manuscripts & manuscripts fu jan just vitkam
TRANSCRIPT
Manuscripts & ManuscriPts
fu Jan Just Vitkam
t6l
Qur'án fragments from Dawrán (Yemen)
The spectacular find of fragments of Qur'án MSS in a
forgotten depository in the Great Mosque of San'á'(see Masalif San'á', the catalogue of the exhibition
held in the Kuwait Nat ional Museum in 1985 of a
selection of the Qur'án MSS discovered between two
wal ls of the Great Mosque in San'á' . and also my
review of i t [ in: MME I (1986). 123-4]) . now some
twenty years ago. has been one of the reasons for the
renewed interest. both in and outside the Is lamic worid.
in the early transmission of the text of the Qur'án and
in the codicology of old Qur'ánic fragments. The
beginning of the scholarly assessment of the San'á'leaves has aiready led to the publication by H.-C. Graf
von Bothmer of a codicological and art historical
description of one of the most spectacular hnds, the
illustrated fragment 1. The description of the collection
as a whole, together with the restoration project, which
under international sponsorship has been in progress
for a number of years will ensure the physical survival
of the MSS and their study by future generations. The
question might be raised whether more ltnds as the
San'á' discovery can be expected. The answer would be
that it is unlikely that a collection of fragments of thesame size and importance would be discovered. San'á'sgreat mosque may reveal more of its secrets when
more restoration work and repairs are being done, but
it is improbable that similar Ílnds will be discoveredoutside the Great Mosque, since there are no other
buildings in the Yemen which have been a point of
assembly for Yemeni Muslims for so long a time andwhich have served in the same way as a depository ofdiscarded fragments.
The following contains an account of the discoveryand my description of a number of Qur'ánic fragmentsfrom Dawrán in North Yemen, which may not be
as ancient as the finds from San'á', but which neverthe-less retain a certain value because of the variety ofscripts which they display. In the course of 1985 I metMrs. Marianne Huurman. who showed to me a num-ber of Qur'ánic fragments which she had found in
Dawrán in 1984. She told me then (and later, in her
letter of 12 January 1990), how she had found these.
A few of the photographs which she took at that
occasion are publ ished herewith ( f igs. l -7) ' Mrs. Huur-
man's story is as foi lows:
'Travelling through North Yemen in the beginning
of 1984, I arrived at a makeshift village where the
survivors of the earthquake of 13 December 1983 were
being resettled. They lived in pre-fab metal houses,which they called sunadíq. boxes. The ruined town,
Dawrán Anis (fi-q. 1). some 60 km (as the crow flies)
south of San'á' . 1a. ' - higher up on the mountainside.
about one hour hiking distance from the vi l lage in the
val lel ' . More than 300 inhabitants (of a total of c ' three
thousand) had perished in the disaster. I stayed for a
while in the village and went several times up to the
mountain to have a look at the demolished town and
its surroundings. The town was completely reduced to
rubble: no big broken walls as one sees after an
earthquake in modern towns, but heaps of stones of
which the town was built. Here and there. a wall stil l
stood erect. sometimes with white-plastered windows
in i t and the wooden beams of the roof hanging down.
Some of the bui idings, though severely damaged, had
maintained their former shape, such as the mosque(Ílg. 2). The wall of the ntil.trab was stil l standing(flg 3) The solidiy constructed cupola near the mosque
had defied the disaster, too (fig. 4). Through the small
windows under the cupola I could see many books in
leather bindings. The door of this building, which must
have been the library of the mosque or the adjoining
madrasa, was locked. The large basin in front of the
mosque's entrance, which had been used as a washingplace by the women of the town, was stil l intact. It
probably had escaped destruction because it was built
near and in the ground, and it stil l contained clearwater (fig. 5). There was no sign of animal or human
life in the town at all. Some trees stood perfectly
upright between the collapsed houses. It was an entirely
desolate place, with not a living soul in sight. I was
awed by looking at this recent victim of nature's
irresistible forces. Suddenly an old man appeared in
front of me. Lazarus is not mentioned by name in the
Qur'án but, anyhow, I thought of him. The manshowed me his ruined house where his wife, his daughter-in-law and his two grandchildren had died. He told me
that he visited the old town from time to time toremember the past and to commemorate the family he
Manusclprs of the Middle East 4 (1989) Q Ter Lugt Press, Donkersteeg 19. 2312 HA Leiden, Netherlands, 1989 rssN 0920-040r
r 5 6 M A N I . ] S C R I P T S O F T H E M I D D L E E A S T . 1 ( I 9 8 9 )
Fig. L General view of the ruins of Dawrán
had lost (ng 6) He also told me that the inhabitants ofthe refugee village did not. for the time being. intend toreturn to the old town and rebui ld i t . They st i l l v iv idlyremembered the horrors of the shaking earth and thefalling stones. and now felt safer in their sanadrq(fig. 7). To this I may add that the changing socio-economical circumstances in the Yemen no longernecessitate rebuilding the town in exactly the sameshape and on the same location as it had been before.Dawrán's elevated posit ion on the mountain had nodoubt come about. a long t ime aeo. by' strategicconsiderat ions. Nou'adi iy 's. people in the Yemen prelerto l ive at less distance l iom their f ie lds and closer to theroads. I never vis i ted Dawràn again. so I do not knouwhat the Dawránrs have now chosen. six years alter theearthquake: to restore the ruined o1d town or to bui ld anew town in place of the sunudíq. or to stil l beaccomodated as refugees.'
'I continued my visit to the ruins. In the mosque.pieces of alabaster which had been used in the windowslay on the ground. Also on the ground I saw fragmentsof paper in Arabic script. I took a few of these but itproved to be impossible to reassemble the pages intocomplete volumes or parts. They were ai l Qur 'áns.
Fig. 3. What is lelt of the ntil.troh in Dawrán's mosque.
Only near the side-wall lay what seemed to be a fewcomplete copies. under the niches from where theyapparently had fallen. Their condition was poor. sincethey probably had lain there already for almost a year,during the rainy season and partly buried under piles ofrubble and stones. I collected some of the fragments,although I felt a bit embarrassed doing so. I was in
Fig. 4. The cupolaDawrán's mosque or
of what was left of theit-s madrasa.Fig. 2. A view from the interior of Dawrán's mosque.
l ibrary of
. I ,AN JUST WITKA\ , Í . N IANI .JSC]RIPTS & \4AN ISCRIPTS 6
Fig. 5. The entrance of Dawrán's mosque. with the waterbasin in the foreground.
Fig. 6. One of the former inhabi tants in the ru ins ofDawrán.
