Sana'a Manuscript - Revision history

Lightyears at 14:43, 23 October 2025

2025-10-23T14:43:07Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:43, 23 October 2025
Line 6:		Line 6:
	\|image=Sanaa_Manuscript.jpg		\|image=Sanaa_Manuscript.jpg
	}}		}}
	{{QualityScore\|Lead=3\|Structure=3\|Content=4\|Language=4\|References=4}}		{{QualityScore\|Lead=4\|Structure=3\|Content=4\|Language=4\|References=4}}
	The Sana'a manuscript or Sana'a palimpsest, dubbed Ṣanʿā’ 1 or DAM 01-27.1, is one of the oldest copies of the Quran in existence. It was found in 1972 in the loft of the grand mosque of Sana'a, Yemen, along with many other old manuscripts. A palimpsest is a parchment whose original text has been scraped clean so that it can be reused. After some centuries, a faint trace of the underlying text can sometimes resurface due to metals in the ink. The lower text of the Sana'a palimpsest, which was subsequently overwritten with the standard Uthmanic Quran, is dated to the 7th Century CE and has many variations from that later standard in terms of individual words and phrases. It is the only known surviving example of a Quran manuscript that is not of the Uthmanic text type. It is considered to be a physical exemplar of the kinds of relatively substantial variations reported of the readings and codices of Muhammad's companions before such variety was constrained under Uthman around 650 CE. See the article [[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an#Disagreements_on_the_Qur.27an\|Textual History of the Quran]] for a discussion about how Muslim scholars explain the existence of such variants and the responses of critics.		The Sana'a manuscript or Sana'a palimpsest, dubbed Ṣanʿā’ 1 or DAM 01-27.1, is one of the oldest copies of the Quran in existence. It was found in 1972 in the loft of the grand mosque of Sana'a, Yemen, along with many other old manuscripts. A palimpsest is a parchment whose original text has been scraped clean so that it can be reused. After some centuries, a faint trace of the underlying text can sometimes resurface due to metals in the ink. The lower text of the Sana'a palimpsest, which was subsequently overwritten with the standard Uthmanic Quran, is dated to the 7th Century CE and has many variations from that later standard in terms of individual words and phrases. It is the only known surviving example of a Quran manuscript that is not of the Uthmanic text type. It is considered to be a physical exemplar of the kinds of relatively substantial variations reported of the readings and codices of Muhammad's companions before such variety was constrained under Uthman around 650 CE. See the article [[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an#Disagreements_on_the_Qur.27an\|Textual History of the Quran]] for a discussion about how Muslim scholars explain the existence of such variants and the responses of critics.

