The Mushaf of Iran

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fter studying Quranic manuscripts in Iranian libraries and museums Dr. Seyyed-Mohammad-Bagher Najafi-Shoushtari decided to arrange a complete copy of the Qur'an from the most important manuscripts. For this purpose, Qura'nIc manuscripts were selected that had been written by Iranian artists during a period of a thousand years, that is, from the tenth to the beginning of the twentieth century.

To collect and arrange these pages, more than four thousand slides were taken from manuscripts in museums and libraries so that after long years of hard work The Mushaf of Iran could be put together in two volumes. They contain specimens from one hundred eighty two manuscripts in different calligraphic styles, thus showing the development of the art of writing during a millennium.

In The Mushaf of Iran, the first Sūrah, which is usually decorated in a most sumptuous way, along with the first verses of the second Sūrah (in certain cases also with tables of contents, prayers and covers of manuscript), has been placed at the beginning of each section, following the development of calligraphy in the course of time. All the other Sūrah follow, again according to the sequence of the calligraphies, so that the most recent manuscripts of the Qur'an are found toward the end of the book. That means, the reader will have before him the complete text of the Holy Qur'an, with its contents arranged according to the stylistic development of Arabic calligraphy.

At the beginning of each passage, the number of verses in each of the manuscripts is indicated because the old manuscripts did neither contain the enumeration of the Ayat nor any pagination, For this reason it was decided to give the particulars of each piece beforehand so that the reader knows exactly where he is, for it would have been a falsification of the original to add page and/or verse numbers to the text. The elaborated descriptions to the individual manuscripts can be read then in the accompanying volume to The Mushaf of Iran.

From the religious and artistic perspective all these manuscripts belonged to Iran's cultural elite, while as worldly property, they were owned by various wealthy Iranians, provincial governors and rulers and kings who lived in this thousand-year period, from around 321 AH(lunaR)/933 AD to 1.322 AH(lunar)/1904 AD. Later on, in the course of history, these manuscripts were either bequeathed to mosques and mausoleums or were kept in the private libraries of royal palaces.

Qur'anic manuscripts presented in The Mushaf of Iran are kept now in:

• The Library of The Colestan Palace
• The National Iranian Museum
• The National Iranian Library
• The Malik Nalional Library and Museum
• The Library of The Consultative Assembly
• The Reza-Abbasi Museum, in Tehran, as well as in Kharazi's Private Collection

The calligraphers, painters illuminators and gilders of these manuscripts of the Holy Qur'an belonged to the Sunni sects of Shafe'i, Hanafi, etc,, the Sufis, and the Shiite sects of the Zaidi, the Ismaili and the Imami They were Persians, Turks and Arabs who lived in different parts of Persia (whose historical and cultural borders far exceeded those of present-day Iran). They were all considered masters of their respective arts and crafts and lived in such far-flung places as Khwarezmia, Bukhara, Rayy, Isfahan, Konya(Anatolia), Harat, Tehran, Balkh, Tabriz and Shoushtar. When compiling this collection of Iranian art, Dr. Najafi did not take into consideration the religious beliefs and the geographical origins of the different artists.

In this collection, different artistic styles in the fields of illumination, calligraphy, cover design and the changes they have undergone in this long historical period have been displayed. It has been tried to present samples of the paleography of the Qur'an, Most of these pages have been decorated with flowers, birds and golden-coloured geometric designs Therefore, this collection is set forth as a comprehensive presentation of the art of Islamic layout to all students of Islamic civilization and culture in particular and to those wishing to gain an understanding and appreciation of the artistic heritage of the world in general

Addresses of the book

This book has been prepared for all Muslims in the world regardless of their ethnic and Sectarian background or national affiliation. It is meant as a collection of the artistic renderings of God's word, and should be important for every Muslim who wants to own a beautiful copy of the Holy Writ that shows the development of Islamic art, which evolved most beautifully in connection with the Qur'an, as God's word should be written in a style worthy of its contents. It would make an ideal present for religious or national days, or for a family celebration, It is also intended as a reference work for anyone interested in the beauty of Islamic Art.

Directors, designers publishers of art magazines and cultural book, students of Islamic art- will benefit from it as will schools connected with religious groups and associations; publishers of books on Islam, Furthermore specialists in Iranian studies, orientalists, libraries that deal with Islamic and in particular Iranian culture as well as museums in America Europe and the Middle East, and. research institutes in the field of Islamic culture.

Including more than one hundred eighty splendid Qur'anic manuscripts, it is the most beautiful and grandiose edition of Qur'anic: manuscripts ever published, collected from Iranian museums and Libraries in a chronological order to produce a complete Qur'anic text.

Most of the manuscripts are reproduced for the first time in The Mushaf of Iran, On more than 1600 pages one faces the Islamic book-art as it was developed in the cultural realm of Persia from the ninth century to the beginning of the twentieth century AD.

Limited to 4000 individually numbered copies, The Mushaf of Iran was printed and bound superbly in Germany. It has been published as limited collector's edition in two volumes in the size of 22x33cm each decorated with a golden embossed cover. Each volume contains more than 800 full coloured pages with three sides gilded using gold 24 k. Notably, for an accurate printing of gilded and illuminated manuscript pages a special golden printing colour was produced using 24 k- gold.

An accompanying volume, which contains individual commentaries on all manuscripts and a prologue in English, Farsi and Arabic, will give you more information about this unique project of manuscript reproduction.

A transparent slip-ease encloses all three volumes and it is packed in a decorative printed carton.

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