Fig. 7. View from old-Dawrán onto the valley with therefugee village. with the sanadtq.
doubt. Maybe the survivors had wanted to leave theremnants of the mosque untouched. But they mightalso have lost interest in these decaying and incompleterelics. Anyhow, I overcame my doubt and took some ofthe fragments down to the village, and later to theNetherlands. '
t 5 l
So far Mrs. Huurman's story. The papers in Arabicscript from the ruins of Dawrán's mosque proved to bea collection of thirty-four Qur'ánic fragments (and afew other materials) showing a great variety of styles ofwriting and page layout. The fragments may haveoriginated from a depository similar to. but not asancient as. the one in the Great Mosque of San'á' .That could explain the fact that there were only
Qur'ánic fragments. and no fragments at all from othertexts. Another argument in favour of this is the factthat most fragments were in a bad condition. possiblyso even before the earthquake destroyed Dawrán. Thatthere existed in the world of Is lam several prescr ipt ionsand pract ices concerning the disposal of worn-outsacred books was recentlv summed up by Joseph Sadanin his art ic le 'Genizah and Genizah-l ike Pract ices inIslamic and Jewish Tradit ions. Customs Concerningthe Disposal of Worn-Out Sacred Books in the MiddleAges. According to an Ottoman Source', in Biblio-t l teca Orientul i .s 43 (1986). 36-58.
In the following I will describe the Dawrán frag-ments briefly.
t .
Three consecut ive leaves from a Bihárï Qur 'án. To-gether the,v contain the text of Qur 'án I I . 198 (. :^í j1J) -
I I . 223 (Ár ! i ! ) . The lear . 'es measure 550x 330 mm(tex t a rea ;105 x 218) and conta in 17 l ines to the page.The ent ire Qur 'àn must har, 'e been a monumental pieceof rvork. Lines 1.9 and l7 are wrt t ten in a larger scr ipt ,which is a common feature. both in Bihárï and Yemenimanuscripts. The text area is del imited by a single blueand a double red frame. The text is written in black ink.with shal low vocal isat ion, also in black ink. The alrTtare separated by gold discs with black outline and bluedots. Between the l ines are abbreviat ions concerningthe pronunciation, written in red ink. See figure 8.ï The occurence of these leaves. which must have beenpart of an impressive set of Bihàri a!:c1' , in the Yemenis perhaps not so remarkable as it appears to be at firstsight or thought. I t is not strange to f ind Indianmater ials. be i t Qur 'án MSS or any other product ofhuman manufacture. in South Arabia. That part of theArabian peninsula has always had close connectionswith the Indian subcontinent. In fact. the area stretch-ing from Somalia via the southern shores of Arabiaand Iran to present-day Pakistan is in many ways acultural, economical and demographical continuum. Ithas struck me that some Yemeni Qur'áns have agraphical appearance which suggest a stylistic rela-tionship with the BihárT Qur'áns. This needs moreresearch, however, than I wanted to carry out in thescope of the present study. It may be mentioned in thisrespect that in the Library of the University of Leidenthere is a Qur 'án MS (registered as Cod.Or. 20.530)which originates from the Yemen and which shows, inmy opinion, influences of the Bihán style of writing.
r 5 8 M A N U S C R I P T S O F T H E M I D D L E E A S T 4 í ] 9 8 9 )
The Dawràn Qur'áns Nos. 2 and 34 (see below) couldalso have a stylistic relationship with the Bihári way ofwriting. No doubt, more examples of this influence orconnection may be found.
2 .Two fragments from a Qur'án, containing parts of
the 9th and lOth Èrt ' UÏ. l -38a: VII , 89 - IX,93) andthe lT th euz ' U Í .39a-42b:XXL92 - XXI I , l8 ) . F romthe illuminated page at the beginning of the firstfragment it is clear that the entire text was divided intoa number of separate voiumes, with more than one gu:'per volume and with an illuminated double page at thebeginning. At the end (/. 38a) is a page with a sort ofcolophon, without specific details, however.MS on paper; watermark: crown with a six-pointeds t a r o n t o p ; 4 2 f f . ; 2 0 5 x 1 5 0 m m ( 1 5 0 x 1 0 5 ) ; 9 l i n e s t othe page; black ink , a,vat divided by ochre discs; textset in a black and double red frame I usually quiresconsist ing of 4 leaves; catchwords on every verso page;without binding;. / . 38b or iginal ly blank. but now f i l1edwith scribbling in several hands.
a
Fragment from a Qur'án, containing part of the l5thguz' (XYII, 7 - XVIII, 63), with a lacuna of one leafbetween ff. 4 and 5 (missing: XVII, 30-36).MS on paper; watermark: anchor Uí. 25-26); 29 .íí'.:200 x 140 mm (135 x 85) : 7 l ines to the page: b lack ink ;a-vat divided by ochre discs; text set in a double redframe; simply executed sara heading on í l7b: quiresconsist ing of 4 sheets: without binding.
Á
Fragment from a Qur'án, containing part of the I 5thg i l ; ' (XVI I , l6 - XVI I I , 49) .MS on paper; unident i f ied watermark; 12 í ï . ;205x150 mm (155 x 90); I I l ines to the page; black ink; ' ayatdivided by red dots; text set in a single red frame;simply executed suraheadrng on í'.8b; quires consistingof 4 sheets; without binding.
5 .Fragment from a Qur'án, containing part of the 24th
guz' (XXXIX,69 - XLI, 1l) .MS on paper; watermark: shield with crescent withface ;4 f í . ,220 x 160 mm (180x 100) ; 18 l ines to thepage; black ink' ay'at divided by dividers made of reddots; text set in a double red frame; no sura headingson Jf . \a and 4b ; on f . 2a are simply executed marginalornaments; catchwords on every verso page; withoutbinding; on /. 3b, a later hand has added XL, 66 in themargin. since the copyist had forgotten to include it inthe text, probably due to homoioteleuton.
6 .Fragment from a Qur'án, containing part of the l4th
!uz' (XY, 11 - XVI, 92).
MS on paper; watermark: three crescents;6 f f . .220x
160 mm (180 x 95); lT l ines to the page; black ink; ayat
divided by dividers made of red dots; text set in a
double red frame; no sura headings on J'. 3a; catch-words on every verso page; without binding; in themargin of f. 4a a later hand has added XVI, 33-35,
since this had been forgotten by the copyist, probably
due to homoioteleuton, on f .6a the same goes for XVI,
7 8 - 8 l .
1 .Fragment from a Qur'án, containing part of the 14th
guz' (XYI,31 - 92).MS on paper; watermark: three crescents; 10./ / . ; 200 x
150 mm (140 x g}); 'T l ines to the page;black ink; scr iptof calligraphic quality; ihmal marks are used; a-l'aldivided by ochre discs with black outline and red dots;text set in a double red frame; without binding. Seefigure 9.
