Samarkand Kufic Quran

Common card · No. 475904

The Samarkand Kufic Quran (also known as the Mushaf Uthmani, Samarkand codex, Tashkent Quran and Quran of Uthman) is a Quranic manuscript, or mushaf. It is one of the oldest surviving Quran manuscripts in the world, although its exact dating is uncertain. Tradition holds that the caliph Uthman ibn Affan oversaw the compilation of the first canonical version of the Quranic text, ordering all divergent manuscripts burned. The Samarkand codex is one of several that purport to be the copy that Uthman retained for his personal use and was martyred upon, staining the pages with his blood. Modern studies have suggested various dates for its production ranging from the 7th to 10th centuries. In 1868, during the Russian imperial conquest of Central Asia, the Quran was coercively removed from the Khoja Ahrar madrassa in Samarkand and taken to the Imperial Public Library in Saint Petersburg. The Bolsheviks agreed to "repatriate" the Quran to Muslim organizations successively in Ufa in 1917 and Tashkent...

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