	===Notable academic findings===		==Notable academic findings==
	In a 2010 paper based on four parchment leaves (pages or "folios") of the Sana'a palimpsest, each with a front and back side, Behnam Sadeghi applied a methodological approach which suggested that the variants in their sample could plausibly be explained as dictation errors, and that the standard Uthmanic text was probably closer to the original.<ref>Behnam Sadeghi & Uwe Bergmann (2010) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25782619 The Codex of a Companion of the Prophet and the Qurʾān of the Prophet], Arabica. 57(4): 343–436</ref> Revisiting the topic in a 2012 paper transcribing far more folios, Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi identified numerous variants that were also reportedly recited by companions of Muhammad.<ref name="Sadeghi2012">Sadeghi, Behnam; Goudarzi, Mohsen (2012). [https://bible-quran.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Sadeghi-Goudarzi-sana-Origins-of-the-Quran.pdf Ṣan'ā' 1 and the Origins of the Qur'ān]. Der Islam. Berlin: De Gruyter. 87 (1–2): 1–129. doi: 10.1515/islam-2011-0025</ref> Dr Marijn van Putten has noted that in this much larger data set there are variants which Sadeghi's earlier methodology would best explain as being more authentic than we find in the Uthmanic Quran.<ref>[https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1456282308147916802 "The Lower text of the Sanaa Palimpest is exciting to researchers, because its lower text is a non-Uthmanic version of the Quran."] Twitter.com thread by Dr Marijn van Putten - 4 November 2021 [https://web.archive.org/web/20220406173904/https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1456282308147916802 archive]</ref>		In a 2010 paper based on four parchment leaves (pages or "folios") of the Sana'a palimpsest, each with a front and back side, Behnam Sadeghi applied a methodological approach which suggested that the variants in their sample could plausibly be explained as dictation errors, and that the standard Uthmanic text was probably closer to the original.<ref>Behnam Sadeghi & Uwe Bergmann (2010) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25782619 The Codex of a Companion of the Prophet and the Qurʾān of the Prophet], Arabica. 57(4): 343–436</ref> Revisiting the topic in a 2012 paper transcribing far more folios, Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi identified numerous variants that were also reportedly recited by companions of Muhammad.<ref name="Sadeghi2012">Sadeghi, Behnam; Goudarzi, Mohsen (2012). [https://bible-quran.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Sadeghi-Goudarzi-sana-Origins-of-the-Quran.pdf Ṣan'ā' 1 and the Origins of the Qur'ān]. Der Islam. Berlin: De Gruyter. 87 (1–2): 1–129. doi: 10.1515/islam-2011-0025</ref> Dr Marijn van Putten has noted that in this much larger data set there are variants which Sadeghi's earlier methodology would best explain as being more authentic than we find in the Uthmanic Quran.<ref>[https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1456282308147916802 "The Lower text of the Sanaa Palimpest is exciting to researchers, because its lower text is a non-Uthmanic version of the Quran."] Twitter.com thread by Dr Marijn van Putten - 4 November 2021 [https://web.archive.org/web/20220406173904/https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1456282308147916802 archive]</ref>

	Éléonore Cellard, a noted expert on early Quranic manuscripts who studied under Francois Deroche, published in 2021 her detailed study of the physical nature of the manuscript and its folios, demonstrating that it was once a complete Quran codex, with a surah order having some similarites to that reported of the early companion Quran codices of Ubayy b. Ka'b and Ibn Mas'ud.<ref name="Cellard2021">Éléonore Cellard (2021) [https://www.academia.edu/68162838/ The Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices], Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 80(1) doi: 10.1086/713473.</ref> Cellard's paper also includes work by Hythem Sidky identifying verse ranges visible in numerous additional folios (the 'Eastern Library' folios), which are not yet possible to transcribe in detail due to the quality of available photographs.		Éléonore Cellard, a noted expert on early Quranic manuscripts who studied under Francois Deroche, published in 2021 her detailed study of the physical nature of the manuscript and its folios, demonstrating that it was once a complete Quran codex, with a surah order having some similarites to that reported of the early companion Quran codices of Ubayy b. Ka'b and Ibn Mas'ud.<ref name="Cellard2021">Éléonore Cellard (2021) [https://www.academia.edu/68162838/ The Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices], Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 80(1) doi: 10.1086/713473.</ref> Cellard's paper also includes work by Hythem Sidky identifying verse ranges visible in numerous additional folios (the 'Eastern Library' folios), which are not yet possible to transcribe in detail due to the quality of available photographs.

	====Asma Hilali's exercise book thesis====		===Asma Hilali's exercise book thesis===
	Asma Hilali has argued that the lower text of the palimpsest might have actually been a student exercise book, in an attempt to explain the many differences to the standard Uthmanic text. However, leading Quranic manuscript expert Hythem Sidky refers to a paper by Nicolai Sinai for "criticism of her reading of the lower text and overall thesis"<ref>Nicolai Sinai, [https://www.academia.edu/42333408/ Beyond the Cairo Edition: On the Study of Early Qurʾānic Codices] JAOS 140 (2020): 189–204 cited in Sidky, H. (2020) [https://www.academia.edu/49523638/ On the Regionality of Qurʾānic Codices], Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association, 5(1) doi:10.5913/jiqsa.5.2020.a005</ref> and to a paper by another Quranic manuscript expert, Éléonore Cellard, "for a codicological reconstruction of portions of the undertext demonstrating the document’s status as a codex and the product of professional scribes".<ref name="Cellard2021" /> For these reasons Hilali's thesis is now widely considered to be completely untenable.		Asma Hilali has argued that the lower text of the palimpsest might have actually been a student exercise book, in an attempt to explain the many differences to the standard Uthmanic text. However, leading Quranic manuscript expert Hythem Sidky refers to a paper by Nicolai Sinai for "criticism of her reading of the lower text and overall thesis"<ref>Nicolai Sinai, [https://www.academia.edu/42333408/ Beyond the Cairo Edition: On the Study of Early Qurʾānic Codices] JAOS 140 (2020): 189–204 cited in Sidky, H. (2020) [https://www.academia.edu/49523638/ On the Regionality of Qurʾānic Codices], Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association, 5(1) doi:10.5913/jiqsa.5.2020.a005</ref> and to a paper by another Quranic manuscript expert, Éléonore Cellard, "for a codicological reconstruction of portions of the undertext demonstrating the document’s status as a codex and the product of professional scribes".<ref name="Cellard2021" /> For these reasons Hilali's thesis is now widely considered to be completely untenable.

