A Study on Qurʾān Manuscripts in the Vatican Library in terms of Physical and Content Features
Authors: GÖZELER Esra 
Published: June 2018

The history of the Qurʾānic text begins with the time of its revelation. The research on Qurʾānic manuscripts is one of the main fields of textual studies of the Qurʾān. There have been many works done by both Muslim and Western scholars. Many museums and libraries around the world hold Qurʾān manuscripts. Each manuscript has its own characteristics such as orthography, calligraphy, decoration, and binding, number of the pages and the lines, and dating. This article deals with 110 Qurʾān manuscripts found in the Vatican Library (Biblioteca Apostalica Vaticana) at the Vaticani arabi, Borgiani arabi,Barberiniani orientaliand RossianiCollections. The dates of these Qurʾān manuscripts vary from I/VII(?) and XIII/XIX centuries. The article aims to identify the features of Qurʾānic writing by studying chronologically some basic physical-content descriptions and characteristics of these manuscripts. It also examines the different names of the sūrahs and the knowledge on Meccan or Medinan sūrahs presented on the sūrah headings of manuscripts. Summary: Each Qurʾān manuscript has its own characteristics. These features present significant insights into the field of history of Qurʾānic text. A manuscript becomes a source for the history of writing muṣḥafin terms of physical and content features such as calligraphy, ink colors, binding, and explanations found in katabapage, the sūrah headings which contain the names of sūrahs, Meccan-Medinan knowledge, the numbers of āyahs, and the signs for juzʾ, ʿashr, and ḥizb. The research on the names of sūrahs, Meccan-Medinan knowledge, and the number of āyahs contributes to the ʿulūm al-Qurʾānstudies as well.This article examines 110 Qurʾān manuscripts located in the Vatican Library in the Vaticani arabi(73 MSS), Borgiani arabi (25 MSS),Barberiniani orientali(11 MSS), and Rossiani(2 MSS) Collections. Each manuscript is individually studied. However, due to the limitation of the article, I include only some basic and significant physical and content features of these manuscripts. The catalogues prepared by Giorgio Levi della Vida (1886-1967) and Carlo Alberto Anzuini are consulted for this study. I also study the sūrah headings in Qurʾān manuscripts which contain the names of sūrahs and Meccan-Medinan knowledge.The most used calligraphy types of these manuscripts coming from different geographies are maghribī(19 MSS) and nasikh-Ottoman (66 MSS). The basic features of maghribīMSS as follows: The text is written dark brown, vowel signs in dark red, shaddaand jazmin blue, and hamzain orange ink (VI-VII/XII-XIII centuries). The āyah endings are in circle form and decorated (VI-VII/XII-XIII centuries). The same characteristics can be seen in the next centuries (VIII/XIV and IX/XV centuries). The word sajdais written in the same line with the sajdaayah in Borg. Ar. 51 (VI-VII/XII-XIII centuries).The main characteristics of nasikh-Ottoman MSS as follows: Vat. Ar. 195 (IX/XV century) includes the āyah endings in two different figures: Three dots in triangle-shaped in red ink or in inverse comma-formed. The numbers of the āyahs are not written in this manuscript. On the other hand, the earlier features of the present muṣḥafs found in this manuscript as follows: Waqfsigns are in red ink; the word sajdais written in the same line with the sajdaāyah in black ink. The word ḥizbis in the margin of the pages. The sūrah headings hold the name of the sūrah, Meccan-Medinan knowledge, and the numbers of āyahs. The taʿqībaword is at the end of the pages. Among these manuscripts, Barb. Or. 72 (X/XVI century) contains, for the first time, the prayer text after the reading the whole Qurʾān (khatm) at the end of the muṣḥaf. This manuscript has different explanations for the Meccan and Medinan knowledge. It uses “نزلت بمكة” for “مكية”, and “نزلت بالمدينة” for “مدنية”. The figures of juzʾare written in numerical form in Borg. Ar. 184 (XI/XVII century). The divisions such as “ربع حزب, نصف حزب” can be seen in the manuscripts in XII/XVIIIcenturies.The names of the sūrah in the sūrah headings can be different from their widely-known names. The 39 sūrahs have different names among the manuscripts examined in this article. The names of sūrahs which cannot be found in the relevant classical source as follows:   al-Khalīlfor Sūrah Ibrāhīm; al-kharīrfor Sūrah al-Sajda; al-sayyāḥūnfor Sūrah Sabaʾ;jādalafor Sūrah Mucādala; al-ʿishārfor Sūrah al-Takwīr;wa’l-layli idhāyaghshāfor Sūrah al-Shams;lumazafor Sūrah al-Humaza; miskīnfor Sūrah al-Māʿūn;asrāfor Sūrah al-Isrāʾ;al-maqābirand al-qabrfor Sūrah al-Takāthur; salāsilāfor Sūrah al-Insān; al-abrārfor Sūrah al-Muṭaffifīn.The sūrah headings indicate the knowledge of Meccan-Medinan classification of the sūrahs. Each manuscript does not have this feature. However, the manuscripts have this feature may not include this knowledge for each sūrah headings. The disagreements about the Meccan or Medinan sūrahs in theʿulūm al-Qurʾānliterature can be seen in the manuscripts studied in this article. The manuscripts which have this knowledge present that the 47 sūrahs recorded only as Meccan, but the remaining ones both Meccan and Medinan. These manuscripts do not record a sūrah only as Medinan.There are manuscripts which present more detailed knowledge on Meccan-Medinan. Vat. Ar. 1484 (IX/XV century) mentions not only whether a sūrah is Meccan or Medinan but also the exceptional verses if the sūrah has. For instance, the heading of Sūrah al-Anʿām reads that: “سورة الانعام نزلت جملة واحدة بمكة الا ثلث ايات انزلت بالمدينة قوله قل تعالوا أتل ما حرم ربكم عليكم لعلكم تتقون”. Among the sūrah headings which have this feature are al-Naḥl, al-Ḥajj, al-Shuʿarāʾ, Luqmān, al-Sajda, and al-Zumar. Vat. Ar. 1588 mentions only the numbers of exceptional verses. For example, the heading of Sūrah al-Isrāʾsays that “مكية و قيل مدنية غير ثلث ايات”.Vat. Ar. 1597 contains details about the numbers of ayahs, words, and letters in the sūrah headings. For instance, for Sūrah al-Nisāʾ, it reads that “اياتها ق ع اختلافها ب كلماتهاغج ذ م ه حروفها غيول”. The Arabic letters in this explanation has a numerical value (abjad). According to this the number of āyahs is 170, the number of debated ones in merging with the previous and next verses is 2, the number of words 3.745, and the number of letters is 16.030.There are corrections on the pages of the manuscripts. These corrections may be done through the writing process or during the check reading (muqabala) at the end of the writing. The writing of the text by heart and by looking to the other copy, and the similarities may cause these kinds of errors for the scribe.Studying on Qurʾān manuscripts reveals the different features of the writing of a muṣḥaf. Even though the numbers of the graduate studies gradually increase in Turkey, there is no a PhD dissertation which analyzes a Qurʾān manuscript, and only one M.A. thesis has been recently completed. Therefore, establishing graduate courses on Qurʾān manuscripts in the field of Islamic studies will strengthen the Qurʾānic and tafsīrstudies.