Qur'an section: Juz 29 [MANUSCRIPT]

Turkey, 1900. Contemporary morocco. Very good. Small oblong folio (16 by 30 cm). 28 leaves. Quranic manuscript in Jali Diwani script; gilt text recto and verso, 3 lines per page, on polished cream paper, interleaved with onionskin protective leaves. Contemporary deep brown paneled morocco wallet binding (rubbed), tooled in gilt and blind; decorative paper pastedowns. Binding skilfully rebacked to style; neat professional repair to tear at front cover panel. Light marginal tidemarks; notable old ink marks (continuous line) across two leaves; occasional small marginal perforations (not affecting text). Very good.

Rare example of a text from the Qur'an in the Jali Diwani script, an elaborate intertwining Arabic cursive developed during the early Ottoman era in the sixteenth century. The text in the present manuscript is entirely in gilt and derives from Juz 29, entitled Tabaraka ("Blessed is"), after the opening word of the first sura. One of the thirty roughly equal portions into which the Qur'an is divided, Juz 29 comprises four complete suras: Al-Mulk ("The Dominion"); Nuh ("Noah"); Al-Jinn ("The Jinn"); Al-Mursalat ("The Emissaries). Copies of the Qur'an found in mosques, especially in earlier times when manuscripts where very costly, were often bound into these thirty portions. According to Islamic tradition, during the month of Ramadan the entire Qur'an is recited, usually at the rate of one juz each evening.