Lightyears: /* Table of variants */ New annotated database was posted on r/academicquran

2025-10-04T00:50:50Z

Table of variants: New annotated database was posted on r/academicquran

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:50, 4 October 2025
Line 18:		Line 18:

	==Table of variants==		==Table of variants==
	This table lists some of the variants in the lower text~~, as~~ described in a lengthy paper by Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi who have studied most of the manuscript folios in detail to reconstruct and analyse it.<ref name="Sadeghi2012" />		This table lists some of the variants in the lower text described in a lengthy paper by Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi, who have studied most of the manuscript folios in detail to reconstruct and analyse it (their list is much longer).<ref name="Sadeghi2012" />

			An online database is also available with annotations and English translation compared with the Uthmanic text for a subset of the variants.<ref>[https://sana-codex-quran.vercel.app/ Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest Variants: A comparative Database] - https://sana-codex-quran.vercel.app/ ([https://web.archive.org/web/20250930135633/https://sana-codex-quran.vercel.app/ archive])</ref>

	{\| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"		{\| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

Asmith at 01:59, 23 May 2025

2025-05-23T01:59:13Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:59, 23 May 2025
Line 1:		Line 1:
			{{#seo:
			\|title=Sana'a Manuscript
			\|title_mode={{{title_mode\|}}}
			\|keywords={{{keywords\|}}}
			\|description={{{description\|}}}
			\|image=Sanaa_Manuscript.jpg
			}}
	{{QualityScore\|Lead=3\|Structure=3\|Content=4\|Language=4\|References=4}}		{{QualityScore\|Lead=3\|Structure=3\|Content=4\|Language=4\|References=4}}


	The Sana'a manuscript or Sana'a palimpsest, dubbed Ṣanʿā’ 1 or DAM 01-27.1, is one of the oldest copies of the Quran in existence. It was found in 1972 in the loft of the grand mosque of Sana'a, Yemen, along with many other old manuscripts. A palimpsest is a parchment whose original text has been scraped clean so that it can be reused. After some centuries, a faint trace of the underlying text can sometimes resurface due to metals in the ink. The lower text of the Sana'a palimpsest, which was subsequently overwritten with the standard Uthmanic Quran, is dated to the 7th Century CE and has many variations from that later standard in terms of individual words and phrases. It is the only known surviving example of a Quran manuscript that is not of the Uthmanic text type. It is considered to be a physical exemplar of the kinds of relatively substantial variations reported of the readings and codices of Muhammad's companions before such variety was constrained under Uthman around 650 CE. See the article [[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an#Disagreements_on_the_Qur.27an\|Textual History of the Quran]] for a discussion about how Muslim scholars explain the existence of such variants and the responses of critics.		The Sana'a manuscript or Sana'a palimpsest, dubbed Ṣanʿā’ 1 or DAM 01-27.1, is one of the oldest copies of the Quran in existence. It was found in 1972 in the loft of the grand mosque of Sana'a, Yemen, along with many other old manuscripts. A palimpsest is a parchment whose original text has been scraped clean so that it can be reused. After some centuries, a faint trace of the underlying text can sometimes resurface due to metals in the ink. The lower text of the Sana'a palimpsest, which was subsequently overwritten with the standard Uthmanic Quran, is dated to the 7th Century CE and has many variations from that later standard in terms of individual words and phrases. It is the only known surviving example of a Quran manuscript that is not of the Uthmanic text type. It is considered to be a physical exemplar of the kinds of relatively substantial variations reported of the readings and codices of Muhammad's companions before such variety was constrained under Uthman around 650 CE. See the article [[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an#Disagreements_on_the_Qur.27an\|Textual History of the Quran]] for a discussion about how Muslim scholars explain the existence of such variants and the responses of critics.

