Unknown Maker, Turkish

These pages, part of the Qur’an, are written in two different languages: Arabic and Farsi. Because the original language of the Qur’an is Arabic, the main script is always written in that language. Here, a Farsi translation has been added at the bottom, allowing a wider readership, as well as complementing the athestics of the main text. Verses from the Hadith (a narrative account of what the Prophet Muhammad said and did) are expressed in a different Arabic script, blending into the border scrollwork and adding to both the meaning and decoration of the work.

In Islam, the unique position of the Arabic script, in its many different styles, arose from the belief that it was the chosen medium for recording the word of God in the Qur'an. It served as both a unifying bond for Muslims in different parts of the Islamic world and the most consistently important vehicle for artistic expression. In this Indian Qur'an, the text is written in rayhani script while the gold arabesque borders contain lines in kufic script. Written diagonally between the main lines of text are Persian translations in naskhi script.