The Marking of Poetry: A Rare Vocalization System from an Early Qurʾān Manuscript in Chicago, Paris, and Doha

Nick Posegay

doi:10.1086/712876

Abstract

The Marking of Poetry: A Rare Vocalization System from an Early Qurʾān Manuscript in Chicago, Paris, and Doha

Highlights

In 1939, Nabia Abbott published her groundbreaking book on Arabic paleography, The Rise of the North Arabic Script. She admitted that it was not her intention to produce such an extensive work—at least not at that time—and that her original goal was to catalog the Qurān manuscripts at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute. She explained: Since these manuscripts cover a wide period of time and present a variety of scripts, it soon became apparent that this undertaking could not be satisfactorily accomplished without the aid of special scientific equipment: a knowledge of both the historical
This paper provides updated digital images of four fragments from the Oriental Institute Museum (OIM) that appeared in Abbott’s Rise of the North Arabic Script, and calls attention to features of their paleography and vocalization which are not apparent from her original black-and-white plates
It demonstrates that these four fragments all belong to the same 74 ✦ Journal of Near Eastern Studies copy of the Qurān, which is the same Qurān as nineteen leaves in Paris’ Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF) and two leaves in Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art (MIA)

Summary

Introduction

In 1939, Nabia Abbott published her groundbreaking book on Arabic paleography, The Rise of the North Arabic Script In its preface, she admitted that it was not her intention to produce such an extensive work—at least not at that time—and that her original goal was to catalog the Qurān manuscripts at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute. This paper provides updated digital images of four fragments from the Oriental Institute Museum (OIM) that appeared in Abbott’s Rise of the North Arabic Script, and calls attention to features of their paleography and vocalization which are not apparent from her original black-and-white plates.. This paper provides updated digital images of four fragments from the Oriental Institute Museum (OIM) that appeared in Abbott’s Rise of the North Arabic Script, and calls attention to features of their paleography and vocalization which are not apparent from her original black-and-white plates.3 In doing so, it demonstrates that these four fragments all belong to the same. The following sections describe the common features of all the folios

The OIM Folios

Verses in Qurān

Scribal Hands

Ornamentation and Division

The Marking of Poetry

Conclusion

Works Cited