D.S.RICE THE UNIQUE IBN AL-BAWWAB MANUSCRIPT The text of the Qur'an was recorded'in the Prophet's lifetime, on a variety of writing materials.These inclu- ded such diverse materials as papyrus, parchment, leather, limestone slabs,shoulder blades,ribs, saddle- boards, &c. The Qur'an was first collectedunder the first caliph, Abu Bakr, and codified under the third caliph, 'Uthman. It was, in all likelihood, written on parchmenton both occasions,although one sourcehas it that papyrus was used on the first. All the early Qur'ans which have so far come to light are on parchment, with the exception of a small frag- ment on papyruswhich is attributed to the third Islamic century. The earliest Qur'ans w\ich have reachedus are written in variety of angular scripts commonly-but inappro- priately-describedas Kufic. No completeKufic Qur'an has, to my knowledge, survived and none is provided with a colophon. It is still a matter of controversy whether we possessany Qur'an which can be dated to the first century of the Muslim era.There are a number "signatures" of coclices which bear of the caliphs 'Uthman and 'Ali, but these have been shown to be later pious forgeries. Thanks to the studies published in the course of the last fifty years,especially by B. Moritz, J. von Karaba- cek, G. Bergstrásser,O. Pretzl,A. Grohmann, N. Abbott, and G. Levi della Vida much progresshas been made in the provisional dating of certain Kufic Qur'ans to the late first and to the second century of the Hijra. This was made possible only by the careful palaeographic analysis of extant specimens, by their comparison with datedinscriptions and by the elucidationof certain descriptivepassages scattered in the works of Muslim "Catalogue", writers. Among the latter the fihrist, of bibliophile and bookseller, the famous tenth-century '7 Ibn an-Nadim, has provided valuable information for 1 the identification and classificationof the oldest scripts. this hand is on paper-not on parchment.It is the work "Ali and belongs to Some guidance for the dating of later Kufic Qur'ans of ibn Shadhan ar-Razi al-Bayyi" can be derived from the waqf notices which are affixed the UniversityLibrary,Istanbul. Unlike the earlyKufic to some of them. But these donors' notes enable us Qur'answritten on parchment,it hasa full colophondated only to fix the terminus ante quem for a small number 3-61/972.Another volume of the same Qur'an manu- frontispiecehas been of manuscripts.In some instancesthe Qur'ans them- script, in which the illuminated (MS. K' selves may be older than the extreme dates thus preserved,is in the ChesterBeatty Library 17l1)' manu- obtained. the samuLibrary also possessesthe earliestdated "semi-Kufic" script,Íhe Mawaqif The oldest waqf notice of this kind, known to me, script in this type of belongsto the latter half of the third century and bears of Niffari dated 344/955-6. possessa few of the the nameof Amajur, who wasgovernor of the province To sum up : We may Qur'ans first century and almost certainly of Filastin during the reign of the Abbasid caliph al- second half of the of thesehave colophons nor Mu'tamid. It cannot be late Íhan 264/866. One part someof the second.None waqf noticeswhich permit a of this is in the Egyptian Library in Cairo and are they accompaniedby Qur'an datable in a samplepage from it hasbeen reproduced by B. Moritz. somewhat closer classificationof the Qur'ans Another part of the samemanuscript was identified by the third and fourth centuries. were the presentwriter in the CambridgeUniversity Library. Until the middle of the fourth century' Qur'ans of angular The next three manuscripts with waq;fnotices are in written on parchment in various types earliest survi- Cairo and are dated 267/880,268/881, 270/8834. A scripts known collectively as Kufic. The written in a manuscript bearing another such notice dated 297/909 ving .paperQur'an is dated 36I/972 and is "semi-Kufic'; undated is preservedin the Topkapu SarayiLibrary. The Chester script. This Qur'an, and some it, represent a transitional Beatty Library possessesa pair of Qur'an leaveswith Qur'ans which resemble parchmen (which a waqf notice of the same year and a third manuscript pirare between the Kufic Qur'ans on in cursive of 2971909is said to be in the National Museum, precedecl them) and the paper Qur'ans of this Damascus. icripts (which were to follow). The appearance in a trans- For the first half of the fourth century we also possess new script certainly does not representa stage 'oKufic" into cursive script. It is by only a small number of Kufic Qur'ans with waqlfsand formation of script these are divided between the libraries of Paris,Istan- now a well estabtishedfact that no such transformation is at least as bul, and