Lightyears at 21:46, 19 May 2025

2025-05-19T21:46:43Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:46, 19 May 2025
Line 5:		Line 5:

	===Notable academic findings===		===Notable academic findings===
	In a 2010 paper based on four parchment leaves (pages or "folios") of the Sana'a palimpsest, each with a front and back side, Behnam Sadeghi applied a methodological approach which suggested that the variants in their sample could plausibly be explained as dictation errors, and that the standard Uthmanic text was probably closer to the original.<ref>Behnam Sadeghi & Uwe Bergmann (2010) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25782619 The Codex of a Companion of the Prophet and the Qurʾān of the Prophet], Arabica. 57(4): 343–436</ref> Revisiting the topic in a 2012 paper transcribing far more folios, Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi identified numerous variants that were also reportedly recited by companions of Muhammad.<ref name="Sadeghi2012">Sadeghi, Behnam; Goudarzi, Mohsen (2012). [https://bible-quran.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Sadeghi-Goudarzi-sana-Origins-of-the-Quran.pdf Ṣan'ā' 1 and the Origins of the Qur'ān]. Der Islam. Berlin: De Gruyter. 87 (1–2): 1–129. doi: 10.1515/islam-2011-0025</ref> ~~Moreover,~~ Dr Marijn van Putten has noted that in this much larger data set there are variants which Sadeghi's earlier methodology would best explain as being more authentic than we find in the Uthmanic Quran.<ref>[https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1456282308147916802 "The Lower text of the Sanaa Palimpest is exciting to researchers, because its lower text is a non-Uthmanic version of the Quran."] Twitter.com thread by Dr Marijn van Putten - 4 November 2021 [https://web.archive.org/web/20220406173904/https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1456282308147916802 archive]</ref>		In a 2010 paper based on four parchment leaves (pages or "folios") of the Sana'a palimpsest, each with a front and back side, Behnam Sadeghi applied a methodological approach which suggested that the variants in their sample could plausibly be explained as dictation errors, and that the standard Uthmanic text was probably closer to the original.<ref>Behnam Sadeghi & Uwe Bergmann (2010) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25782619 The Codex of a Companion of the Prophet and the Qurʾān of the Prophet], Arabica. 57(4): 343–436</ref> Revisiting the topic in a 2012 paper transcribing far more folios, Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi identified numerous variants that were also reportedly recited by companions of Muhammad.<ref name="Sadeghi2012">Sadeghi, Behnam; Goudarzi, Mohsen (2012). [https://bible-quran.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Sadeghi-Goudarzi-sana-Origins-of-the-Quran.pdf Ṣan'ā' 1 and the Origins of the Qur'ān]. Der Islam. Berlin: De Gruyter. 87 (1–2): 1–129. doi: 10.1515/islam-2011-0025</ref> Dr Marijn van Putten has noted that in this much larger data set there are variants which Sadeghi's earlier methodology would best explain as being more authentic than we find in the Uthmanic Quran.<ref>[https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1456282308147916802 "The Lower text of the Sanaa Palimpest is exciting to researchers, because its lower text is a non-Uthmanic version of the Quran."] Twitter.com thread by Dr Marijn van Putten - 4 November 2021 [https://web.archive.org/web/20220406173904/https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1456282308147916802 archive]</ref>

