Echoes of Jacob of Serugh in the Qur’ān and Late Antique Reading Culture: Public Evening Event

Echoes of Jacob of Serugh in the Qur’ān and Late Antique Reading Culture: Public Evening Event

December 7, 2021
18:00
Academy Building – Gendarmenmarkt
Einstein Hall, Jägerstraße 22/13, 10117 Berlin

An event of the long-term project “Corpus Coranicum“ member of the Research Centre for Primary Sources of the Ancient World at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW).

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The writings of Jacob of Serugh (d. 520/1) have been highlighted as one of the most significant corpora for understanding the late antique literary environment in which the Qur’ān emerged. His homilies and letters contain many exegetical and theological traditions common to the Qur’ān and the Syriac tradition. How are we to understand echoes of Jacob’s thought in the Qur’ān? Who had access to these texts and the traditions they transmit? This lecture seeks to shed light on this complex of questions by examining the circulation of Jacob’s writings in the sixth and seventh centuries. We will first investigate Jacob’s correspondence with communities within and beyond the Roman Empire during his lifetime. We will then turn to the physical manuscripts that preserve his writings from late antiquity. This approach will help identify the late antique communities that discussed these shared traditions and thereby grant insight into the question of what it means to investigate Jacob’s works as texts from the environment of the Qur’ān.

Philip Michael Forness is currently a post-doctoral researcher at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. He received his Ph.D. in the History of Christianity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2016 and has published widely on the traditions of eastern Christianity. He is the author of „Preaching Christology in the Roman Near East“ (Oxford, 2018) and the co-editor of „The Good Christian Ruler in the First Millennium“ (Berlin, 2021).

A lecture in the series “Languages and Cultures in the Near East and the Silk Road in Late Antiquity“ (organized by the long-term projects „Turfanforschung“ and “Corpus Coranicum“).

PROGRAM

Welcoming Address

  • Tonio Sebastian Richter (Spokesperson of the Research Centre for Primary Sources of the Ancient World | Academy member | Freie Universität Berlin)

Introduction

  • Michael Marx (BBAW)
  • Angelika Neuwirth (Freie Universität Berlin)

Lecture

  • Philip Michael Forness (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt a.M.)
* Important information about the event *

Registration is required by December 2, 2021 using this form.

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Facsimile Editions of Early Qur’an Manuscripts: A Survey

by Ahmed Shaker*

There are numerous Qur’an manuscripts, complete and partial, dating from the first century A.H. onward. Although there is no official count of Qur’an manuscripts in existence today, Muhammad Mustafa Al-A‘zami (2003) estimates the number at about 250,000. They may be found in mosques, museums, libraries, and institutions all over the world. In the past century, several early manuscripts have been published in facsimile editions, which reproduce as closely as possible the texts in their original manuscript forms, and may be purchased from specialized centers like IRCICA or borrowed from university libraries. Facsimile editions offer researchers in Qur’anic studies and Arabic paleography easy—if indirect—access to early Qur’an manuscripts.

The following is a concise chronological survey of select facsimile editions of early Qur’an manuscripts, including original title, date of publication, and—when possible—an estimated percentage of the total text of the Qur’an represented in the manuscript/facsimile.

1- Coran coufique de Samarcand: écrit d’après la tradition de la propre main du troisième calife Osman (644-656) qui se trouve dans la Bibliothèque Impériale Publique de St. Petersbourg. Ed. S. Pissaref. St. Petersberg, 1905.

Pissaref edition (1905)

Pissaref’s facsimile edition (1905) of the “Samarqand Qur’an.”

In 1905, the Russian orientalist S. Pissaref published a facsimile edition of the famous Samarkand Qur’an (now Tashkent) attributed to the third caliph ‘Uthman. Many Muslims today, in Central Asia and elsewhere, believe that the Tashkent manuscript was ‘Uthman’s personal copy of the Qur’an, from which he was reading when he was attacked and killed in 35 A.H./656 C.E. It is estimated that the manuscript originally consisted of about 950 folios, but over the years individual folios were removed. Pissaref’s facsimile edition includes 353 folios. In 1992, fifteen of the original folios were stolen and sold in auctions, so today only 338 folios of the manuscript remain.

2- The Unique Ibn al-Bawwab Manuscript: Complete Facsimile Edition of the Earliest Surviving Naskhi Qu’ran, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Manuscript K. 16. Ed. D. S. Rice. Graz, 1983.

This is a complete facsimile edition of the famous naskhi Qur’an manuscript of Ibn al-Bawwab written in 391 A.H. and preserved in the Chester Beatty Library (No. K.16).

3- Sources de la transmission manuscrite du texte coranique. Eds. François Déroche and Sergio Noga Noseda. Lesa, 1998-.