8 .Fragment from a Qur'án. containing the latter part
o f the 3rd !u : ' ( I l l . 18 - 91) .MS on paper; unidentified watermark: 8 ff ; 205 x
150 mm (150x 95) ; 13 l ines to the page; b lack ink ;script of calligraphic quality; Av-aÍ divided by dividersmade of red dots; without binding; on f. 8b is the
colophon of the 3rd guz' , which does not contain any
specific information, apart from a short prayer for the
copyist (kut ih) and manufacturer ( 'c lmi l) . and also forthe reader and u'hoever pra!'s for thern. Katib and'amilare here apparentll ' considered as one and the sameperson (and different from the reader) as becomes clear
from the use of ïhe dualis in the Arabic text in thecolophon. See f igure 10.
9 .Fragment from a Qur'án, containing part of the I I th
and l2 th !uz ' (X ,98 - X I . 109) .MS on paper; watermark: three crescents; 8 J ' f . ;210x155 mm (155 x 105) :g l ines to the page;b lack ink w i th
interlinear pronunciation marks in red; script of callig-
raphic quality: at'at dtvrded by dividers made of red
dots; without binding; in the margins are several
indicators of the agza' and their subdivisions, set
in simple ornamentation, catchwords on every versopage. See f igure l l .
1 0 .Two fragments from the same Qur'án, containing
parts of the 7th (J. la VI, 68-l0l) and the 29th guz'(/ 5: XXVI, 49 - 85).MS on paper ; 5 f f . ; 205 x 150 mm (150 x 100) ; 11 l inesto the page; black ink; ayat divided by ochre discs withblack outline and red dots; catchwords on every versopage; without binding.
JAN JUST WITKAM. MANUSCRIPTS & MANUSCRIPTS 6 1 5 9
I l .Fragment from a Qur'án, containing parts of the
2lst !uz' (XXXI, 1 - 30).MS on paper ; a J f . ;210 x 160 mm (150 x 100) ; 7 l inesto the page; black ink, with interlinear abbreviationsconcerning the pronunciation in red ink; the wordAllah is written in red; ayat divided by ochre discs withblack outline and red dots: text set in a double redframe; ihmal signs are used: simply executed sttraheading on .f. la simple ornament in the margin of
/ .2a; without binding.
12 .Fragment from a Qur'án, containing part of the 26th
g l - ' ( X L V I I . 8 - 3 8 ) .M S o n p a p e r : 2 f f . , 2 2 0 x 1 6 0 m m ( 1 7 0 x l l 0 ) ; l 3 l i n e sto the page: black ink uvat divided by ochre discs withblack out l ine: text set in a double red frame; withoutbinding.
1 3 .Fragments from a Qur'án. containing parts of the
| l th guz' ( IX, 94-95 and IX, 118-120). The t i t le-page ofthe llth guz' is preserved, and from this it can beconcluded that the fragments originate from a Qur'ánwhich was executed in l5 bound aëza' .MS on paper: watermark: three crescents:2./J ' . ; 200 x145 mm (150x 95) : l l i nes to the page: b lack ink w i thout l ines on several of the let ters in red and ochre: rn 'árdivided by dividers made of ochre and red elements:text set in a double black frarne uhich is sometimesf i l led with ochre, without binding.On.f, la (the title-page of the ga:') is a long v'aqf-noÍe.The text begins with an enumeration of the three thingsby which a man survives: a gift, l ike a Qur'án MS fromwhich recitation is done. good offspring which praysfor him and, finally, knowledge which is profitable toothers. The name of the waqf may be read as al-íayl1Abmad b. 'Abd al-Rahmán b. Sinár [?] al-Qarábï [?]from Quryat al-Burg [?]. The beneficiaries of the u'ac1fare his children, and their children. the boys havingpreference over the girls, and then the other inhab-i tants of the vi l lage. The note is dated 1l5l /1738-9. SeeÍ igure 12.
14 .Fragment from a Qur'án, containing part of the l4th
Èuz' (XY. 20-52).MS on paper; watermark: simple motif made of curvedl ines ; 2 . t ' / . ;200 x 145 mm (150x90) ; 8 l ines to thepage; black ink; ayat divided by dividers made of ochrewith black outline and red elements: text set in a doubleblack frame; on f. 1b. a later hand has added aya 32between the lines, which had been forgotten by thecopyist, apparently due to homoioíeleulon; withoutbinding.
'-Frurrn.nt from a Qur'án, containing part of the 14th
guz' (XY,66-87).MS on paper; unidentified corner-mark, possibly amonogram; I f . ;200 x 150 mm (140 x 90) ;9 l ines to thepage; black ink a1'o7 divided by dividers made of ochrewith green and red elements; text set in a double blackf rame: w i thout b ind ing .
1 6 .Fragment from a Qur'án. containing part of the 9th
guz' (1X,65-69).MS on paper; possibly indigenous paper. and thefragment gives an old impression; I í . :220 x 165 mm(190x 120); g l ines to the page: black ink; scr ipt of
calligraphic quality; between the lines are abbrevia-tions concerning the pronunciation, written in red;a,vat divíded by gold discs with outline in red: withoutbinding. See f igure 13.
1 7 .Fragment from a Qur'án. containing part of the l6th
gu: ' (XIX. 19-60).M S o n p a p e r : 1 . / . : 2 1 0 x 1 5 5 m m ( 1 5 5 x 1 0 0 ) : 1 1 l i n e s
to the page I black ink: inter l inear abbreviat ionsconcerning the pronunciation: d-.r'tl divided by blackdiscs with red elements: text set in a double blackframe ; without binding.
1 8 .Fragment from a Qur'án, containing part of the 1st
gr : ' ( l I . 25-21) .MS on paper; unident i f ied watermark; | í . : 220x1 6 0 m m ( 1 6 0 x 1 0 0 ) : 8 l i n e s t o t h e p a g e : b l a c k i n k :catchword on the verso page; inter l inear abbreviat ionsconcerning the pronunciat ion; ó r1 divided by dividersmade of ochre and red dots: text set in a black and adouble red frame; without binding. See figure 14.
1 9 .Fragment from a Qur'án, containing part of the 7th
!uz' (Y1.54-68).M S o n p a p e r ; 1 J . ; 2 0 0 x 1 5 0 m m ( 1 6 0 x l l 0 ) ; l l l i n e s
to the page;black ink: a system of red and yel low signs
is used to ind ica te the pronunc ia t ion or rec i ta t ion : a . tá ldivided by discs made of ochre with a black outline anda dot in the centre: without binding. See figure 15.
/.\ l .
Damaged fragment from a Qur'án, containing partof the 28th {uz'(LXI, l l - LXII , l0).MS on paper ; I f . ;270 x 175 mm (220x 120) ; 19 l inesto the page; every now and then a line of text is writtenin a larger script, apparently in order to create anattractive layout (see for the same feature Dawránfragment No. l); black ink with rubrics; simply ex-ecuted suraheadings; ayat divided by discs in red ink;
1 6 0
part of the paperwithout binding.
