Folio from the so-called “Sulayhid Qur’an”

Qur'an 7: 4-12.

This illuminated folio includes the left side of a chapter heading, the second page of the seventh chapter (sura) of the Qur’an, (The Elevated Places (al-A‘raf). Written in an angular script set against delicate scrollwork, two rectangular panels provide the number of verses (206) and the place in which God revealed them (Mecca) to the Prophet. To further the sense of prominence of the page, a three-dotted motif fills the background of the text. Different elements, such as the golden rosettes and tabula ansata, help the reader navigate the text. Blue, red and dark brown marks (diacritical marks) indicate vocalization.

Folio 40.164.4a comes from the same Qur’an. Both 40.164.4a and 40.164.4b belong to the so-called "Sulayhid Qur’an", of which two volumes are now in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art in Istanbul. They came from the shrine of Sultan Murad I in Bursa. This is the only Qur’an so-far identified as being copied in Fatimid Cairo and was part of a complex gift exchange between the Fatimid rulers in Egypt and the Sulayhids in Yemen, where it was received soon after being completed.