Published with license by Koninklijke Brill nv | doi:./X-
© Mahdi Sahragard, | ISSN: -(print) -x (online)
Journal of Islamic Manuscripts () –
brill.com/jim
Revived Leaves
The Qur’an Endowed by Kishvād b. Amlās, the Oldest Known Qur’an
Manuscript on Paper (327/939)
Mahdi Sahragard | orcid: ---X
Department of Architecture, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Mashhad, Iran
md.sahragard@gmail.com
Received July 17, 2017 | Accepted April 27, 2020
Abstract
In 1969, circa 1,000 fragments of the Qur’an were found in the space between two ceiling
covers in the Holy Shrine of Imam Riḍā in Mashhad, Iran. Some of these were among
the oldest Qur’ans produced in Iran. Three volumes in that cache are the only remain-
ing parts of a fourteen-volume Qur’an, copied in Ramaḍān 327/939, endowed to the
Holy Shrine by Kishvād b. Amlās. The volume is in vertical format and was copied on
paper. Presently, it is the oldest known dated Qur’an manuscript on paper in the world.
The similarities of the script and illumination to some undated and unsigned Qur’ans
give us some hints about the Kufic script and illuminations in central Iran. The present
article discusses the codicological and paleographical features of this copy.
Keywords
Qur’an – dated manuscripts – paper – Kufic script – Kishvād b. Amlas – Āstān-i Quds-i
Raḍavī – Iran – Isfahan
1 Introduction
Located in the city of Mashhad, Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍavī refers to the mausoleum
complex of Imam Riḍā (766–819 ce)—the eighth Shi’ite Imam—and to all
complexes and properties belonging to this institution. Up until the end of