21.Fragment from a Qur'án, containing part of the lst
{uz' (Il, l-17).MS on paper ; | . í ' . ;215 x 130 mm (175 x I l5 ) ; 16 l ines
to the page; black ink with rubrics; recto page withbeginning of surat al-Baqara is il luminated; áyátdivided by discs in black ink with red elements; withoutbinding.
22 .Fragment from a Qur'án, containing part of the 17th
g a : ' ( X X I , l - 6 ) .MS on paper ; I f . ; 260 x 165 mm (195 x 95) : 1 l i i nes to
the page; black ink with rubrics; written in a script ofcal l igraphic qual i ty: the f i rst l ine of text is wri t ten in alarger scr ipt ; inter l inear abbreviat ions concerning thepronunciat ion; recto page is the t i t le-page of the lTthguz' . from the title-page and the x'ar1f -note it becomesclear that the present fragment originates from a set ofl5 volumes of two ag:a' each, at'at divided by discs in
ochre ink with black outline and red dots; part of thepaper has disappeared, with some loss of text; on theverso side. above the text, is a v'aqf-note. Inking this
Qur'án to the mosque of Dawrán; without binding. Seef igure 16.
--Fragment from a Qur'án. containing part of the lTth
!uz ' (L I .13 - L I I , 3 ) .M S o n p a p e r ; I f . ; 2 3 0 x 1 6 5 m m ( 1 7 5 x l l 0 ) ; l T l i n e sto the page; black ink; ayat divided by discs in black
ink written over the text; without binding.
24.Fragment from a Qur'án. containing part of the lst
!uz' (11.96-1 I l ) .M S o n p a p e r ; 1 f . ; 1 9 5 x 1 4 0 m m ( 1 5 0 x 1 1 0 ) ; 1 4 l i n e sto the page; black ink avat divided by discs in black
ink with red elements: interlinear abbreviations con-
cerning the pronunciation; text on the verso page is set
in a double red frame; without binding.
25.Damaged fragment from a Qur'án. containing part
of the 29th guz' (LXXII I , 6-20).MS on paper ; l . f . :175 x 140 mm (145 x 95) ; 9 l ines to
the page; black ink; at;at divided by smalldiscs in red:
text set in a black and a double red frame; without
binding.
26.Fragment from a Qur'án, containing part of
guz' (Lll, l0-35).MS on paper ; I f . ;200 x 145 mm (165 x 100) ;to the page; black ink ayat divided by discs
the 27th
l2 l inesin black
M A N U S C R I P T S O F T H E N , Í I D D L E E A S T 4 ( I 9 E 9 )
has disappeared, with loss of text; and red;in the margin of the verso page is a medallion
containing the indication of the quarter of the gu:' , Í 'exÍ
set in a black and a red frame; without binding'
27.Quire from a Qur'án, containing part of Ï-he TI"h guz'
(v, 106 - vI , 93).MS on paper: l0/ . ; 160 x I l0 mm (140 x 80): 15 l inesto the page;black ink avat occasionally divided by red
signs. but mostly by a sign in black ink which resembles
the Arabic Íive; on several pages marginal corrections
of scribal errors have been written: text set in a black
and a red frame; a later hand has added lhe sura
headings on the top of each recto page; without
bindine.
28.Fragment from a Qur'án. containing part of the 16th
Èuz' (XIX" 25-33).M S o n p a p e r : | / ' . : l 5 0 x 1 0 5 m m ( l 1 5 x 7 5 ) ; 9 l i n e s
to the page; black ink with use of red out l ine on some
of the let ters; at 'ar div ided by a f loral ornament in
ochre with three dots in i t in red;text is provided with
ihmal marks: interlinear abbreviations concerning the
pronunciat ion: without binding.
29 .Fragment from a Qur'án. containing part of the l4th
gu; ' (XV. 85 - XVI . l3 ) ,MS on paper : na termark : c rown: a í í . . 150 x 100 mm(100x 10) : l l i nes to the page: b lack ink w i th rubr ics ;
ritrTt divided b.v ochre discs "r'ith
red outline; simply
executed .ir7ra heading on f. 2b: the word Alluh and
the .íuhadu are rvritten in red: rvithout binding. See
f igure 17.
30.Fragment from a Qur'án. containing part of the 33rd
and 34th !uz' (XXXVII. 1- XLl, 7).MS on paper; 68 Íí. . I 50 x 105 mm (90 x 60) ; 7 lines to
the page; black ink with rubrics; letters are occaslon-
ally outlined in red a1'at divided by three red dots;
simply executed .sÍra headings on lf. 16a, 28b, 41b. 61b,
written in red: interlinear abbreviations in red ink
concerning the pronunciat ion; without binding, but
traces of the back are stil l visible.
3 1 .Fragment from a Qur'án, containing part of the 3rd
and the whole of the 4th guz' (III. 40 - IV' 23).
MS on paper; watermark: crowned coat of arms (e.g.
/ . 6 ) ; 1 5 . í Í . : 2 7 0 x 1 9 5 m m ( 2 2 5 x 1 3 0 ) ; 1 3 l i n e s t o t h e
page; black ink; occasional use of ihmal matks; a1'"at
divided by an ochre disc with black outline and three
red dots; simply executed sura heading on /. 12a,
written in red: interlinear abbreviations, signs and
words in red ink concerning the pronunciation; on
f. l4b is the colophon marking the end of the 4th {uz' ;
. IAN . IL - 'ST WITKAM. MANL- 'SCRIPTS & \ , IANLJSC]RIPTS 6 l 6 t
occasional occurrence of catchwords on the versopages; Oriental leather binding with flap; a ratherrecent hand has written the sura titles in the topmargins of the recto sides of many of the leaves; x'aqf-notes mentioning the destination of the MS as themosque of the town of Dawrán on f f . 1b.2a, l3a; alsow'ac1f-notes with specific information on leaves pastedto the inside of the boards; the word x'ac1/'is writtenabove the text on a number of pages; profuse scribblingon the leaves pasted inside the boards. See figure 18.
