Bifolium from the "Nurse's Qur'an" (Mushaf al-Hadina)

Title

Creator

Durrah al-Katiba (link to bio), Scribe;

Ali ibn Ahmad al-Warraq (link to bio), Bookbinder; Illuminator; Scribe

Worktype

Folio; Codex; Religious text; Qur'an

Codices

Cultural Context

African; Tunisian; Islamic

Material

Dimensions

Technique

Language

Arabic; Kufic

Date

Creation: 11th century

ca. 410 AH/1019–20 CE

Provenance

Style Period

Rights

Public Domain

Public Domain

Inscription

Translation: Although the text is indeed from sura 6, al-An`am, "The Kine", verses 40-41 (in part), and 48-49 (in part), the arrangement is puzzling, on account of the folia being detached from their original sheaves and binding. On the first page, and so in the first photograph with the illumination, that is, the first picture on the left, and running on to the second page and so into the second photograph, but now on the right, one certainly reads, from 6:41-42 :

... aghyara Llahi tad`una in kuntum s?adiqina * bal iyyahu tad`una / fa-yakshifu ma tad`una ilayhi in sha'a wa tansuna ma tashrikuna.

"... upon other than God would you call, were you sincere? * Nay! Unto Him would you call, and He would unveil that for which you call upon Him, and you would forget those (gods) you associate (with Him)."

Then, strangely reversed, on the left page of the second photograph, but going on to the right page of the first photograph, one can read, from 6:48-49:

... wa mundhirina fa-man amana w-as?lah?a fa-la khawf-un `alayhim wa la / hum yah?zinuna wa-lladhina kadhabu bi-ayatina yamassuhum al-`idhabu ...

"... as warners : and who so believes and does right, then no fear unto them, nor / shall they grieve *, and those who regard Our signs as lies, shall touch them the chastisement ..."

In Arabic language and in kufic script:

Qur'an

Left 6:48

Right 6:41

A.Ghouchani, 2011

Location

Source

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Subjects

Descriptive Topic: Calligraphy

Topic

Curationist Contributors

Jessica Gengler; Reina Gattuso