Qur’an 1874

6B Dali Osman, Mahmud Jalal al-Din, and Shamshir Hafez Anlu. Handwritten, 1874.

Description

The Qur’an consists of 114 chapters called surahs, which vary widely in length, from a few verses to several pages, and are further divided into ayahs, or individual verses. The content is primarily spiritual, ethical, and legal, offering guidance on worship, morality, social justice, and personal conduct, while also recounting stories of earlier prophets and communities to illustrate divine lessons. The Qur’an addresses both the individual believer and the community, combining exhortation, narrative, law, and theological reflection. It is written in classical Arabic and is highly structured around rhetorical devices, rhythm, and parallelism, which aid memorization and oral recitation. While it is not arranged chronologically, the surahs are traditionally ordered roughly from longest to shortest, and its style emphasizes both the poetic beauty of the language and the authority of its divine message, making it central not only as a religious text but also as a linguistic and cultural cornerstone in the Islamic world.

Mahmud Jalal al‑Din (Mahmud Celaleddin Efendi), who died in 1829, was an Ottoman master calligrapher noted for a distinctive style drawing on earlier masters like Ahmad Qarahisari and Yaqut al‑Musta‘simi; he taught pupils who would serve elite patrons and rulers, and was responsible for fine Qur’anic manuscripts, including a Qur’an commissioned by Sultan ʿAbd al‑ʿAziz’s daughter, indicating his work’s prestige in manuscript and devotional book culture.

“Qur’an” is the modern, academically preferred transliteration from Arabic, reflecting the original pronunciation, while “Koran” is an older European spelling that became common in English. Both refer to the same sacred text; the difference is purely in spelling, not content.

Notes

Brown leather with beautiful illuminated pages throughout. Some swelling that prohibits the enclosure to fasten. Fully intact. Green end papers. Very good condition.