"-The f i rst volume oÍ 'a Qur 'án, containing the Í i rst 15
agza' (I. I - XVIII, 74). apparently from a copyexecuted in two volumes. Lacunae betx'een f f . l -2 ( l l . l -20)..í.Í. 8e-e0 (vr. 135-148). .íf. 101-102 (vrr. 126-163).íí. 113-114 (rX, 34-61), íï ' ,. 127-128 (X. t05 - Xr.20).í/" tss-t59 (xvl. 58-70).MS on paper; at least three copyists are involved andthey have used several types of paper: 118 Í / . : 155 x1 15 mm; the work of the three copyists is distr ibuted asfol lows: | . / f . 1b-9b: text area 100 x 60 mm. l5- 17 l inesto the page, occasional use of red elements as dividersbetween the ayat, text set in a double red frame,sometimes also in a black frame. catchwords on theverso pages ; 2. .íÍ . I 0a-89b, watermark : three crescents ;counter -mark : rp ( f .82) , tex t a rea l l0x 75 mm. l3 l inesto the page. ihmal signs are used. vowels appear to havebeen added separately ' . occasional use ol red ink ( for aframe or .suru heading). open discs in the same ink asthe text are used as dividers betr',,een Íhe c1yt1t. catch-words on the verso pages: 3. . Í ï ' . 90a-177a. text area120 x15 mm, l3 lines to the page, ihntcll signs are used,occasionally the text is not set in a frame, catchwordson the verso pages; Oriental leather binding with tracesof a flap.On f . 177a is the colophon of this f i rst volume of theset. The copyist of the agza' 1-10 is mentioned:al-sayvicl Yahyà b. Sálih ul-hagg, and the copyist ofagza' 1l-15 mentions himself : ul-sayyid 'Ali b. Ahmadb. 'Abdaliàh
. [?] b. Ahmad b. Yahyá b. Ibràhim b.'Abdal láh
b. M. al-Mu'áf i al-Làhimr. This informationdoes not exactly fit with the evidence of the MS itself.as the last-mentioned copyist already starts working inthe 8th gttz' (Y\ 148). The person who commissionedthe Qur'án is also mentioned: al-say1,-id M. b. M. b.':-tt:;uf b. Yahyà b. Husayn al-Láhimi. On fí-. l77b-118bis a Íiagment of a story, not written by one of thepreviously mentioned copyists. See figure 19.
a a
Smail-sized Qur'án oÍ'which the beginning is missing( r , l - r r , 5 0 ) .
MS on paper; several hundreds of unnumbered leaves;100 x 70 mm (90 x 55); 16 l ines to the page; black ink,sÍra headings in red; text set in a double red frame;leather binding, of which only the front board and theback are preserved.On the iast page is the colophon. A date of complet ionof the MS is ment ioned there : 17 lab i ' I I 1111 i1699.and also the name of the person who commissioned theMS. though this is hardly legible now'. .srdí ol-iar'[al-galtl al-ugall al-okrant Badr a1-Dïn ... [?].
34 .
Qur'án of which ag:a' 1-2, parÍ of 3. and 28-30 arenow missing. Also a few lacunae in the middle of theMS. betu'een / í . 73-74 (VII I . 66 - IX. l5). í ï . 195-196(xxlx. 59 - xxx. 1).M S o n p a p e r : 2 7 1 l l . : 2 1 5 x 1 6 0 m m ( 1 7 0 x 1 0 5 ) ; 1 4l ines to the page: black ink. with occasional out l inein red ink: inter l inear abbreviat ions conerning thepronunciat ion: occasional ly l ines are wri t ten in a muchgreater script whrch is sometimes fil led with ochrecolouring; this and the ornate marginal indicat ionsoften give the pages of the MS a wild appearance;ihntul signs are used; sura headings usually in red ink;d1'c7t are dived by ochre discs r', ' ith black outline andusual ly with four red dots: text set in a double redframe. and yet another. outer. f rame: without binding,but traces oÍ ' i t are st i l l v is ible. See f ieure 20.
A leather binding with Í lap and simple bl ind tool ing,containing one hlank flyleaf and one flyleaf with atct ' t r ï l of Íhe à.t 'ur ul-kursí (Qur 'àn I I , 255). The bindingmeasures 1.15 x 95 mm. The insides of the boards arepasted with leaves from a small-sized Qur'àn (text areaper page: 70 x 50 mm).
3 6 .Also found were two fragments of bindings and a
fragment of paper, probably a flyleaf.Firstly. there is a front board made of leather withbl ind tool ing and a coloured medal l ion. measuring200 x 140 mm. with the seal of Solomon drawn severaltimes on the leaf which is pasted to the inside of theboard.Secondly. there is an end board made of leather withbl ind tool ing, measuring 205 x 145 mm, with scr ibbl ing(mostly Íhe basmala) on the leaf which is pasted to theinside of the board.The fragment of the flyleaf measures 205 x 125 mm andhas texts (prayers) on both sides.
162 \ , l A N L , S C R I P T S O F T H E M I D D L E E A S T ' 1 ( I 9 E 9 )
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volume (ofa set o l two volun,cs) , wi th a colophon in which two copyists and the person who cornmiss ioned the MS arc ment ioned by namc.
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17l
Arabic Manuscripts in distress:The Frankfurter Facsimile Series
The Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Sciencein Frankfurt am Main (Federal Republic of Germany),which is connected to the Johan Wolfgang GoetheUniversity in the same town, has published sincearound 1984 an impressive number of ser ies of booksas well as a specialized journal, the Zeit,schrift ./i lrGeschichte der Arubi.sch-Islamíschen Wi.ssenst'haften.The director of the institute. to whom we owe all thesecommendable activities, is Professor Fuat Sezgin. Heis, needless to say. wel l known as the author of theindispensable standard work GesclrichÍe de.s ArabischenSchrifÍÍums, which Messrs. Brill of Leiden began publish-ing in 1967 and of which nine impressive volumes havesince appeared. Professor Sezgin's Geschichte focusses onthe written output of Arab authors till approximately theyear 1000 AD and provides its readers. often for thef i rst t ime. with extensive bibl iographical in lbrmationon col lect ions in the Orient u,hich have ei ther not vetbeen described or. i f so. not adequatel l ' . The studentof ear ly Arabic l i terature is sometimes tantal ized b;- ' theinaccessibility of the very MSS of whose existence hefirst learned in Professor Sezgin's work. It is thereforegreatly to be applauded that Professor Sezgin decided.a few years ago, to publish a series of facsimile editionsof important Arabic manuscripts. And, i t must beadded. this has been done at a remarkable and inim-i table pace indeed. Up to 1989. some 42 t i t les in 53volumes have appeared in Series C. Facsimi le Edit ions.of the Publ icat ions of the Inst i tute for the Historv ofArabic-Is lamic Science. As the ser ies mainly, containsreproduct ions from MSS in the wel l --cuarded l ibrar iesof Turkey, Professor Sezgin is the more to be thanked.A quick count of the or igins of the or iginal MSSreproduced up to now in the series shows the followingprovenances:
Bursa, i t t latk Ki i t r iphanesi: I MS.Damascus, Táhirtyya Library: I MS.Edirne, Sel imiye Ki i t i ïphanesi: I MS.El Escorial Library: I MS.Istanbul. Beyaztt Devlet Kritriphanesi: 2 MSS.Istanbul, Kópnihi Kiiti iphanesi: 3 MSS.Istanbul. Nuruosmaniye Kri t i iphanesi: 1 MS.Istanbul, Stileymaniye Kritriphanesi: 20 MSS.Istanbul, Topkapr Sarayr Mi izesi : 12 MSS.Istanbul, Universi te Kri t r iphanesi: 1 MS.Leiden, Universi ty Library: 2 MSS.Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibl iothek: I MS.
