Qur’ans of the Umayyads

Abstract

Qur’an manuscripts have attracted a good deal of attention from scholars, especiallyin the wake of the spectacular finds in the Great Mosque in Sanaa in1972. Some might suggest that this attention is superfluous or even reflectiveof a willful ignoring of the significance of the scripture’s oral transmissionand a privileging of the written word over the oral. However, careful studiesof these manuscripts tell us many things, such as early Muslim attitudes towardthe text, that cannot be documented otherwise. In fact, early manuscriptsare the only tangible source about the oral tradition itself. We can also see thatchanges in appearance in early manuscripts provide evidence of the perceptionand role of such copies and that this went through a significant transformation,especially during the Umayyad period (661-750).Studies done by knowledgeable scholars do not aim to establish an “original”text or to find fault with the modern version; rather, they aim to focuson such matters as the history of the Arabic script’s development and howmanuscripts were used. Of course, such early manuscripts also provide evidenceof textual variation, the precise dimensions of which have not alwaysbeen preserved by Muslim tradition. It is worth reiterating, however, that thesevariations are never of such extent that one can doubt the integrity of the textor its doctrinal or legal contents. Overall, the study of early Qur’an manuscriptsis a challenging task, subject to much scholarly speculation and thusdifference of opinion, especially due to the absence of colophons on the availabletexts thought to stem from the Umayyad period. This is generally the resultof the lost first and last pages in such manuscripts, for they are the first tobecome worn and detached and then disappear. Most of those manuscriptsavailable to us today are in a highly fragmented condition.François Déroche is the world’s leading scholar on matters related toQur’an manuscripts. The vast majority of his writing until now has been inFrench; his masterful examination of a single early exemplar, La transmissionécrite du Coran dans les débuts de l’islam, appeared in 2009. Thus many readersto whom his scholarship has not otherwise been accessible will welcomethis book written in English and marketed in a relatively inexpensive paperbackformat. The work originated as a series of four lectures given at the LeidenUniversity Centre for the Study of Islam and Society in 2010. Thoselectures were primarily the result of an extensive use of the resources held inIstanbul’s Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum ...