Uthman Qur'an

The Uthman Qur'an (also referred to as "Tashkent Qur'an" and "Osman's Koran") is a manuscripted copy of the Qur'an, which was (until the discovery of the Sana'a manuscripts) considered to be the oldest in the world. It is said to still have a stain of blood from the assassination of the third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan.

History and legend

The third Caliph, Uthman, commissioned a committee to produce a standard copy of the text of Quran (see Origin and development of the Qur'an). Five of these original Qur'ans were sent to the major Muslim cities of the era, with Uthman keeping one for his own use in Medina. The only other surviving copy is said to be held in Topkapı Palace, in Turkey. [http://books.google.com/books?id=jP850CjN_voC&pg=PA17&vq=uthman+topkapi&dq=topkapi+quran+uthman&as_brr=0&source=gbs_search_s&sig=ACfU3U3NWsJjnotslerbjWEq1LUniEgvxw]

Uthman was succeeded by Ali, who took the Uthman Qur'an to Kufa, now in Iraq. Timur laid waste to the area, claiming the Qur'an as booty. He took it to the wonderful capital he created in Samarkand. It remained there for several centuries until, in 1868, when the Russians invaded, captured the Qur'an and brought it back to the Imperial Library in St. Petersburg (now known as the Russian National Library).

After the October Revolution, Vladimir Lenin, in an act of good will to the Muslims of Russia gave the Qur'an to the people of Ufa, Bashkortostan. After significant protest by the people of Turkestan ASSR, the Qur'an was returned to Central Asia, to Tashkent, where it has since remained.

Current state

The parchment manuscript is currently held in the library of the Telyashayakh Mosque, in the old "Hast-Imam" area of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, close to the grave of Kaffel-Shashi, a 10th-century Islamic scholar.

The manuscript is rather incomplete, beginning in the middle of verse 7 of the second sura and ending abruptly at Surah 43.10. [http://www.answering-islam.org/Gilchrist/Jam/chap7.html] It has between eight and twelve lines to the page, is devoid of vocalisation and as such is very ancient, probably dating from the early 8th century, when the Kufic script (in which it is written) came into widespread use. In Uthman's lifetime, Medinian texts were normally written in the al-Ma'il or Mashq scripts.

The manuscript is partially illuminated with 151 red, green, blue and orange medallions in the shape of flowers, another feature that seems to distance it from the rigorous Uthmanic tradition.

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4581684.stm (Tashkent's hidden Islamic relic)]
* [http://usis.freenet.uz/albright/sites.htm (Cities and Sites Visited by Secretary Albright)]
* [http://www.unesco.org/webworld/mdm/1997/eng/uzbekistan/uzbekistan.html (Memory of the World Register - Nomination Form - Holy Koran Mushaf of Othman)] - From UNESCO
* [http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/sacred/2007/07/something-old-s.html Picture of Uthman's Qur'an in situ] Blog on British Library website