Many assessments have been made by researchers of the practical use of handwritten copies of the Qur ʼăn with interlinear translations in the Persian and Turkic languages, created in the east of the Muslim world. They have put forward various hypotheses about the purposes and the place of creation of such copies, the majority of which are speculative in nature. 1 However, until now no attempt has been undertaken to connect their occurrence with the concrete milieu of the ʻulamāʼ, who through their authoritative decisions (fatwā) exerted an essential influence on the production of a written version of the Persian translation of the Qur ʼăn. Two outstanding decisions that are important for us concern Bukhara in the 5 th /11 th century. It was at this particular time that the first copies of the Qur ʼăn with Persian interlinear translations appeared. The first decision (fatwā) belongs to ˘anafite faqīh Shams al-A ʼimmă ʻAbd al-ʻAzĦz ibn A˛mad al-˘alwăʼĦ al-BukhărĦ (d. 448/1056-57 in Kesh). It says: If someone wants to write the Qur ʼăn in Persian, it is categorically forbidden. If he will make it concerning one verse (āya) or two, it is not forbidden (ill. 1). 2 Another decision was asserted later by his pupil Shams al-A ʼimmă Mu˛ammad ibn AbĦ Sahl al-SarakhsĦ (d. 481/1088-89 in Balkh), who in Shar˛ al-Jāmiʻ al-∑aghīr developed the rule of his teacher: And if he will write the Qur ʼăn (in the Arabic language), and then will write an interpretation and translation of each word (˛arf) under it, as related by faqīh Abŗ Jaʻfar al-HinduwănĦ, 3 there is nothing reprehensible in it (ill. 1). 4 1 ECKMANN János (1976), Middle Turkic Glosses of the Rylands Interlinear Koran Translation, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, p. 8-9; 11-19; JAMES David (1988), Qurʼāns of the Mamluks, Alexandria Press – Thames & Hudson, London, p. 173-177. 2 AL-BUKHĂRĥ Burhăn al-DĦn al-KabĦr Ma˛mŗd ibn A˛mad, Al-Mu˛ī† al-Burhān, MS Tashkent, Abŗ Ray˛ăn BĦrŗnĦ Institute of Oriental Studies, 5982, fol. 70b. 3 Mu˛ammad ibn ʻAbd Allăh al-HinduwănĦ (d. 362/973 in Bukhara), a ˘anafite faqīh from Balkh. 4 AL-BUKHĂRĥ, Al-Mu˛ī†, fol. 70b. Disputes in Bukhara on the Persian Translation of the Qur ʼăn Ashirbek MUMINOV