. The painter has used an unusual combination of floor plan and elevation to show the main features of the building, such as the three sections of the prayer hall, two storeyshigh, which run parallel to the qibla wall, and the axial space which cuts across these sections, leading from the main gate to the mihrab [Figure (b)]. Important details - the minbar in front of the mihrab, the mosque lamps suspended on long chains, the ablution facilities between the monumental flight of steps, eventhe minaret with its inside staircase - are depicted with great fluency which testifies to a long pictorial tradition , now lost, which must have preceded this

work. Both the type of mosque shown here and the courtyard version on the opposite folio are closely connected with al-Wald's architectural projects.

The refined techniques suggests that the manuscript was produced in a placewith long tradition of book making. Certain features of this manuscript and theiconography suggests that this work was made for al-Wald who himself may have commissioned it.

Location

Dr al-Makhttt, S an, Yemen.

------References

[1] H-C. G. von Bothmer, "Architekturbilder Im Koran Eine Prachthandschrift DerUmayyadenzeit Aus Dem Yemen", Pantheon, 1987, Volume 45, pp. 4-20.

[2] H-C. G. von Bothmer, K-H. Ohlig & G-R. Puin, "Neue Wege Der Koranforschung",Magazin Forschung (Universitt des Saarlandes), 1999, No. 1, p. 45; Also see H-C.G. von Bothmer's write-up and images in M. B. Piotrovsky & J. Vrieze (Eds.), Ar

t Of Islam: Heavenly Art And Earthly Beauty, 1999, De Nieuwe Kerk: Amsterdam & Lund Humphries Publishers, pp. 101.

[3] J. M. Bloom, "The Introduction Of Paper To The Islamic Lands And The Development Of The Illustrated Manuscript", Muqarnas, 2000, Volume XVII, pp. 22-23 (footnote 15). He says, I am deliberately neglecting the fragmentary double frontispiece to a magnificent parchment manuscript of the Koran discovered in the Great Mosque of San a because there is no scientific proof for von Bothmer

s claim that the manuscript has been carbon dated to the Umayyad period, and a ninth-century date seems more likely on the basis of script.

[4] S. S. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy, 2006, Edinburgh University Press Ltd: Edinburgh (Scotland), p. 125 & p. 139, footnote 95. Noting that the E20 Manuscript and the Samarqand Manuscript produce a range of 220 years and 260 years respectively at the 95% confidence level, Blair is suspicious of the low range reported by von Bothmer, noting it is only 33 years in length. Furthermore, she complainsthat the testing facility and standard deviations (confidence levels) are absent

. Blair is not entirely correct when she says that the confidence level has notbeen given. The 95% confidence level for the radiocarbon dating of this manuscript was given elsewhere with the date 645-690 CE, see C. Hillenbrand, "Muhammad A

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nd The Rise Of Islam", in P. Fouracre (Ed.), The New Cambridge Medieval Historyc. 500 c. 700, 2005, Volume I, Cambridge University Press, p. 330. Matters are further complicated however as the reference provided by Hillenbrand does not provide details of the radiocarbon dating! Hillenbrand took the details of the radiocarbon dating from her husband Professor Robert Hillenbrand who in turn took the information directly from von Bothmer himself (i.e., personal communication).Von Bothmer is currently preparing a voluminous tome on the S an manuscripts. Any judgements as to the soundness and completeness of the results reported above willbe resolved by the publication of this volume.

[5] O. Grabar, The Mediation Of Ornament, 1992, The A. W. Mellon Lectures In TheFine Arts, 1989, Bollingen Series XXXV, Princeton University Press: Princeton (

USA), pp. 155-194. Although this S an Qur'an is not exclusively discussed in all these pages, one should read the entire chapter to appreciate the full extent of Grabar's argument; he also provides a detailed reconstruction of how these two frontispieces may have originally looked [ibid., pp. 158-159]. On a similar note, for a brief study of early Bible and Qur'an illuminations with mention of this manuscript see, E. Baer, "Early Bible And Qur'n Illuminations: Preliminary Remarks",

in B. H. Hary, J. L. Hayes & F. Astren (Eds.), Judaism And Islam: Boundaries, C

ommunication And Interaction - Essays In Honor Of William M. Brinner, 2000, Brill: Leiden, pp. 139-156.

[6] H-C. G. von Bothmer, "Architekturbilder Im Koran Eine Prachthandschrift DerUmayyadenzeit Aus Dem Yemen", Pantheon, 1987, op. cit., p. 5.

[7] H-C. G. von Bothmer, "Masterworks Of Islamic Book Art: Koranic Calligraphy And Illumination In The Manuscripts Found In The Great Mosque In Sanaa", in W. Daum (ed.), Yemen: 3000 Years Of Art And Civilization In Arabia Felix, 1987?, Pinguin-Verlag (Innsbruck) and Umschau-Verlag (Frankfurt/Main), p. 180.

[8] The entire discussion in this section is taken and adapted from M. B. Piotrovsky & J. Vrieze (Eds.), Art Of Islam: Heavenly Art And Earthly Beauty, 1999, op. cit., p. 101.

[9] The published manuscripts can be seen in Memory Of The World: S an Manuscripts, CD-ROM Presentation, UNESCO. A useful guide to the contents in the CD-ROM was prepared by K. Small & E. Puin, "UNESCO CD of S an Mss. Part 3: Qur'n Palimpsests, And Unique Qur'n Illustrations", Manuscripta Orientalia, 2007, Volume 13, Number 2, pp.

63-70. For other folios see H-C. G. von Bothmer, "Architekturbilder Im Koran Eine Prachthandschrift Der Umayyadenzeit Aus Dem Yemen", Pantheon, 1987, op. cit.,

pp. 14-16; Mas h if S an, 1985, Dr al-Athar al-Islmiyyah: Kuwait, p. 45; M. B. PiotrovJ. Vrieze (Eds.), Art Of Islam: Heavenly Art And Earthly Beauty, 1999, op. cit.

, pp. 102-104; H-C. G. von Bothmer, "Masterworks Of Islamic Book Art: Koranic Calligraphy And Illumination In The Manuscripts Found In The Great Mosque In Sanaa", in W. Daum (ed.), Yemen: 3000 Years Of Art And Civilization In Arabia Felix,1987?, op. cit., p. 186; F. Droche, "New Evidence About Umayyad Book Hands" in Essays In Honour Of S alh Al-Dn Al-Munajjid, 2002, Al-Furqn Islamic Heritage FoundationPublication: No. 70, Al-Furqn Islamic Heritage Foundation: London (UK), p. 630.

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