Published with license by Koninklijke Brill nv | doi:./X-
© Mahdi Sahragard, | ISSN: -(print) -x (online)
Journal of Islamic Manuscripts () –
brill.com/jim
Scattered Leaves
A Survey on the Leaves of the Bāysunghurī Qurʾan at the Museum
and Library of Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍavī, Mashhad
Mahdi Sahragard | orcid: ---X
Department of Architecture, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Mashhad, Iran
md.sahragard@gmail.com
Received December 9, 2019 | Accepted December 16, 2019
Abstract
A number of folios of a grand Qurʾan, known as the Qurʾan of Bāysunghur, are pre-
served in collections across the world. No thorough research has been carried out on
this manuscript due to the fact that the folios of this Qurʾan—the largest of the Islamic
era—are scattered. Consequently, many points about the early details, the scribe and
the history of the manuscript remain vague. Endowed between the late 12th/18th and
the early 14th/20th century to the Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍavī Library and Museum in Mash-
had, around sixty-five opisthographic folios of the Qurʾan are now kept in the collec-
tion. A close investigation of the folios not only rejects and proves earlier hypotheses
but also presents new ones. After examining the codicological features of the work by
comparing the information contained in the historical sources and the features of the
manuscript, the present article speculates that the Qurʾan was commissioned by Ulugh
Beg in Samarqand, to the scribes of the court scriptorium. Some folios were scattered
in the course of the 10th/16th century and the rest during the occupation of Samarqand
in the course of the 12th/18th century. Around sixty pages, however, were transferred
to Imāmzāda Ibrāhīm of Qūchān and five pages were endowed to the Holy Shrine of
Imām Riḍā during the 12th/18th century. Finally, in 1923, the remaining folios of the
Imāmzāda were transferred to the Library of the Holy Shrine to be mended, where they
have been kept ever since.