The users of the series will be able to avoid time-consuming detours through the Turkish bureaucraticchannels by using the facsimile edition instead of theoriginal MS. However, this works only if two precondi-
JAN JUST WITKAM. MANUSCRIPTS & MANUSCRIPTS 7
tions are fulÍll led: The facsimile edition must be anexact replica of the original, and each volume shouldcontain a good codicological description of the originalMS. Only then can a facsimile edition take the place ofthe original MS. which. of course. always remains theultimate reference for any substantial research. In thefollowing I have laid down my experiences whilecomparing a number of the facsimile editions with theoriginal manuscripts. This research. I am afraid to say.has resulted for me in a severe disappointment withrespect to the soundness of Professor Sezgin's facsim-ile project. I will let a few of the manuscripts speak forthemselves.
I compared MS Ayasofya 3036, which is kept in theSrileymaniye Library in Istanbul. with volume 33. part l,of the Frankfurt series (Frankfurt 1986). This volumecontains the reproduct ion of the Ayasofya MS 3036which is in fact a small part only of what is left of themult i -voiume History of Aleppo by Kamál al-Drn Ibnal- 'Adrm (d. 660i1262, cf . GAL G I . 332). ent i t ledBttgrar al-Tulah./ï Ta'rtft Halab. aptl1' translated in theedit ion as 'Everything
Desirable about the History ofAleppo'. Further volumes are planned for publ icat ion,but these must be made on the basis ol manuscriptswhich are kept in other l ibrar ies: the Ar, 'asoÍya col lec-t ion only contains this rolurne. uhich is considered asa sort of geographici i l introduct ion to the BugyuÍul-Tulah, written by lbn al-'Adrrn after he had comple-ted his main work. The AyasoÍya MS is said to be Ibnal- 'Adrm's autograph, but for the moment I have mydoubts about that. The facsirni le edit ion contains514 pp . o f Arab ic te r t in Íacs imi le and 4 pp . ( in bo thEngl ish and Arabic) of introduct ion by Fuat Sezgin.The r.olurne is puol ished in the typography and thetechnical specifications u hich are uniform for theent ire ser ies.
The first surprise is at the very be_einning. Theoriginal manuscript contains 4 pages before the begin-ning of the text, which are fil led by notes of one of theowners, M. b. M. b. M. al-Hamawr al-HanaÍ i . who alsowrote an interesting note on his qiru'a or riy.cjt'a(directly from al-Maqrrzll) of this MS on p. 5 of themanuscript ( : p I of the edit ion) and other notesdated Ca i ro 856 '1452 (ed . pp . I and 5 l ) and Ca i ro 842/1438-39 (ed. p. I l ) . These four prel iminary pages havebeen left out without any justification. Among otherthings they contain a Fasl.fï Fava'id al-Ta'rtk, in whichthe owner mentions the gist of what the reader mayexpect to find in the main text. While going through theoriginal manuscript and the edit ion. I saw that pp. l4and 15 of the MS (between pp. 10- l l of the edit ion).which contain notes in the same hand. had beenskipped as well by the editor. The texts on all theselacking pages are admittedly not by Ibn al-'Adrm andthat is probably why the editor has omit ted them. Justthe same I would have liked to have been told abouttheir existence, so that I could have decided for myselfwhether or not they are worthwile reading.
t 7 5
t76 \ 4 A N L , S C R I P T S O F T H E
Another surprise. from the very start. is the pagina-tion of the MS. This has been altered in the edition. Onp. 4 of his introduction, Professor Sezgin says: 'The
sequence of folios with their older pagination has beenretained by us . . . ' . The sequence of the fol ios may beunchanged. although the aforementioned 6 pages aremissing, but not all the prevrously applied numbersystems. When we look at the MS we see that it is,Íirstly. foliated in Arabic. with folio numbers in theupper left corner of each recto page. These have moreoften than not been wholly or partly removed by thefacsimilist. Then the pages have. probably at a laterdate. been numbered in Arabic. with numbers whichare usual ly wri t ten in the outer margins. somewherehalfway down the page. About half of these. usual lythose on the verso pages. have been removed by thefacsimi l ist as wel l . Professor Sezgin has. however. castover the text a new system of paginat ion. uhich ispr inted on top of each page. In this neu paginl tron. noaccount is given of the older numbering s1'stems. andthe reader is left to his wits u'hen he sees unexnlainedgaps in the o lder pug ina t ion .
Another difference between original manuscript andedit ion is that the aspect of some of the openings of theMS has occasional ly undergone radicalchanges. Some-t imes the marginal notes on one page are al igned withthe f i rst l ine of text on the opposite pa-se. This gi les anextremeiy unbalanced impression. One rnal obser.uet h i s o n p p I l 8 - 1 1 9 . 1 3 2 - 1 3 3 . 1 5 1 - 1 5 - 1 . 1 6 , 1 - 1 6 - 5 . 3 1 6 - 3 7 7of the edit ion. Needless to sa). . rn the MS the blocks ofmain text are always exact ly al igned to one another.Another cur ious feature is the fact that many l ines oftext. as represented in the edit ion. appear to be wri t tennot in a straight. but in a somewhat concave line. TheMS has. of course. only straight l ines and one cannotescape the conclusion that the MS was too t ight lybound to al low proper photographing. Now, al l theseremarks are of an ent irely formal nature only. Ofcourse i would have like<i Professor Sezgin to havegiven me a somewhat detai led descript ion of the phys-ical appearance of the MS (not even the dimensions ofthe MS are given, let alone other codicological inÍorma-t ion which some scholars consider as important). butthese lesser inconveniences should not affect our appre-ciat ion of Ibn al- 'Adrm's text i tsel f as i t is oresented infacsimile by Professor Sezgin.
