Surah 1:5

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.73.5.25
This manuscript is held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It is written on paper with 11 lines per page and contains portions of Surah Al-Fatiha and Surah Al-Qasas.

Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Ms. or. fol. 4313 (Scan 1)
This codex is one of the earliest surviving Quranic manuscripts, with combined radiocarbon dating of its parchment placing its production between 605 and 651 AD. The seven folios in Berlin were once part of a larger codex that is now split, with 33 additional folios currently held in the Egyptian National Library. The Berlin leaves were acquired in 1939 from the estate of Bernhard Moritz, the former director of the Khedivial Library.

Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Ms. or. fol. 4313 (Scan 2)
This codex is one of the earliest surviving Quranic manuscripts, with combined radiocarbon dating of its parchment placing its production between 605 and 651 AD. The seven folios in Berlin were once part of a larger codex that is now split, with 33 additional folios currently held in the Egyptian National Library. The Berlin leaves were acquired in 1939 from the estate of Bernhard Moritz, the former director of the Khedivial Library.

Muṣḥaf of Najaf Ashraf (Codex 1 of Imām ʿAlī Library)
This codex contains a colophon attributing it to ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and dating it to 40 AH (660 AD), though scholars believe this colophon was added later. It also features a waqf (endowment) deed written on the first page in 1775 AD.
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 324 (c) (Scan 1)
Carbon dating of fragments from Arabe 324 (c) places its origin between 660-780 AD. The manuscript is part of a composite codex, where Arabe 324 (c) and Gotha Ms. orient. A 462 are original leaves, while other sections such as Arabe 324 (a) and (d) were added centuries later to replace damaged or missing pages.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 324 (c) (Scan 2)
Carbon dating of fragments from Arabe 324 (c) places its origin between 660-780 AD. The manuscript is part of a composite codex, where Arabe 324 (c) and Gotha Ms. orient. A 462 are original leaves, while other sections such as Arabe 324 (a) and (d) were added centuries later to replace damaged or missing pages.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 324 (c) (Scan 3)
Carbon dating of fragments from Arabe 324 (c) places its origin between 660-780 AD. The manuscript is part of a composite codex, where Arabe 324 (c) and Gotha Ms. orient. A 462 are original leaves, while other sections such as Arabe 324 (a) and (d) were added centuries later to replace damaged or missing pages.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 324 (c) (Scan 4)
Carbon dating of fragments from Arabe 324 (c) places its origin between 660-780 AD. The manuscript is part of a composite codex, where Arabe 324 (c) and Gotha Ms. orient. A 462 are original leaves, while other sections such as Arabe 324 (a) and (d) were added centuries later to replace damaged or missing pages.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 324 (c) (Scan 5)
Carbon dating of fragments from Arabe 324 (c) places its origin between 660-780 AD. The manuscript is part of a composite codex, where Arabe 324 (c) and Gotha Ms. orient. A 462 are original leaves, while other sections such as Arabe 324 (a) and (d) were added centuries later to replace damaged or missing pages.

Istanbul, Topkapı Palace Museum, Saray 50385
This codex is known primarily through photographs in the Gotthelf Bergsträßer archive, taken in the early 1930s. Although the original manuscript is no longer identifiable in the current museum catalogue, these rare photographs survived World War II and provide a crucial record of this early text.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 5122
This nearly complete 8th-century Quranic manuscript is notable for its extensive preservation, containing text from the very beginning of the Quran to its final Surah. Curiously, folio 134 has been reported missing from the French National Library since approximately 2000, and no microfilm image of it survives.

