OA Book: The Word Illuminated: Form and Function of Qurʾanic Manuscripts from the Seventh to Seventeenth Centuries

The Word Illuminated: Form and Function of Qurʾanic Manuscripts from the Seventh to Seventeenth Centuries

Authors: Rettig Simon Sana Mirza and Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.

Published: Washington D.C: Smithsonian Scholarly Press, 2022

ISBN: 9781944466589 (print)

"Diplomatic gifts, war prizes, or library treasures of royal and princely libraries—handwritten Qurʾans have also been endowed to mosques, tombs, and other religious complexes to perpetuate and transmit their baraka (divine blessing). Artistic, historic, and religious contexts and materiality of Qurʾans are investigated, from use of costly materials such as gold and parchment to development of special scripts, intricate illuminated designs, and meticulously tooled bindings. This edited collection resulted from a 2016 symposium at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sacker Gallery in conjunction with the exhibition The Art of the Qurʾan: Treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts."

The Word Illuminated: Form and Function of Qurʾanic Manuscripts from the Seventh to Seventeenth Centuries: https://smithsonian.figshare.com/articles/book/The_Word_Illuminated_Form_and_Function_of_Qur_anic_Manuscripts_from_the_Seventh_to_Seventeenth_Centuries/21948098/1 

Qur’an Tools

Qur’an Gateway, a tool for critical study of the text, construction, and language of the Qur’an which used to require subscription is now available as open source under the name Qur’an Tools.

Registration is required.

Open Access E-Book: Qur’ans of the Umayyads

Qur’ans of the Umayyads 

Author: François Déroche

Leiden, The Netherlands : Brill, [2014]

Series: Leiden Studies in Islam and Society, Volume: 1 

"For the first time, the dramatic changes the Qur’anic code underwent during the Umayyad period (660-750 C.E.) are analysed and presented on the basis of a selection of material in good part unpublished. In Qur’ans of the Umayyads, François Déroche offers a chronology of the various developments which marked the period, in an approach combining philology, art history, codicology and palaeography. The conclusions he reaches challenge the traditional account about the writing down of the Qur’an and throw a new light on the role of the Umayyads in its handwritten diffusion." 

E-Book (PDF) 

ISBN: 9789004261853
ISBN: 9789004255654

Open Access Database: Qur’an Details Search

“Qur’an Details search page allows scholars to search among 4,700 detailed entries for historically interesting Qur’an pages, spanning 110 collections from all over the world, and representing all eras and all places of production. Using this facility, scholars can make specialist searches for terms including
•            Qur’an page description (type of illumination, decoration or binding),
•            Qur’an type (fragment, Juz etc.),
•            Qur’an Sura reference,
•            Script (kufic, naskh, etc.),
•            Number of lines per page,
•            Page size (height and width),
•            Qur’an name (e.g. Oljaytu's Baghdad Qur’an), and
•            Calligrapher name.

This is in addition to all the standard search parameters such as date and place of production, holding collection, accession number and folio, and full publication details. The data covers items published online as well as in print and includes bindings. Search results include images for about 20% of the entries. "

Qur’an Details is a part of Islamic Painted Page - database of Persian, Ottoman, Arab and Mughal paintings, illuminations, decorated Qur'an pages, and book bindings from over 310 collections worldwide

Open Source Software - The Zekr Project

"Zekr is an open source Quran study software for Windows, Linux and Mac. It's designed to ease access to the most authentic and valuable text of Muslims. Zekr provides Quran translations, recitation, search and other features to study Holy Quran."

 Features

• Advanced Qur'an search, Qur'an root
• Qur'an multi-recitation (online and offline)
• Bookmark management, Import, Export, Multi-bookmark
• Comparative translation / Search within translations
• Themes