Muòìaf Al-Masgid Al-Aqòa’ [The Muòìaf of the Al-Aqòa of Their Makki Or Madani Origin, Pp

0582_BIOR_2007_5-6_01 31-01-2008 13:23 Pagina 645 779 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ISLAM 780 of the book. However, the epilogue in the book lacks any detail about a supposed exemplar, nor does there seem to exist a historically important copy of the Qurân in the al- AqÒa Mosque. If we accept, however, the connection with Jerusalem at face value, we may believe that an authoritative copy of the Qurân which is kept in the al-AqÒa Mosque, was at the basis of the edition which was produced in Ghazza and which is now being distributed. Apart from the Qurânic text the volume contains several extras. The Qurân is nowadays printed in a great number of countries, and governments of many Islamic countries super- vise the production of a correct and reliable text with a vari- ety of administrative measures. This is also the case with the present Qurân, which adopts Egypt as its country of schol- arly reference. The official permission from al-Azhar to distribute the volume directly follows the title-page, and is fol- lowed by illuminated calligraphic pages. The divine text gos from pp. 1-604. Then follows the Duäˆ Khatm al-Qurân al- ISLAM Karim (“the prayer to be said at the closure of the recitation of the text”, pp. 605-606), the Fihris bi-Asmaˆ al-Suwar (“the list with names of the sura’s”, together with the indication ‘MuÒÌaf al-Masgid al-AqÒa’ [The MuÒÌaf of the al-AqÒa of their Makki or Madani origin, pp. 607-608), a list with the Mosque in Jerusalem]. Îazat sharaf †ibaätihi ManÒur lil- Älamat al-Waqf wa-MuÒ†alaÌat al-Δab† (“signs used for the ™ibaä wal-Nashr wal-Tawzi¨, Ghazza, Filas†in, Shari¨ al- pronunciation and spelling”, p. 609), the Ta¨rif bi-MuÒÌaf al- WaÌda, P.O. Box 5, 1427 higri/2007 miladi, Al-™abä Masgid al-AqÒa (information on the present copy, the so- al-Ula. ([5] + 638 pp.), 25 cm. Price in Egypt £E 30. styled copy of al-Masgid al-AqÒa, pp. 610-611, from which According to pious Islamic tradition four out of the six most of the information discussed below is extracted), the copies of the Qurân, which were produced after the editor- MukhtaÒar al-Taysir fi Ïlm al-Tagwid (a separate work on ial committee convened by order of the third Caliph Üthman Qurân recitation by the contemporary author Dr. Äbd al- b. Äffan (d. 656) had completed its work, were distributed RaÌman Yusuf al-Gamal which was added to the present vol- among the important towns and settlements of the Muslims ume by the publisher (pp. 612-636), a list with the names of at the time: Mecca, Damascus, al-Kufa and al-BaÒra. One the members of the Idarat al-BuÌuth wal-Taˆlif wal-Targama, copy remained in Medina for public use, and one copy was which is presented by Prof. Dr. AÌmad Ïsa al-Ma¨Òarawi, the kept by the Caliph for private use. That latter copy is, of Raîs Lagnat al-MuÒÌaf wa-Shaykh Ümum al-Maqariˆ al- course, the one which the Caliph was reading from when he MiÒriyya (p. 637), and finally the volume contains the pre- was murdered, and which was splattered with his blood. That liminary permission print the book (p. 638). copy is called al-MuÒÌaf al-Imam, the “leading copy of the The publisher, the Ma†baät ManÒur in Ghazza, Palestine, Qurân”, of which all others are dependent. The blood stains on May 22, 2006, obtained the preliminary permission from establish the genuineness and authenticity of that copy. The al-Idara al-Ämma lil-BuÌuth wal-Taˆlif wal-Targama (“Gen- proliferation of the written Qurânic text in the rest of the eral Department for Research, Writing and Translation”) of rapidly expanding world of Islam took place by copies made the Islamic Research Academy of al-Azhar in Cairo to print from any one of these six canonical copies, of copies thereof, the MuÒÌaf al-Masgid al-AqÒa, which should be in the for- and so on. None of these first six canonical copies has been mat of 17 x 24 cm (width by height), in the riwayat ÎafÒ än preserved however, nor has any copy which belonged to the ÄÒim, and which is makhtum al-Ayat (probably meaning that ∑aÌaba or the Tabiün, the existence of which is documented it is stamped on every page on behalf of the al-Azhar author- by al-Sigistani in his Kitab al-MaÒaÌif. ities), and written in a hand, which is designated here as al- Present-day editions of Islam’s holy book do not depend Kha†† al-Kufi al-MiÒri (“Egyptian Kufi handwriting”). The on a chain of manuscripts, assessed in an academic environ- indication of this script style is somewhat