Qur'ans: Books of Divine Encounter

(Paperback)

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Description

This book provides a unique visual history of the Qur'an using fifty-five rare, beautiful and significant Qur'an manuscripts. A general introduction guides the reader through the Qur'an's entry into the world of late near eastern antiquity, a world where books of scripture were inextricably bound to the political and religious identities of empires. Books of scripture, as well as being visible statements of divine majesty, personal piety and religious identity, were viewed as providing a point of contact with the divine. In this setting the Qur'an came to be viewed by Muslims as the point of divine contact without peer, and the calligraphy of its text became the foundation of Islamic visual culture for centuries to come. From this beginning, the development of the Qur'an in book form is followed chronologically and geographically, and the themes of textual development, art, identity and divine presence are highlighted in each chapter. This book draws mainly from the collection of Qur'ans in the Bodleian Library, one of the oldest collections in the English-speaking world and one of the finest collections internationally. Manuscripts are featured from every major chronological period of the Qur'an's history, and most of the Qur'ans pictured have never appeared in print before. 'Qur'ans: Books of Divine Encounter' brings together in one volume a magnificent range of Qur'anic manuscripts, providing a lavishly illustrated historical overview of one of the most influential, most memorized and enduring sacred books in our world.

Reviews

"Truly a feast for the eyes, with many beautiful illustrations that one lingers over with pleasure. But it is also a joy to read Small's fascinating text, which introduces the astonishing diversity of ways the Qur'an has been rendered for nearly a millennium and a half--from sumptuous luxury editions for kings, to workaday and quirky regional editions for personal use, to tiny miniature editions and even talismanic shirts."--Fred M. Donner, University of Chicago
"Small presents a beautiful array of Qur'an manuscripts from different periods and with different technical and aesthetic qualities. This work offers readers an extraordinary introduction to the ways in which Muslims have preserved and ornamented their scripture through the centuries."--Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre Dame
"This magnificent survey of Qur'anic manuscripts provides a vivid illustration of Muslim devotion to the text of the Qur'an."--Andrew Rippin, Institute of Ismaili Studies, London

Author Bio

Keith E. Small is Qur'nic Manuscript Consultant to the Bodleian Library and Associate Research Fellow at the London School of Theology.