Surah 28:5

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) (Scan 1)
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.

Muṣḥaf of Najaf Ashraf (Codex 1 of Imām ʿAlī Library) (Scan 2)
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.

Meknes, Private library of Sherif ʿAbdarraḥmān b. Zīdān, no call number (Scan 1)
This nearly complete early Kufic Quran was photographed by Otto Pretzl during a research trip to Morocco in 1934. While the main body belonged to the private library of Sherif ʿAbdarraḥmān b. Zīdān, fragments of this codex have since been dispersed to the Royal Library in Rabat, the Tareq Rajab Museum in Kuwait, and sold through auction houses like Christie's.

Meknes, Private library of Sherif ʿAbdarraḥmān b. Zīdān, no call number (Scan 2)
This nearly complete early Kufic Quran was photographed by Otto Pretzl during a research trip to Morocco in 1934. While the main body belonged to the private library of Sherif ʿAbdarraḥmān b. Zīdān, fragments of this codex have since been dispersed to the Royal Library in Rabat, the Tareq Rajab Museum in Kuwait, and sold through auction houses like Christie's.

Meknes, Private library of Sherif ʿAbdarraḥmān b. Zīdān, no call number (Scan 3)
This nearly complete early Kufic Quran was photographed by Otto Pretzl during a research trip to Morocco in 1934. While the main body belonged to the private library of Sherif ʿAbdarraḥmān b. Zīdān, fragments of this codex have since been dispersed to the Royal Library in Rabat, the Tareq Rajab Museum in Kuwait, and sold through auction houses like Christie's.

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.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 324 (c) (Scan 6)
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 7)
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.

Saray Medina 1a (Karatay 3) (Scan 1)
This almost complete codex is notable for being written by at least six different scribes in Kufic script. Originally documented in Gotthelf Bergsträßer's archives as 'Medina 1a', its folios were later repaired with paper edges, and a few missing pages were completed in Naskh script.

Saray Medina 1a (Karatay 3) (Scan 2)
This almost complete codex is notable for being written by at least six different scribes in Kufic script. Originally documented in Gotthelf Bergsträßer's archives as 'Medina 1a', its folios were later repaired with paper edges, and a few missing pages were completed in Naskh script.

Topkapı Palace Museum, "Saray Medina 1b" (M. 3) (Scan 1)
This manuscript was documented by Gotthelf Bergsträßer as 'Saray Medina 1b', and its photographs became part of his famous archive in Munich. Notably, it still retains a dark olive-coloured leather binding with a traditional flap (miklep) and mandorla (şemse), as well as multi-colored geometric sura headings.

Topkapı Palace Museum, "Saray Medina 1b" (M. 3) (Scan 2)
This manuscript was documented by Gotthelf Bergsträßer as 'Saray Medina 1b', and its photographs became part of his famous archive in Munich. Notably, it still retains a dark olive-coloured leather binding with a traditional flap (miklep) and mandorla (şemse), as well as multi-colored geometric sura headings.

Cairo, Khedivial Library, Moritz 1905, table 31-36 (Scan 1)
The physical manuscript is currently lost and its origin is unknown; it survives today only through six photographs published in Bernhard Moritz's monumental 1905 album 'Arabic Palaeography'.

Cairo, Khedivial Library, Moritz 1905, table 31-36 (Scan 2)
The physical manuscript is currently lost and its origin is unknown; it survives today only through six photographs published in Bernhard Moritz's monumental 1905 album 'Arabic Palaeography'.

Moritz 1905, Tables 39-40 (Scan 1)
This codex fragment was documented in Bernhard Moritz's 1905 'Arabic Palaeography' album and was reportedly discovered in the ancient Egyptian city of Bahnasa (Oxyrynchos). Scholars suggest it may originally belong to the same large codex as other early Quranic fragments currently held in the Vatican, Paris, and the Khalili Collections.

Moritz 1905, Tables 39-40 (Scan 2)
This codex fragment was documented in Bernhard Moritz's 1905 'Arabic Palaeography' album and was reportedly discovered in the ancient Egyptian city of Bahnasa (Oxyrynchos). Scholars suggest it may originally belong to the same large codex as other early Quranic fragments currently held in the Vatican, Paris, and the Khalili Collections.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 348 (e)
This manuscript features an elaborate early vocalization system that uses colored dots to indicate vowels, with gold for fatḥa, green for kasra, and red for ḍamma. It also contains decorative rosettes separating verses and teardrop-shaped ornaments marking groups of five verses, showcasing the development of Quranic illumination.

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.

Istanbul, Topkapı Palace Museum, "Saray 50386" (Karatay 42)
This near-complete Kufic Quran is bound in brown leather over wood with arabesque interlacing and iron rings. It bears the foundation seal of Sultan Osman III, and its first three leaves as well as sura headings are illuminated.

Topkapı Palace Museum, Saray 50395
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.

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.

Codex Petermann I 38
This manuscript, comprising 213 parchment folios, contains the entire second half of the Quran starting from Surah Maryam (19). It was documented by Wilhelm Ahlwardt in his 1887 catalogue of Arabic manuscripts at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and is notable for its robust Early Kufic script (D.Vb) with characteristic letterforms, such as the initial and medial 'kāf' often resembling 'dāl'.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 343
The manuscript uses decorative medallions and bands to mark every ten verses, rather than separating individual verses. A marginal note in cursive script reveals it was once owned by Aḥmad Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Huwaydī, with later readers adding pious notes in the margins.

London, The Khalili Collections, KFQ 3
This small script folio was likely intended for personal use. It is written on damaged parchment featuring two holes, which probably originated from wounds to the animal.

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.

HC.MS.03159 (Scan 1)
Held at the Qatar National Library, this Abbasid-era manuscript is written on parchment and serves as an example of Kūfī type E.I script. The codex is currently missing a folio between 6v and 7r, which presumably contained verses 27:32-46.

HC.MS.03159 (Scan 2)
Held at the Qatar National Library, this Abbasid-era manuscript is written on parchment and serves as an example of Kūfī type E.I script. The codex is currently missing a folio between 6v and 7r, which presumably contained verses 27:32-46.

BNF Arabe 6430
This 10th-century Quranic manuscript is notable for being written on Oriental paper rather than parchment. It features complete diacritics and vocalization, with distinctive colorful verse markers including yellow Kufic 'hāʾ' letters to signal groups of five verses.

Cambridge University Library, MS Add.1139
This fragment is part of a collection of early Qur'an manuscripts acquired by Edward H. Palmer during a research trip to the Sinai Peninsula. It was subsequently acquired by the University of Cambridge in 1878 from Palmer and E.E. Tyrwhitt Drake.

Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, MS Add.1141
This Kufic fragment was acquired by the University of Cambridge in 1878 from Edward H. Palmer and E.E. Tyrwhitt Drake. Palmer collected this and several other early Quran manuscripts during a research trip to the Sinai Peninsula.

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.