enigmatic since the ment by philologists and/or theologians and then critically text is originally written (indeed, it is not typeset) and printed edited — as is done with the holy books of Jews and Chris- in what we would call a clear naskh hand. Would the term tians —, but rather on information concerning the transmis- “kufi” make it more authentic? After the completion of the sion and recitation of the text which is guaranteed by a sep- production process ten copies must be offered to the “Com- arate branch of religious literature, that of the qiraât, the mittee for the Inspection of Copies of the Qurân” (Lagnat science of the Qurânic readings. It can best be compared Muragaät al-MaÒaÌif) for a final check, and in the mean- with the masora of the Hebrews, which is a corpus of infor- time no copy could be distributed (document reproduced on mation, which exists separately from the holy text, on how p. 638). On December 4, 2006, the publisher received defin- actually the holy text should be handed over to following itive permission to distribute the 40,000 copies which he had generations. The hazardous transmission of the holy text on produced, all within the framework of the relevant Egyptian the basis of manuscripts which have purely accidentally sur- laws and regulations concerning the production and distrib- vived is thereby avoided. This is also the case with the pre- ution of Qurâns and works on Îadith. Forty thousand copies sent edition of the Qurân, which advertises itself as the edi- is a relatively small number, and it means that this al-AqÒa tion of the copy of the Qurân in the al-AqÒa Mosque in MuÒÌaf will be out of print soon. The number seems to be a Jerusalem. The mosque is depicted on either side of the cover common one, however, and it can be seen in many of such 0582_BIOR_2007_5-6_01 31-01-2008 13:23 Pagina 646 781 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXIV N° 5-6, september-december 2007 782 permissions issued by the Azhar which are reproduced in G I, 100). That is probably the work on Qiraât ascribed to Egyptian editions of the Qurân. If the publisher, as the per- Khalil b. AÌmad, whose authorship is doubtful, however. The mission stipulates, would somehow fail to observe the nec- 6236 aya’s containing all 321250 letters of God’s Word were essary punctuality, e.g. by making mistakes in the order of counted according to the Kufi system. For this the work al- the pages and the quires, the permission would be withdrawn Qawl al-Wagiz fi FawaÒil al-Kitab al-Äziz by Ri∂wan b. and the faulty copies will be confiscated. The permission is MuÌammad b. Sulayman al-Mukhallilati (mentioned without valid for the period of five years starting from the date of biographical information in GAL G I, 410; S I, 727) was con- issuing, which is apparently the period during which a pub- sulted, which is a commentary on the prose version of NaÂi- lisher is supposed to have a sell-out. The permission as issued mat al-Zahr fi A¨dad Ayat al-Qurân by al-Sha†ibi (d. to the publisher is accompanied, so it is stated, by one copy 590/1194, GAL G I, 409; S I, 725). For the correct internal of the edition, which carries a seal print from the issuing divisions of the holy text the Kitab al-MaÒaÌif by Ibn Abi authority on each and every page. This definitive permission, Dawud al-Sigistani (d. 316/929, GAS I, 14; 174-175) was which in the present copy has been reproduced in full-colour used, together with al-Mukhallilati’s above-mentioned com- preceding the holy text, is signed by several authorities, and mentary, further the Ghayth al-Naf¨ fi al-Qiraât al-Sab¨ by finally authenticated by the Secretary-General of the Islamic al-∑afaqusi (d. 1081/1671 or 1117/1705, GAL S II, 698), the Research Academy (Magma¨ al-BuÌuth al-Islamiyya), TaÌqiq al-Bayan fi Ädd Ay al-Qurân by MuÌammad al- Ibrahim Ä†aˆ al-Fayyumi. For distribution in Egypt these for- Mutawalli (d. 1313/1895, GAL S II, 744) and the Irshad al- malities are absolutely necessary. For the distribution in other Qurraˆ by al-Mukhallilati. The distinction between Makki Islamic countries the prestige of an al-Azhar-issued permis- and Madani origines of the sura’s was based on information sion is usually sufficient to avoid practical difficulties. It is a in al-MaqÒad by Zakariyyaˆ al-AnÒari (d. 926/1520, GAL G matter of prudence and wisdom that the Ghazza publisher II, 99), on the work by Abu al-Qasim Ümar b. MuÌammad ManÒur has chosen the Egyptian religious authorities to b.

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