	Éléonore Cellard, a noted expert on early Quranic manuscripts who studied under Francois Deroche, published in 2021 her detailed study of the physical nature of the manuscript and its folios, demonstrating that it was once a complete Quran codex, with a surah order having some similarites to that reported of the early companion Quran codices of Ubayy b. Ka'b and Ibn Mas'ud.<ref name="Cellard2021">Éléonore Cellard (2021) [https://www.academia.edu/68162838/ The Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices], Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 80(1) doi: 10.1086/713473.</ref> Cellard's paper also includes work by Hythem Sidky identifying verse ranges visible in numerous additional folios (the 'Eastern Library' folios), which are not yet possible to transcribe in detail due to the quality of available photographs.		Éléonore Cellard, a noted expert on early Quranic manuscripts who studied under Francois Deroche, published in 2021 her detailed study of the physical nature of the manuscript and its folios, demonstrating that it was once a complete Quran codex, with a surah order having some similarites to that reported of the early companion Quran codices of Ubayy b. Ka'b and Ibn Mas'ud.<ref name="Cellard2021">Éléonore Cellard (2021) [https://www.academia.edu/68162838/ The Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices], Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 80(1) doi: 10.1086/713473.</ref> Cellard's paper also includes work by Hythem Sidky identifying verse ranges visible in numerous additional folios (the 'Eastern Library' folios), which are not yet possible to transcribe in detail due to the quality of available photographs.

CPO675: /* See also */ Added external links on this topic.

2024-11-09T14:45:39Z

See also: Added external links on this topic.

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:45, 9 November 2024
Line 214:		Line 214:

	==See also==		==See also==
	[[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an\|Textual History of the Quran]]
			* [[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an\|Textual History of the Quran]]

			== External Links ==

			* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmd4IAj-oc4 Did the Sanaa Palimpsest Belong to a Companion's Qur'an?] - Exploring the Quran and the Bible - ''YouTube video with professors Sean Anthony and Gabriel Said Reynolds discussing the Sana'a Manuscript''
			* [https://quranvariants.wordpress.com/ Quran Variants] - a website discussing Qur'an variants and providing further resources, including on non-canonical variants

	==References==		==References==

Lightyears at 01:25, 15 March 2023

2023-03-15T01:25:29Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:25, 15 March 2023
Line 2:		Line 2:


	The Sana'a manuscript or Sana'a palimpsest, dubbed Ṣanʿā’ 1 or DAM 01-27.1, is one of the oldest copies of the Quran in existence. It was found in 1972 in the loft of the grand mosque of Sana'a, Yemen, along with many other old manuscripts. A palimpsest is a parchment whose original text has been scraped clean so that it can be reused. After some centuries, a faint trace of the underlying text can sometimes resurface due to metals in the ink. The lower text of the Sana'a palimpsest, which was subsequently overwritten with the standard Uthmanic Quran, is dated to the 7th Century CE and has many variations from that later standard. It is the only known surviving example of a Quran manuscript that is not of the Uthmanic text type. It is considered to be a physical exemplar of the kinds of relatively substantial variations reported of the readings and codices of Muhammad's companions before such variety was constrained under Uthman around 650 CE. See the article [[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an#Disagreements_on_the_Qur.27an\|Textual History of the Quran]] for a discussion about how Muslim scholars explain the existence of such variants and the responses of critics.		The Sana'a manuscript or Sana'a palimpsest, dubbed Ṣanʿā’ 1 or DAM 01-27.1, is one of the oldest copies of the Quran in existence. It was found in 1972 in the loft of the grand mosque of Sana'a, Yemen, along with many other old manuscripts. A palimpsest is a parchment whose original text has been scraped clean so that it can be reused. After some centuries, a faint trace of the underlying text can sometimes resurface due to metals in the ink. The lower text of the Sana'a palimpsest, which was subsequently overwritten with the standard Uthmanic Quran, is dated to the 7th Century CE and has many variations from that later standard in terms of individual words and phrases. It is the only known surviving example of a Quran manuscript that is not of the Uthmanic text type. It is considered to be a physical exemplar of the kinds of relatively substantial variations reported of the readings and codices of Muhammad's companions before such variety was constrained under Uthman around 650 CE. See the article [[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an#Disagreements_on_the_Qur.27an\|Textual History of the Quran]] for a discussion about how Muslim scholars explain the existence of such variants and the responses of critics.

