Scriptures as Holy Objects: Preliminary Comparative Remarks on the Qurʾān and the Torah in the Medieval Middle East

Abstract

Jews and Muslims have developed similar perceptions about the divine origins of their respective sacred scriptures, including their aural and graphic forms. How to transcribe the accurate and authentic text was debated and eventually prescribed in detail in each tradition, but ultimately each religion adopted a different strategy. The Jewish tradition—which distinguishes between liturgical reading and study—developed two discrete formats of the Pentateuch. The ancient form of the scroll with the text inscribed in scripta defectiva was reserved for liturgical use, while the newer codex, written in scripta plena with vocalization and cantillation marks, was accepted for all other purposes. Muslim scholars were less concerned with preserving an ‘authentic’ form, and gradually allowed massive embellishment of the basic script, and a wide variety of designs. The two traditions regard a few early copies of their scriptures, notably the ʿUṯmānī Musḥaf(s) of the Qurʾān and the Aleppo Codex of the Torah, as particularly awe inspiring and holy, according them the role of “master copy” on the scholarly level, and bestowing them the veneration due sacred relics, on the popular level.