The first volume (1998) is a facsimile edition of a Hijazi manuscript from the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Arabe 328a), consisting of 56 folios representing about 25% of the total text of the Qur’an. The second volume (2001) is a facsimile edition of the oldest Qur’an manuscript from the British Library (Or. 2165). The original manuscript consisted of 121 folios representing 53% of the total text of the Qur’an, but the 2001 facsimile edition includes only the first 61 folios, with the remaining scheduled for future publication.

5- Koran ‘Usmana: Sankt-Peterburg, Katta-Langar, Bukhara, Tashkent. Ed. Efim Rezvan. St. Petersburg, 2004.

This is a facsimile edition of the “Qur’an of ‘Uthman” (St. Petersburg, Katta-Langar, Bukhara, Tashkent), containing about 40% of the total text of the Qur’an.

6- Al-Muṣḥaf al-sharīf: Attributed to ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān (The Copy at the Topkapı Palace Museum). Ed. Tayyar Altıkulaç. Istanbul, 2007.

Al-Muṣḥaf al-sharīf al-mansūb ilā ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān: Nuskhat matḥaf al-āthār al-turkīyah wa’l-islāmīyah bi-Istānbūl. Ed. Tayyar Altıkulaç. Istanbul, 2007.

Al-Muṣḥaf al-sharīf al-mansūb ilā ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān: Nuskhat al-Mashhad al-Ḥusaynī bi’l-Qāhirah. Ed. Tayyar Altıkulaç. Istanbul, 2009.

In 2007, Tayyar Altıkulaç published facsimile editions of two Qur’an manuscripts attributed to the third caliph ‘Uthman. The first, at the Topkapı Palace Museum (No. 44/32), is an almost complete manuscript, with only two folios missing and representing over 99% of the total text of the Qur’an. The second, at the Turkish and Islamic Art Museum (No. 457), is also almost complete. In 2009, Altıkulaç published a facsmile edition of another manuscript attributed to ‘Uthman at the Central Library of Islamic Manuscripts in Cairo, which has more than 99% of the total text of the Qur’an and only 4 folios missing (while some other folios were rewritten in a later hand).

7- Al-Muṣḥaf al-sharīf al-mansūb ilā ‘Ali ibn Abī Ṭālib: Nuskhat Ṣanʿāʾ. Ed. Tayyar Altıkulaç. Istanbul, 2011.

This is a facsimile edition of the manuscript attributed to the fourth caliphs ‘Ali at the Great Mosque in Sana‘a. It contains about 86% of the total text of the Qur’an.

More facsimile editions are expected to be published in the coming years by scholars like Tayyar Altıkulaç, François Déroche, Efim Rezvan, Alba Fedeli, and others. It is also worthwhile to note that Qur’an manuscripts are not only being published as facsimile editions but also in digital format. The Corpus Coranicum project has been working on digitizing ancient Hijazi and Kufic manuscripts since its launch in 2007.

* Ahmed Shaker is an independent researcher on Qur’an manuscripts.

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2015. All rights reserved.

Qur’anic Studies around the World

By Emran El-Badawi

There are several research projects, journals, conferences and other initiatives dedicated to the academic study of the Qur’an around the world. One of IQSA’s goals is to give scholars from these different international initiatives the opportunity to meet regularly.

The Qur’an Seminar meets 5 times throughout 2012-13 at the University of Notre Dame. This conference series is directed by Gabriel Reynolds (associate professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame) and Mehdi Azaiez (PhD, Université Aix-Provence). The seminar allows invited participants to share their insights on 50 central passages distributed throughout the Qur’an text. The work of the participants will eventually be collected, edited and published. See in relation the Qur’an in Its Historical Context.

The Corpus Coranicum is a project directed by Angelika Neuwirth (professor of Semitic and Arabic Studies, Freie Universität Berlin) and Michael Marx, and it belongs to the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Included in the work of the Corpus Coranicum is research on the paleography and intertextuality of the Qur’an.

Among the academic journals in this area is the Journal of Qur’anic Studies (JQS), whose editor in chief is M.A.S. Abdel Haleem (professor of Islamic Studies, School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London). Another biennial journal is Al-Bayan: Journal of Qur’an and Hadith Studies, whose editor in chief is Faisal Bin Ahmad Shah (senior lecturer, al-Qur’an & al-Hadith Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya).

The Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qur’an (EIQ) is a seven volume reference work that originated as a joint academic venture between the Center for Islam and Science, Canada and the Society for Qur’anic Studies, Pakistan. Among other things, EIQ preserves centuries worth of classical Islamic scholarship on the Qur’an. This publication is not related to the Encyclopedia of the Qur’an (EQ) published by E.J. Brill.

The International Institute of Qur’anic Studies (IIQS), which was co-founded by H.E. Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid and Dr. Syafi’i Ma’arif, explores the intersection between modern scholarship and the study of the Qur’an in Indonesia. The institute belongs to the organization LibForAll, chaired by Holland Taylor, and has worked with the late Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (d. 2010).

For more information on Qur’anic Studies around the world visit the External Resources link.

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2012. All rights reserved.