Alas, publishing in facsimile is not everybody's cupof tea, and a number of mishaps have befallen Ibn al-'Adrm's text as well. thereby inexcusably affecting thecontents and seriously impairing the value of theedition. We will mention a few of these accidents. Theinner margins of the pages on the right hand have.generally speaking, suffered most in this edition. Onquite a number of occasions, words or even entirephrases have become optically distorted. and are there-fore hardly legible. Sometimes they have even been
M I D D L t T E A S T ' l ( 1 9 8 9 )
wholly or partly cut off. The reader has simply to dowithout them, autograph or not. This phenomenonmay be observed in varying degrees (to give but a fewre ferences : on pp . 54 ,59 .156, 168, 174. 183, 208.246,210,352,400. but by no means on those pages alone).Another example of incomplete rendering: On p. 59 ofthe edition the remnants of a word ending in -tu may beseen in the inner margin. The MS has here on I 3la( : p 63) ' . ukb i r tu , wh ich cou ld be read w i thoutdifficulty as it is written in the ciear hand of the copyist.One more example : On p . 54 ( : MS / .28b or p . 5 t t )l ine 6 ends abrupt ly l ike this: QcTlu l t 'Al t b. Abr Bukr( 'Ah b. Abi Bakr said to me). but then the contents ofthe communicat ion b-v this 'Al i b. Abi Bakr is notrevealed. Fault of the author or copyist? Wrong! Thesentence is cont inued in the margin of the manuscriptand would appear to read: t-i*" .tKqíU"Jl .9n 1-.s -:sf\jD\t ' , , ; l ' r . I must admit that I am not sure of thereading nor of the interpretat ion of these nine words,but I maintain that they are found in the MS butsomehow have disappeared from the facsimile edition.The most saddening discovery. however. in this facsim-i le volume ( i f we may st i l l cal l i t that) is the unexplaineddisappearance of two entire pages from the originalmanuscript. Between pp. 437-438 of the edition. theMS has yeI /ï. 226b-227a. Professor Sezgin could havediscovered this lacuna in the edit ion i f he had onlylooked at the pa-ue numbers in the MS. but he appar-ent l) ' does not read. or even look at. the texts of whichhc is the editor. In the edit ion. the Arabic paginat ion ofthe MS jumps Í iom 439 to :142. For the benef i t of thesubscribers to Professor Sezgin's ser ies we herewithpubl ish these 'missing' pages. I may be al lowed toquote in this respect a line from Professor Sezgin'preface to another of his facsimile editions (volume 42.preface. note 6) and apply it to what I have found in hisown editor ial work in this volume: ' I abstain fromdetailed appraisal of the major and minor errorscontained in this edit ion. leavinc the verdict to thereader [ . . . ] . '
I t wi l l be understandable that at this stage ofresearch my initial enthusiasm and admiration forProfessor Sezgin's facsimile project had changed into afeeling of deception. The only question which I thenwanted to answer was: Is the procedure chosen byProfessor Sezgin in the highly unrealiable facsimileedition of MS Ayasofya 3036 an exception or the rule?To find the answer I turned to the two MSS of thelibrary of the University of Leiden which are repro-duced in the series.
I first compared volume 36 of the series with theLeiden MS Or. 287. This MS contains the unique textof the anthology in prose and poetry, entitled Gamharaíal-Islam Dat al-Natr n'a-al-Nizam, which was compiledby al-SayzarT (died after 62211225, cf . GAS II, 80) forthe last Ayy[bid king of the Yemen. The Leiden MS
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1 7 8 M A N U S C R I P T S O F T H E M I D D L E E A S T 4 ( I 9 8 9 )
was completed, according to the colophon on.f. 263b(ed. p. 526), on Saturday, 23 Sawwàl 69911300 and is,therefore. an old witness of the texts contained in theanthology. For several texts, the anthology is the onlyextant witness. The edition counts 526 pp. of Arabictext, and 2 pages (both in Arabic and English) for theintroduction by Fuat Sezgin. The volume is also pro-vided with a table of contents and a select index onpersonal names.
What immediately struck me was the difference insize between MS and edition. The reproduction ispublished as a common octavo book (the paper meas-ures 23,5 x 15 cm) and the MS has the leisurely size of29,5 x 21 cm. The facsimile edition would appear tohave been reduced to 80%. The reality is more compli-cated, however. Comparing the text areas of somepages in the edition with the corresponding pages in theoriginal MS revealed that there are numerous differentrates of reduct ion in use. sometimes e\en on oppositepages, next to one another. Without wishing to dwellon this technical matter I observed in a random selec-tion of pages of the edition the following reductionrates: 58 % (p. 90), 64% (p.283). 65 % (p. 245), 66%(p. 232), 67 % (p. 282),70% (p.233) and 72o/o (p.244),which is a remarkable tour de force. One would thinkthat for a facsimile edition it is only necessary to makegood photographic prints and then reproduce these.Not so in Frankfurt am Main, where each and everypage of a manuscript gets i ts own individual t reatment.Generally speaking one may be sure that if oppositepages in the edition have a different length of text. theyare of the same length in the original MS, but have, forreasons which are really beyond my comprehension,been reproduced at different rates of reduction. In thisfacsimile volume, as in the previously reviewed volume,the original foliation has been removed by the facsim-ilist. The original MS has clear European folio num-bers of recent date (probably 19th or 20th century) atthe left top of each leai but the pages in the edition arenow numbered with Írgures printed at the bottom ofthe page. I consider this an unwise procedure on thepart of the facsimilist. He knows, or should haveknown, that the MS has been kept for more than threecenturies in the Leiden library, and that it has quiteoften been quoted and even partly edited. All publishedreferences to date have been made to the folio numbersin the original MS, and now all of a sudden thesereferences must be converted to the system of pagenumbers which Professor Sezsin thinks useful toimpose on the MS.
Some of the catchwords (which sometimes occur onthe verso pages of the original MS) have been arbi-trarily removed by the facsimilist (ed. pp. 12, 38, 56, 98,122), and in one case a catchword has even jumped inthe edition to another page (ed. p. 83 shows thecatchword which should have been given on ed. p. 86 !).Marginal additions have been carefully removed (e.g.
ed. p. 98 : MS /. a9b; ed. p. 467 : MS f .234a), andmany quire marks have received another place on thefirst recto page of the quires, probably in order toensure that the text would not become too wide for thepages of the edition. In the course of this process. thequire marks on ed. p. 127 (MS./. 64a, for the 9th quire)and p. 239 (MS /. 120a, for the l6th quire) havedisappeared altogether, although they are available inthe original MS. In a few cases damaged text has beenrepaired in the edit ion (pp. l l3, 174, 120, at thebottom). Glosses have been cut away (pp.324 and 325of the edition,.lf.l62b-163a of the MS). The Europeanowner's slip of Levinus Warner (the learned Dutchdiplomat who purchased the MS in Istanbul in themiddle of the lTth century), which was pasted on thetitle-page U. la) of the original MS, has disappearedfrom the reproduction (ed. p. l). I will abstain fromlisting all other signs of such editorial excesses ofProfessor Sezgin as it would make too long and tediousa l ist .
