The Qu'ran Manuscripts in the al-Haram al-Sharif Islamic Museum, Jerusalem By Khader Salameh (Reading, UK: Garnet Publishing, 2001. 190 pages.)

Abstract

Founded in 1922 and moved to al-Haram al-Sharif in 1929, the Islamic
Museum in Jerusalem houses artifacts covering nearly all oflslamic history
and originating in North Africa, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and the
Middle East.
This beautifully illustrated volume, published with the support of
UNESCO in both English and Arabic, treats a small part of the Museum's
collection: a selection of its Qur'an manuscripts. The work, divided into
three parts, first introduces the Islamic Museum and its collection, then
provides background information concerning relevant textual and art history,
and finally presents 3 I Qur'an manuscripts in detail.
Part One, "The Islamic Museum," gives an overview of the
Museum's holdings, including wood, metalwork, ceramics, glass, tex tiles,
coins, stone inscriptions and architectural elements, and documents.
Most of the artifacts are material salvaged from repairs to the haram area
or objects from the endowments of the Aqsa mosque and madrasahs in
Jerusalem, Nablus, and Hebron. The collection includes many exquisite
pieces: Umayyad floral woodwork panels from the al-Aqsa Mosque, a
striking glass mosque lamp of the Mamluk amir Tankiz from Hebron, and
the salvaged remains of Nur al-Din's pulpit, built in Aleppo in 564/1168
and brought to the Aqsa Mosque in 583/1187 by Salah al-Din after his
conquest of Jerusalem. (Unfortunately, the ornate wooden pulpit was
nearly destroyed by arson in I 969.)
Part Two, "Background," treats Arabic calligraphy, illumination,
bindings, and the textual history of the Qur'an. Kufic, an old, square
script said to derive from stone inscriptions, is used for the text of the old est
Qur'an manuscript in the collection and for headings and panels in
later manuscripts.
The bulk of the manuscripts are written in the more cursive Naskhi
script, which became popular by the tenth century, and the similar but
taller Thuluth and Muhaqqaq. A number of the collections manscripts
from North Africa are written in Maghribi script, which derives from
Kufic and differs significantly from the common eastern scripts. This volume
allows the reader to view some stunning examples of illumination ...