THE RISE of the NORTH ARABIC SCRIPT and ITS KURANIC DEVELOPMENT, with a FULL DESCRIPTION of the KURAN MANUSCRIPTS in the ORIENTAL INSTITUTE Oi.Uchicago.Edu
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
oi.uchicago.edu THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS JOHN ALBERT WILSON and THOMAS GEORGE ALLEN Editors oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu THE RISE OF THE NORTH ARABIC SCRIPT AND ITS KURANIC DEVELOPMENT, WITH A FULL DESCRIPTION OF THE KURAN MANUSCRIPTS IN THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE oi.uchicago.edu THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY NEW YORK THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI THE COMMERCIAL PRESS, LIMITED SHANGHAI oi.uchicago.edu THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS VOLUME L THE RISE OF THE NORTH ARABIC SCRIPT AND ITS KURANIC DEVELOPMENT, WITH A FULL DESCRIPTION OF THE KURAN MANUSCRIPTS IN THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE By NABIA ABBOTT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS oi.uchicago.edu COPYRIGHT 1939 BY THE UNIVEHSITY OF CHICAGO ALL HIGIITS KESERVED. PUBLISHED JUNE 1939 COMPOSED AND PHINTKD HY THE IN J V r.TiClTY < >F CHICAGO TRESS CHICAGO. ILLINOIS, l.S.A. oi.uchicago.edu FOREWORD Handwriting as a fine art is no small part of artistic endeavor in the history of Arabic Islam. It has, therefore, received some attention from Western students ever since they be came interested in the study of Arabic and Islam. The decipherment of difficult, sometimes intricate, scripts, especially on papyri, state papers, and inscriptions, drew the lion's share of such attention. Fairly extensive studies on the development of Arabic script from Nabataean have appeared. The beauty of fine Kui°ans was given a considerable amount of aesthetic appraisal. The descriptive terminology and nomenclature of a rather extensive literature in Arabic on Km°anic and other calligraphy was scarcely touched. Without descriptive text the great paleographic album of Moritz remained in large part a sealed book. This study is a brave, keen, and penetrating attempt to bring difficult literary statements to bear on actually existing manuscript evidence. This is a long step forward from the old period of "naskhl and Kufic"—terms used for the most part with confusing looseness. It is a step in the right direc tion, not the end attained. New students with more means at their disposal should be stimu lated thereby. There are other problems as well. The influence of Manichaean practice especially on sacred calligraphy has barely been broached. In this connection Druze sacred calligraphy forms an interesting and important chapter. If interested readers do their duty by this excellent pioneer work of Dr. Nabia Abbott, it will elicit not merely constructive criticism, but a revitalized and humanized extension of the study of the art of writing as an important factor in the life of Muslim lands and peoples. M. SPRENGLING UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO October 28, 1938 vu oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu PREFACE The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago acquired in 1929 the valuable Moritz collection, consisting largely of Arabic papyri, parchments, and paper manuscripts, with some Arabic stone inscriptions. Professor Martin Sprengling has most generously placed the major ity of the Arabic manuscripts at my disposal for study and publication as time and opportunity permit. The plan of the present volume grew out of an attempt to catalogue the Kurgan manuscripts in the Oriental Institute, all but two of which (Nos. 31 and 32) were acquired as part of the Moritz collection. 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 accom plished without the aid of special scientific equipment—a knowledge of both the historical development of the North Arabic script and the progress of KurDanic writing, especially in the early centuries of Islam. Investigation, however, soon revealed the fact that such knowledge is not available in any complete and up-to-date form. It had therefore to be gathered from many sources. This process, once started, proved more and more intriguing, and the material thus gathered grew to be the first half and, it is hoped, the better half, of the present volume. It is my happy privilege to acknowledge here my great indebtedness to Professor Sprengling. His genuine interest in the progress of this study has been constant, and his enthusiasm a source of encouragement and inspiration. Despite a full and strenuous schedule he has taken time to discuss many of the problems as they arose and to read the entire work in manuscript. His generous contributions through excellent suggestions and keen criticisms growing out of unusually wide and scholarly knowledge have left their mark on the study to a much greater extent than is readily discernible. My thanks are also due to Miss Johanne Vindenas and her assistants for a delightfully effi cient and speedy library service, to Dr. Watson Boyes, museum secretary, for the preliminary photographs for the plates, and to Mr. Walter W. Romig for skilful drawing of the map and of the letters and symbols