Folio from the so-called “Sulayhid Qur’an”
Not on view
Qur'an 39:32-37
On this folio, the text of God’s revelation is written in a golden cursive script outlined in black. Different signs help the reader to navigate the text. Blue, red and dark brown marks indicate different letters (diacritical marks). Golden rosettes mark the end of a verse, and they each enclose a word that reads the number of the verse (aya) within the Qur’an’s chapter (sura). Verses 32 to 37 from Sura al-Zumar, or The Troops, are transcribed on this folio.
Folio 40.164.4b comes from the same Qur’an manuscript. 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. These 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 it was completed.
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