Koran Manuscript Asian Art Museum of San Francisco Islamic Arts Professor Sana Makhoul De anza College

Koran Manuscript of 14th-15th C. CE When I visited the Art gallery In the Asian Arts museum of San Francisco, the first sight that brought me to Aw was this Koran Manuscript lying in the middle of the room. The Manuscript dates back over 700 years! I find it amazing that this same book I study everyday, in the same very language, in the same very cursive style (******) was in this very room dating back as an antique! The first question that came to mind was How did they manage preserve such a book over the ages? If you go countries like Tunisia, Egypt, Spain, or China, you will find all the very similar Arabic compiled to a Quran. All over the world, Muslims read this book in its original language because they believe in its miraculous nature of being reveal to the prophet Muhammad 1400 years ago in the language of Arabic. This explains why the book I found in the middle of the room had content identical to the Quran App I have on my phone! As I already knew how to read the Arabic Language, The first things I started to analyze were the bindings and paper type. The bindings were made out of leather that seemed to me in really good condition. The paper however looked to be in a deteriorating form when it came to the edges. But maybe that is how they made the Manuscripts back then. For some reason that still leaves me confused is while the display was only display the more of the beginning of the book, rather then the middle of the book. My guesses are is that it was to essentially maintain the health of the binding overall. The next thing I looked at was the size of this manuscript. It was about 14 inches tall and 10 inches wide which is relatively a large manuscript. After looking at this, I then looked at which chapter/verse the page of the manuscript was on. Arabic being from Right to Left, the right page starts from 04:181 Surah al-Nisaa (the chapter of the Women) verse 181 and finished

the Surah near the end of the left page where the next Surah, Surah Al-Maidah starts. Unlike many Quran Mushafs today, or manuscripts, where the text is defaultly typed and printed, this manuscript, as it is several centuries old when they did not have typing presses, is written all by hand. So the reason that this piece of Artwork has been preserved for this many centuries could be the fact that the owners and the recipient of this manuscript honored this book extremely highly as it is, according to them, the book of God. This manuscript may represent and reflect high scholarships and pride the author may have had when hand writing such a book. Muslims take it a huge and honorable task to write and reproduce the text of the Quran. The author has to be extremely careful and make sure he doesnt make any mistakes, other wise he will have to redo the who page if he can erase the Ink of his single mistakes. This piece of Art represents whole generations of scholarship and pride that was taken under reading writing, and studying the Quran. When I see such a piece still surviving today in its original form, I am indeed moved leading my to question my habit on how I treat my own copy of the quran that lies in my bedroom. This piece of art taught me a lot when it came to preserving and protecting symbols in our lives that represent for what we stand for, which in my case, is the Quran.