Some Notes on the British Library's ‘Oldest Qur'an Manuscript’ (Or. 2165)

Abstract

Following the publication of the facsimile edition of MS Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Arabe 328a, a new publication has been added to the series, namely that of the first 61 folios of MS Or. 2165 in the British Library, London. This, too, has been hailed as one of the earliest Qur'ans in Europe, and a closer examination shows that it is very similar to MS Paris 328a in a number of respects. Not only are both manuscripts written in “Hijāzī” script on vertical format pages, but, more importantly, both manuscripts turn out to be written according to the reading of the Syrian reader Ibn cĀmir (d. 118/736) and to exhibit a verse-numbering pattern most closely related to that of Hims but also showing several marked anomalies. These “Syrian” features, together with the early handwriting, suggest that both manuscripts were copied in Syria at an early date, most probably when the caliphate had its seat in Syria, i.e. during the Umayyad period. Thus, once again, the identification of such features helps in ascertaining both the provenance and date of such manuscripts, as it also fleshes out with documentary evidence the information given in the traditional literature on the subject.