Up to here. objections of an entirely formal naturehave been raised, but an important quest ion remains:is the text of al-Sayzan's Gamharat al-Islam repro-duced in a sound way? I f so, most of my previousremarks, however true they may be, would be ofmargrnal value only. Alas. disaster has struck in thetext itself as well. The facsimilist has reversed. inad-vertent ly I presume, the order of pp. 263-264. For acorrect understanding of the text, one should first readp. 264, and only then p. 263 (cf . MS, ll l32a-132b).One shudders, as one has already shuddered before inthe case of the forgotten pages of MS Ayasofya 3036,at the thought of what the effect of this misleadingfacsimile edition will be on an innocent editor whoblindly puts his or her trust in Professor Sezgin's cut-and-paste work. One more aspect of Professor Sezgin'sntodus operandi may be briefly mentioned here. At theend of his introduction, Professor Sezgin writes: 'It isa source of satisfaction to be able to publish theJamharat al-islam in the Institute's series [...]. ' Whatkind of morbid satisfaction is this. I would be inclinedto ask, since Professor Sezgin knew perfectly well atthe time he wrote these lines that permission had beenexplicitly withheld from him to publish the presentlyreviewed facsimile edition, because the Leiden librarywas in the process of negotiating with another pub-lisher for a facsimile edition (without the abovemen-tioned faults and inexactitudes. of course). of theLeiden MS Or. 287.
The third, and last, example of Professor Sezgin'seditorial technique which we will examine is providedby volume I I of the series. It contains a commentary byIbn al-Haylam (died c. 43211041, cf. GAS V, 358) onEuclid's Elementa. The work is entitled Kitab fi HallSukuk Kitab Uqlírtis fi at-Usul wa-Sarh Ma'aníhi. lÍcontains 407 pages of Arabic text, plus an introduction
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Fig. 2. The Frankfurt edi t ion of Ibn a1-Hay!am's commentary on Eucl id 's Elementa. pp. 244-5. On p. 244is the reproduct ion of MS Leiden. Universi t l , ' Lrbrar l ' . Or. 516. í .201b. The last l ine on p.244. however, is onlythe f i rst hal f of the f i rst l ine of MS Leiden. Or. 516.. / .208a. On p.2,15 of the Íacsimi le edit ion. the Arabic textof Ibn al-Haylam's commentary is seamlessly cont inued with a page taken from MS Istanbul. Universi ty Library.
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1 8 0
of 3 pp., in both English and Arabic, which is signed by
Fuat Sezgin and Matthias Schramm. The editors have
used MS A. 800 of the Istanbul University Library as
the basis of their edition. Since this MS is incomplete
Qnaqala 3, 4 and the beginning of 5 are missing), the
missing part has been suppliedby //. 184b-208a of the
Leiden MS Or. 516. This gave me the opportunity to
see what treatment this MS had received in the facsim-
ile edition. I have had no recourse to the lstanbul MS
and my following remarks only concern the Leiden
contr ibut ion to this volume.
Now that we are familiar with Professor Sezgin'smethods i t need not surpr ise us anymore that the quire
mark of MS./. 199a has been removed on ed. p.227,just l ike al l the or iginal fol io numbers. What is more
serious, however. is that the Leiden part of the text has
been cut out exactly from the MS in order to serve asthe textual complement of the Istanbul MS. One mayobserve this on p. 198 of the edition, where the Leidentext begins, in the middle of a sentence, and on p. 244where it abruptly ends. whereas the text is continued onp. 245 by a page from the Istanbul MS. This can, ofcourse. only be observed when one compares the
Leiden MS with the edit ion. From neither MS is theoriginal paginat ion or foi iat ion given. and ProfessorSezgin has given the Arabic text consecr-rtive page
numbers. He has thereb.v created a sort of hybridfacsimile volume made of texts from trl o possibly'
di f ferent textual t radi t ions. but in such a \ \ 'a]" that no
one can easi ly dist inguish which part is f rom the
Istanbul MS zrnd which part from the Leiden MS. All
the reader has to go on is the difference in script.This makes the edition unquotable for conscientiousscholars.
Onp.244 of the edit ion one sees the reproduct ion of
MS / 207b (plus the f i rst hal f of the f i rst l ine of
/ . 208a1), fol lowed on p. 245 by the sequel which istaken from the Istanbul manuscript . As al l th is mayappear too fantastic for words I herewith publish aphotograph of the two openings and let the readercompare and see for himself.
In this volume, too, there is something fishy in the
acknowledgments. On p. 3 of the introduction. theeditors thank '... the administration of the LeidenUniversity Library for allowing us to photograph the
texts.' The ambiguity of this statement only becomes
MIDDLE E_A.ST 4 ( l9 i t9 )
clear if one knows that Professor Sezgin never photog-
raphed the text. He just ordered. and after a while
received. a microÍllm from the Leiden library, which he
is allowed. as is the standard rule in that library, to use
for research purposes. but not for publication withoutprior written permission. It is superfluous to say that
such permission was never asked. nor given for that
matter.
A few things remain to be said. I hope that I have
sufficiently demonstrated that the three volumes of the
Frankfurter facsimile series. which I selected at randomfrom the whole ser ies. do not l ive up to scholar lystandards. In two of the three. text has ei ther beenforgotten to be included or has indeed been included.but with pages given in the wrong order. I t would not
surprise me at all to find examples of the errors foundin the abovementioned editions, plus an extra assort-ment of unexpected ones, in all the other volumesof the series. This basic unthrustworthiness of theseries renders it a monumental pile of unreliable trash.All this misuse of MSS can no longer be regardedas incidental when it occurs with such frequencyand with such consistency. It is no longer a matterof occasional sloppiness, which in itself is inexcusable.It is rather the illustration of the editor's supremedisrespect of texts and the requirements for a
phi lologicir l and codicological approach of MS mate-
r ial . I t is a barbarous tampering with MSS and is, in
fact. an insult to the readers r lho are mature enough tojuctge for themselves what the.v wi l l read and what not '
St i l l . the basic idea of the ser ies as I put i t in my
opening paragraph is a good one. It is. therefore. the
more to be regretted that Professor Sezgin has made
such a terrible mess of it. Advice from a knowledgeable
and experienced publisher, or the installation of a
supervisory board. could have prevented all this mis-
hap. But as it stands now, the Frankfurt facsimile
series is a Fehlleistttng rn the field of scholarly pub-
l ishing on an as yet unheard of scale.
NOTE
1 Hans-Casper Graf von Bothmer, 'Masterworks of
Islamic Book Art: Koranic Call igraphy and Il lumination in
the Manuscripts found in the Great Mosque in Sanaa', in:
Werner Daum (ed.l. Yemen. 3000 Years of Art and Civilisa-
tion in Arabia -Felir. Innsbruck, etc., n.d. [1987]. pp.178-
l8l. 185-187, and the references quoted there.
M A N U S C R I P T S O F T H E