appearing in Figure 1 and in the text. I am also much indebted to Dr. T. George Allen and Dr. Adolph A. Brux, who in the course of editing the manuscript made many valuable suggestions and numerous stylistic improvements. I am happy also to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Director John A. Wilson for including the present volume among the "Oriental Institute Publications"—the first study in the Arabic field to be included in that series. NABIA ABBOTT ORIENTAL INSTITUTE Chicago, 1938 oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii ABBREVIATIONS xv BIBLIOGRAPHY xvii I. RISE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE NORTH ARABIC SCRIPT 1 Nabataean Origins 1 Earliest North Arabic Inscriptions 4 Spread of the North Arabic Script before Islam 5 Earliest Muslim Inscriptions, Coins, and Papyri 14 II. DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIFIC SCRIPTS 17 Early Kur3anic Scripts 17 Other Eastern Scripts 30 Orthographic Signs 38 MaghribI Scripts 41 III. THE KURDAN AS A WRITTEN DOCUMENT 45 The More Important Sources 45 The Kurgan in Muhammad's Time 46 The Edition of cUthman 47 Writing Materials 51 Specific Features in KurDanic Writing 54 Binding 56 WaM 57 IV. KURGAN MANUSCRIPTS IN THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE 59 Parchment: Nos. 1-17 60 Paper; Nos. 18-32 69 INDEX 95 XI oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PLATES I. NABATAEAN AND PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS II. DATED ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS OF THE FIRST CENTURY OF ISLAM III. DATED ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS AND COINS OF THE FIRST CENTURY OF ISLAM IV. BILINGUAL (GREEK AND ARABIC) RECEIPT FOR SHEEP REQUISITIONED BY AN OFFICER OF CAMR IBN AL-CASI AT AHNAS, A.H. 22 V. DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARABIC ALPHABET FROM THE THIRD TO THE EIGHTH CENTURY AFTER CHRIST VI. EARLY KUR3ANIC SCRIPTS. EXAMPLES DATING FROM ABOUT THE SECOND CENTURY AFTER THE HIJRAH VII. MAGHRIB! SCRIPTS VIII-XXI. KURGAN PARCHMENTS OF THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE XXII-XXXIII. PAPER KURGAN MANUSCRIPTS OF THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE MAP PAGE PROBABLE ROUTES OF DIFFUSION OF THE EARLY NORTH ARABIC SCRIPT 3 TEXT FIGURE 1. A TENTATIVE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE BASIC PROPORTIONED FORMS OF THE LETTERS OF THE ARABIC ALPHABET ACCORDING TO IBN MUKLAH AS SUPPLEMENTED BY IBN CABD AL-SALAM 35 Xlll oi.uchicago.edu oi.uchicago.edu ABBREVIATIONS Aghani A Abu al-Faraj al-Isbaham. Kitab al-aqhanl (al-Kahirah, 1927 ). Aqhani B Same, another ed. (Vols. I-XX, BQlak, A.H. 1285 [A.D. 1868]; Vol. XXI, ed. R. E. Brun- now, Leyden, 1888; Index by Ign. Guidi, Leyden, 1900). AJSL American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures (Chicago etc., 1884 ). AMJRL John Rylands Library, Manchester. Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts .... by A. Mingana (Manchester, 1934). APJRL John Rylands Library, Manchester. Catalogue of Arabic Papyri .... by D. S. Margoli- outh (Manchester, 1933). AT. Pal Moritz, B. Arabic Palaeography (Cairo, 1905). AT. Papier Karabacek, Joseph von. Das arabische Papier (Wien, 1887). BIFAO Cairo. Institut francais d'archeologie orientale. Bulletin (Le Caire, 1901 ). BMMA New York. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Bulletin (New York, 1905——). CIA Eg. I Berchem, Max van. Materiaux pour un corpus inscriptionum Arabicarum. 1. ptie. figypte {MMF XIX). CIA Eg. II Wiet, Gaston. Matenaux pour un corpus inscriptionum Arabicarum. 1. ptie. figypte. II {MIFAO LII). CIA Jer. I-III Berchem, Max van. Mat6riaux pour un corpus inscriptionum Arabicarum. 2. ptie. Syrie du sud. J6rusalem {MIFAO XLIII-XLV). CPR III Corpus papyrorum Raineri archiducis Austriae. III. Series Arabica, ed. Adolphus Groh- mann. Bd. I, Teil 1. Allgemeine Einfuhrung in die arabischen Papyri, von Dr. Adolf Grohmann (Wien, 1924). Bd. I, Teil 2-3. Protokolle, bearb. und hrsg. von Dr. Adolf Grohmann (Text und Tafeln; Wien, 1924, '23). EI Encyclopaedia of Islam (Leyden, 1913 ). Encyc. Brit. Encyclopaedia Britannica (14th ed.; New York, 1929). Fihrist Nadlm, Muhammad ibn Isljak al-. Kitab al-fihrist> ed. G. Fliigel (Leipzig, 1871-72). Flor. de Vogue Florilegium ou recueil de travaux d'erudition d£di6s a M. ... de Vogii6 (Paris, 1909). Ibn Abl Dawiid Jeffery, Arthur. Materials for the History of the Text of the Qur>an (Leiden, 1937). Arabic text. Islamic Book Arnold, T. W., and Grohmann, A. The Islamic Book ([Paris,] 1929). Itkan Suytiti, Jalal al-Dln al-. Kitab al-itkan ([al-Kahirah,] A.H. 1318). JRAS Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Journal (London, 1834 ). KPA Abbott, Nabia. The Kurrah Papyri from Aphrodito in the Oriental Institute (Chicago, 1938). Roman numerals following the abbreviation give the numbers of the documents. Macarif Ibn Kutaibah. Kitab al-macdrif (Handbuch der Geschichte), ed. F. Wiistenfeld (Got- tingen, 1850). MIE Institut d'figypte, Cairo. Memoires (Le Caire, 1919 ). MIFAO Cairo. Institut frangais d'arche\>logie orientale. Memoires (Le Caire, 1902 ). MMF France. Mission archeologique francaise au Caire. Memoires (Paris, 1884 ).