Cairo. They are dated 300/912-13,307/9I9, ever took place. Cursive Arabic writing "Kufic" followed 308/920,329 /950, 33'1/948-9 . old as the lapidary style. Both styles another' Towards the middle of the fourth century there appears parallel develópments, mutually influencing one gained general acceptance a novel kind of script with marked diagonal characte- The Qur'an script which the cursive ristics in some letters and rvith bold triangular heads with the turn of the fourth century is naskhi in others. This script, which is highly decorative, is style known as naskhi. The earliest surviving "semi-Kufic", "bent is the Chester Beatty manuscript K. 16 which often referred to as Kufic", or Qur'an 'Ali 11 "East-Persian is the work of ibn Hilal, t2 Kufic". The earliest Qur'an written in is OateA391/1000-1. It better known as Ibn al-Bawwab, who may rightly be called the most illustrious Arab calligrapher. The ChesterBeatty Qur'an, which is the subject of the present monograph, is also-as will be shown-the only extant work of Ibn al-Bawwab and the earliest 'Ali ibn Hilal' fully illuminated Arabic manuscript to be discovered Little is known of the life of Abu-l-l'lasan but so far. We are ignorantof where anclwhen he was born, had been I am deeply grateful to Sir Chester Beatty for making he liveclmainly at Baghdad.His father,Hilal, 'Ali known as the publication of this monograph possible. I am a doorkeeper (bawwab)and became "the indebted to Messrs. Aziz Berker, Director-General of Sonof the Doorkeeper",Ibn al-Bawwab,and some- has the same conno- Libraries and Archives in Turkey ; Tahsin Ó2, then times also as lbn as-Sitri,which Director of the Topkapu SarayiMuseum Kemal tation. ; Qi[, 'Ali Director of the Topkapu Sarayi Library, Elif Naci, ibn Hilal began his careeras a house-decorator books Director of the Tiirk ve Islam Eserleri Museum, and (muzawwiq'(sawwara-'l-kurub)yusaww*ir ad-dur), then he illuminated and Fehmi Edhem Karatay, Director of the University and finally he took to calligraphy i'excelled Library, Istanbul,for the facilitiesgranted to me during all thosewho ha<lpreceded him and confoun- my visitsto Turkey. ded all thosewho cameafter him'l in My thanks are also due to Professor E. Robertson, He also useclto preachat the Mosqueof al-Mansur Abu Director of the John Rylands Library, Manchester, Baghdad and when the vizier Fakhr al-Mulk, governor- Mr. J. Leveen,Keeper of OrientalPrinted Books and Ghalib Muhammad ibn Khalaf assumedthe (in 401/ Manuscripts in the British Museunt, and Dr. A.F.L. ship of that city on behalf of the Buwayhids Manuscripts 1010),he maclelbn al-Bawwabone of his intimates' Beeston,Keeper of Oriental Books and 'Ali in the BodleianLibrary, Oxford, for permissionto use Accoidingto ibn Hilal'sown statementhe was,for Buwayhid manuscriptsin their care. some timi, in chargeof the library of the personal I also wish to thank ProfessorA.J. Arberry, Dr. R. Baha'ad-claulain Shiraz.OÍ'Ibn al-Bawwab's Ettinghausen,Mr. G. Makdisi, ProfessorL.A. Mayer, appearancewe know only that he had an unusually Dr. S. M. Stern,and Mr. J.V.S.Wilkinson for reading long beard. near the manuscriptin typescriptand for valuablecomments. He ctieOin Baghcladin 413/1022and was buried provided The photographsfor the plates were in some cases the tomb of Ahmad ibn Hanbal.This date, Muhassin as- taken under unfavourableconditions, and I am grateful by a contemporaryauthority, Hilal ibn variant to the collotypersfor making the best of the material SaUi (4. 448/1056)is to be preferred to the of which and in particularto Mr. WilÍied Merton for his personal 4n/À31 fbund in a later source.An elegy, graveby supervision.I also wish to thank Mr. Charles Batey some versesare preserved,was recited by his and his staff at the University Press,Oxford, for the the poet al-Murtada. 'Ali by set text. ibn FIilal is said to have known the Qur'an beautifullyand carefully 75 1^ D.S.R. heartancl is reporteclto havecopied it sixty-four times' Robertson has given an excellent summary of this Only oneoÍ'these copies-the Chester Beatty MS. K. l6 "invented -has so far come to light. development: Ibn Muqla a new processof He composedan epistleon penmanship(of which the measurementby dots.Theoretically the dot wasÍbrmed introductiononly is preserved)and also a didacticpoem by placing the point of the pen on paper.Sufficient given on the samesubject. The latter is availablein several downwardmovement and pressurewas then to manuscriptsand has been includedin Ibn Khaldun's open the pen to its full extent, after which it was produced Muqaclclima.Though highly valuedby Ibn Khaldun, it permittedto closeas evenlyand rapidly.This point conlainsonly vaguegeneralities and providesno infor- a squareor rhombus..