al-Qurʼān [IO Islamic 1371] القرآن الكريم

al-Qurʼān القرآن الكريم

This manuscript is now IO Islamic 1371 in the India Office collections.

[metadata: Otto Loth, A Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, (volume 1), here with further notations and hyperlinks].

6.

1371. Size 73/4 in. by 51/4 in.; foll. 318. Fourteen lines in a page [Naskh]

Neatly written and richly ornamented. With marks of pauses, sections, etc. Ends with the usual epilogue, صدق الله الخ. Notes for practical use, in Persian, are added on the margin.

Preceded by a Persian introduction (foll. 1-16), compiled by order of Tippu [reg. 1782-99].

It contains-

Foll. 1-13. Tables stating the place of revelation, the number of verses, words, letters, and رکوع, and the peculiarities, of every Sûrah.

Fol. 13. A table showing how often each letter of the alphabet occurs in the Koran.

Fol. 14. A list of the verses distinguished by a سجدة.

Fol. 15. A list of grammatical mistakes on reciting the Koran, which would be blasphemous.

Fol. 16. Some mnemonic verses, enumerating the verses which treat of certain subjects.

This introduction is written in Shikastah.

In the original binding, which is highly gilt, both outside and inside, and bears the favourite inscription:1

لاَ یَمَسُّهُ إلَّا المُطَهَّرُونَ تَنْزِیلٌ مِنْ رَبِّ العَالَمِینَ [i.e. Only a purified person from the Lord of the Worlds will touch it]

[Tippu.]

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1 Sûrah 56, 78 and 79.