Codex Mashhad
| Codex Mashhad | |
|---|---|
| Āstān‑i Quds‑i Rażavī Library, MS 18 & MS 4116 | |
Codex Mashhad, MS 18, Folios 50r, 49v | |
| Date | 9 major manuscripts (containing 50% of the Quran) after 719 CE, some around 719 CE while others disputed. |
| Place of origin | Likely Medina or Kufa |
| Language | Arabic |
| Scribe | Ali (According to an eleventh century endowment) |
| Material | |
| Size | Approximately 50 × 35 cm; 252 folios |
| Format | Vertical |
| Condition | Damaged edges on some parchment leaves |
| Script | Hijazi, type BIa |
| Contents | From the beginning of the Quran to the end of Surah 18, and from the middle of Surah 20 to the end |
| Additions | Recopying of Surah al-Fatihah by Wājih al-Shaḥḥāmī Repairs using fragments from later Kufic Qurans and some modern naskh script |
| Previously kept | In the possession of al-Muqriʾ al-Sarawī Later housed at the Shrine of Imām al-Riḍā |
| Discovered | Second part discovered within mausoleum walls in 1970 |
| Other | First part restored in 1834 Second part repaired in 2011 |
Codex Mashhad is an old codex of the Qurʾān, now mostly preserved in two manuscripts, MSS 18 and 4116, in the Āstān-i Quds Library, Mashhad, Iran. The first manuscript in 122 folios and the second in 129 folios together constitute more than 90% of the text of the Qurʾān. The current codex is in two separate volumes, MSS 18 and 4116. The former contains the first half of the Qurʾān, from the beginning to the end of the 18th sūra, al-Kahf, while the latter comprises the second half, from the middle of the 20th sūra, Ṭāhā, to the end of the Qurʾān. In their present form, both parts of Codex Mashhad have been repaired, partially completed with pieces from later Kufic Qurʾāns and sometimes in a present-day nashkī hand.
Codex Mashhad has almost all the elements and features of the oldest known Qurʾānic codices. The dual volumes of the main body, written in ḥijāzī or māʾil script, are the only ḥijāzī manuscripts in vertical format in Iran. Like all ancient ḥijāzī codices, Codex Mashhad contains variant readings, regional differences of Qurʾānic codices, orthographic peculiarities, and copyists’ errors, partly corrected by later hands. The script and orthography of the Codex show instances of archaic and not-yet-completely-recognized rules, manifested in various spelling peculiarities. Illumination and ornamentation are not found even in sūra-headbands; rather, some crude sūra dividers have been added later and are found only on adjoining sections.
The script in this manuscript is similar to Codex M a VI 165 at Tübingen (Germany), Codex Arabe 331 at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and Kodex Wetzstein II 1913 at Staatsbibliothek (Berlin).