Koran
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1895
name: label: Collector
content: Richard D. Mohun
label: Donor Name
content: U. S. Department Of State
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "#175019 - I.VOL. 1 COPY, BOUND. 175020 - II VOL. 1 COPY, BOUND. THE KORAN (MORE PROPERLY QUR'AN, [ "READING") IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOUNDATION ON WHICH THE ... [MUSLIM] RELIGION RESTS. IT IS WRITTEN IN THE ARABIC LANGUAGE AND ITS STYLE IS CONSIDERED A MODEL. IT IS HELD IN THE HIGHEST VENERATION BY ALL SECTS IN THE ... [MUSLIM] CHURCH. WHEN BEING READ IT MUST BE KEPT ON A STAND ELEVATED ABOVE THE FLOOR. NO ONE MAY READ IT OR TOUCH IT WITHOUT FIRST WASHING HIS HANDS. THE SUBSTANCE OF THE KORAN IS HELD TO BE UNCREATED AND ETERNAL. MOHAMMED [MUHAMMAD] WAS MERELY THE PERSON TO WHOM THE WORK WAS REVEALED. AT FIRST THE KORAN WAS NOT WRITTEN DOWN BUT SIMPLY COMMITTED TO MEMORY. BUT WHEN A GREAT MANY OF THE BEST KORAN WRITERS HAD BEEN KILLED IN BATTLE, OMAR SUGGESTED TO ABU BEKR, THE SUCCESSOR OF MOHAMMED [MUHAMMAD], THAT IT BE WRITTEN DOWN. ABU BEKR ACCORDINGLY COMMANDED ZEID, AN AMANUENSIS OF THE PROPHET, TO COMMIT IT TO WRITING. THIS WAS THE AUTHORIZED TEXT UNTIL 23 YEARS AFTER THE DEATH OF THE PROPHET. A NUMBER OF VARIANT READINGS HAD, HOWEVER, CREPT INTO USE. BY ORDER OF THE CALIPH OSMAN IN THE YEAR 30 OF THE HEGIRA, ZEID AND THREE ASSISTANTS MADE A CAREFUL REVISION WHICH WAS ADOPTED AS THE STANDARD, AND ALL OTHER COPIES WERE ORDERED TO BE BURNT. THE KORAN CONSISTS OF 114 SURAS, OR DIVISIONS. THESE ARE NOT NUMBERED, BUT EACH ONE HAS A SEPARATE NAME. THEY ARE NOT ARRANGED IN HISTORICAL ORDER. THESE SURAS PURPORT TO BE THE ADDRESSES DELIVERED BY MOHAMMED [MUHAMMAD] DURING HIS CAREER AT MECCA AND MEDINEH [MEDINA]. AS A GENERAL RULE THE SHORTER SURAS WHICH CONTAIN THE THEOLOGY OF ISLAM BELONG TO THE MECCAN PERIOD, WHILE THE LONGER ONES RELATING CHIEFLY TO SOCIAL DUTIES AND RELATIONSHIPS, TO MEDINEH [MEDINA]. Lent to Life in America, NMAH, 10/29/84 LOAN RETURNED: JUN 13 1990"
label: Record Last Modified
content: 14 Jun 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 029024
label: USNM Number
content: E175020-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Koran