Rampur Raza Library No. 1
This manuscript is a highly prized copy traditionally ascribed to the penmanship of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Caliph. It features modern gold and colored borders on the paper margins.
![Cairo, Khedivial Library, "qāf 3" (Gotthelf Bergsträßer archives) [maṣāḥif 387], in kūfī type C script, showing Surah 1:5 from 8th Century AD found in Egypt, currently housed at Egyptian National Library and Archives, Cairo](https://mss.readyapologia.com/quran/codex_01335/1_manuscript-1335-page-42756-image-28455.jpg)
Cairo, Khedivial Library, "qāf 3" (Gotthelf Bergsträßer archives) [maṣāḥif 387]
This extensive 8th-century manuscript is well-known today through a collection of 471 photographs taken by Gotthelf Bergsträßer around 1930, preserving its contents in his archive.

Topkapı Palace Museum, Saray 50395 (Scan 1)
This nearly complete codex is an exceptional document, as complete codices in Kūfī D script style are extremely rare. The manuscript features illuminated pages for the first three and last six folios, as well as at surah beginnings.

Topkapı Palace Museum, Saray 50395 (Scan 2)
This nearly complete codex is an exceptional document, as complete codices in Kūfī D script style are extremely rare. The manuscript features illuminated pages for the first three and last six folios, as well as at surah beginnings.

Topkapı Palace Museum, Saray 50395 (Scan 3)
This nearly complete codex is an exceptional document, as complete codices in Kūfī D script style are extremely rare. The manuscript features illuminated pages for the first three and last six folios, as well as at surah beginnings.
Istanbul, Topkapı Palace Museum, Karatay 23 (Scan 1)
This manuscript was extensively photographed as part of the Gotthelf Bergsträßer Archive before World War II. The original first folio was lost and replaced with a paper leaf in thuluth script, while the original ancient parchment continues from the fourth word of Q 2:5.
Istanbul, Topkapı Palace Museum, Karatay 23 (Scan 2)
This manuscript was extensively photographed as part of the Gotthelf Bergsträßer Archive before World War II. The original first folio was lost and replaced with a paper leaf in thuluth script, while the original ancient parchment continues from the fourth word of Q 2:5.

Arabe 399
This manuscript features a forged colophon claiming it was copied in 798 AD by order of Caliph Harun al-Rashid. An old legend also suggested it was a diplomatic gift sent to Charlemagne, though scholars have proven both the attribution and the legend to be false.

Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Cod. Arab. 36
This manuscript was part of the first palaeographical study of Arabic script in the West, written by Jakob Georg Christian Adler in 1780. Acquired by Friedrich Buchwald in the 17th century, the fragment features a carpet-like tooled design binding with gilded frames and Danish state emblems on the spine.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 346 (d)
This manuscript features elaborate verse markers, including rosettes for individual verses and golden marginal medallions indicating groups of five and ten verses. Four of its folios are held separately at the Forschungsbibliothek Gotha (A 447), and notably, folio 78 has been reported missing from the French National Library collection since around the year 2000.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 353 (a)
This manuscript is notable for its elaborate geometric and vegetal full-page illuminations on the first and last folios, utilizing golden loops and stylized motifs. It also includes early diacritics and vocalization indicators in the form of partial red dots.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 580 (a)
This manuscript is an 18th-century European collection of facsimiles of early Kufic Qur'an fragments held in Copenhagen (Cod. Arab. 41 and 42). The original Copenhagen fragments were the subject of J.G.C. Adler's 1780 treatise, the first palaeographical study of Arabic script in the West.

Gotha, Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, Ms. orient. A 427 (Scan 1)
This small two-folio parchment fragment is distinguished by its colorful early vocalization system, utilizing red dots for standard vowels, yellow dots for reading variants, and blue and green dots for hamza and maddah. The manuscript also features large marginal decorations in gold and blue, with verses divided by golden rosettes.

Gotha, Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, Ms. orient. A 427 (Scan 2)
This small two-folio parchment fragment is distinguished by its colorful early vocalization system, utilizing red dots for standard vowels, yellow dots for reading variants, and blue and green dots for hamza and maddah. The manuscript also features large marginal decorations in gold and blue, with verses divided by golden rosettes.

Gotha, Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, Ms. orient. A 427 (Scan 3)
This small two-folio parchment fragment is distinguished by its colorful early vocalization system, utilizing red dots for standard vowels, yellow dots for reading variants, and blue and green dots for hamza and maddah. The manuscript also features large marginal decorations in gold and blue, with verses divided by golden rosettes.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 381 (f)
This two-folio parchment fragment features oblique strokes for diacritics and red dots for vocalization. It is notable for its early illumination practices: golden Kufic hāʾ letters mark groups of five verses, and medallions mark groups of ten. Additionally, Surah 2 (Al-Baqarah) is introduced with its title and verse count in golden characters on a white and green background within a golden frame.

Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Add.1112 (Scan 1)
This fragment was acquired in 1878 by Edward H. Palmer and E.E. Tyrwhitt Drake during a research trip to the Sinai Peninsula.

Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Add.1112 (Scan 2)
This fragment was acquired in 1878 by Edward H. Palmer and E.E. Tyrwhitt Drake during a research trip to the Sinai Peninsula.

Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Add.1111 (Scan 1)
This Abbasid-era manuscript features verses inscribed in a gilded frame, with several folios decorated with rectangular gilded panels. It was acquired by Edward H. Palmer during an 1878 research trip to the Sinai Peninsula.

Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Add.1111 (Scan 2)
This Abbasid-era manuscript features verses inscribed in a gilded frame, with several folios decorated with rectangular gilded panels. It was acquired by Edward H. Palmer during an 1878 research trip to the Sinai Peninsula.

Diez A oct 172
This codex is largely complete, containing the entire Quran, though the first folio and a few other leaves were supplied by a later hand. Written on parchment, the manuscript represents an important transitional stage in the evolution of the Arabic script toward the Maghrebi style. While generally well-preserved, some of the early and late folios exhibit water damage and have been repaired.

Walters W.554
The codex features an illuminated frontispiece of geometric design and a similarly decorated finispiece. Its blind-tooled black goatskin binding is attributable to Egypt and represents an important example of early Islamic bookbinding.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.85.237.19
This manuscript fragment, held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) under accession M.85.237.19, contains selections from the opening and final surahs of the Quran. Notably written on paper (unlike early parchment codices), it likely dates to a period after the 10th century when paper became the standard material for Quranic manuscripts across the Islamic world.

London, The Khalili Collections, QUR 430 (Scan 1)
This miniature single-volume manuscript features extremely small folios measuring just 7.3 x 6 cm. It is written in a miniature form of the New Style script, and currently has later lacquer covers with floral decoration and a black leather spine.

London, The Khalili Collections, QUR 430 (Scan 2)
This miniature single-volume manuscript features extremely small folios measuring just 7.3 x 6 cm. It is written in a miniature form of the New Style script, and currently has later lacquer covers with floral decoration and a black leather spine.

Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, Is 1431
This complete Quran was produced in Baghdad by the renowned calligrapher ʿAlī b. Hilāl, also known as Ibn al-Bawwāb, around 1000-1001 AD. He is a significant figure in Islamic art, closely associated with the adoption of the round Naskh script to transcribe the Quran.

Doha, Qatar National Library, HC.MS.00715
This codex is closely related to two other Andalusian manuscripts held in Istanbul, which were written in Cordoba (1143-1144 AD) and Valencia (1182-1183 AD), suggesting a similar provenance. It features distinctive Maġribī micrography for the main text and angular chrysography for the Surah headings.

London, The Khalili Collections, QUR 89
The manuscript is noted for the size of its script, with each line being roughly 4cm high, presenting a considerable challenge to the calligrapher. It is also richly illuminated, with evidence suggesting each of its seven volumes had an illuminated double-page frontispiece and finispiece.

Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924.746
This double-page illuminated frontispiece was produced during the Safavid period, likely in Herat. The elegant naskhi script is written on a gold ground with florets identifying verse ends, and features a tiny, though illegible, signature of the illuminator hidden in the white border.