	===Notable academic findings===		===Notable academic findings===

Lightyears at 14:42, 15 November 2022

2022-11-15T14:42:17Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:42, 15 November 2022
Line 5:		Line 5:

	===Notable academic findings===		===Notable academic findings===
	In a 2010 paper based on ~~two~~ parchment "~~leaves~~" of the Sana'a palimpsest ~~(i.e. two pages~~, each with a front and back ~~"folio", or~~ side), Behnam Sadeghi ~~and Uwe Bergmann~~ applied a methodological approach which suggested that the variants in their sample could plausibly be explained as dictation errors, and that the standard Uthmanic text was closer to the original.<ref>Behnam Sadeghi & Uwe Bergmann (2010) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25782619 The Codex of a Companion of the Prophet and the Qurʾān of the Prophet], Arabica. 57(4): 343–436</ref> Revisiting the topic in a 2012 paper transcribing far more folios, Sadeghi identified numerous variants that were also reportedly recited by companions of Muhammad.<ref name="Sadeghi2012">Sadeghi, Behnam; Goudarzi, Mohsen (2012). [https://bible-quran.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Sadeghi-Goudarzi-sana-Origins-of-the-Quran.pdf Ṣan'ā' 1 and the Origins of the Qur'ān]. Der Islam. Berlin: De Gruyter. 87 (1–2): 1–129. doi: 10.1515/islam-2011-0025</ref> Moreover, Dr Marijn van Putten has noted that in this much larger data set there are variants which Sadeghi's earlier methodology would best explain as being more authentic than we find in the Uthmanic Quran.<ref>[https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1456282308147916802 "The Lower text of the Sanaa Palimpest is exciting to researchers, because its lower text is a non-Uthmanic version of the Quran."] Twitter.com thread by Dr Marijn van Putten - 4 November 2021 [https://web.archive.org/web/20220406173904/https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1456282308147916802 archive]</ref>		In a 2010 paper based on four parchment leaves (pages or "folios") of the Sana'a palimpsest, each with a front and back side, Behnam Sadeghi applied a methodological approach which suggested that the variants in their sample could plausibly be explained as dictation errors, and that the standard Uthmanic text was probably closer to the original.<ref>Behnam Sadeghi & Uwe Bergmann (2010) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25782619 The Codex of a Companion of the Prophet and the Qurʾān of the Prophet], Arabica. 57(4): 343–436</ref> Revisiting the topic in a 2012 paper transcribing far more folios, Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi identified numerous variants that were also reportedly recited by companions of Muhammad.<ref name="Sadeghi2012">Sadeghi, Behnam; Goudarzi, Mohsen (2012). [https://bible-quran.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Sadeghi-Goudarzi-sana-Origins-of-the-Quran.pdf Ṣan'ā' 1 and the Origins of the Qur'ān]. Der Islam. Berlin: De Gruyter. 87 (1–2): 1–129. doi: 10.1515/islam-2011-0025</ref> Moreover, Dr Marijn van Putten has noted that in this much larger data set there are variants which Sadeghi's earlier methodology would best explain as being more authentic than we find in the Uthmanic Quran.<ref>[https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1456282308147916802 "The Lower text of the Sanaa Palimpest is exciting to researchers, because its lower text is a non-Uthmanic version of the Quran."] Twitter.com thread by Dr Marijn van Putten - 4 November 2021 [https://web.archive.org/web/20220406173904/https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1456282308147916802 archive]</ref>

	Éléonore Cellard, a noted expert on early Quranic manuscripts who studied under Francois Deroche, published in 2021 her detailed study of the physical nature of the manuscript and its folios, demonstrating that it was once a complete Quran codex, with a surah order having some similarites to that reported of the early companion Quran codices of Ubayy b. Ka'b and Ibn Mas'ud.<ref name="Cellard2021">Éléonore Cellard (2021) [https://www.academia.edu/68162838/ The Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices], Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 80(1) doi: 10.1086/713473.</ref> Cellard's paper also includes work by Hythem Sidky identifying verse ranges visible in numerous additional folios (the 'Eastern Library' folios), which are not yet possible to transcribe in detail due to the quality of available photographs.		Éléonore Cellard, a noted expert on early Quranic manuscripts who studied under Francois Deroche, published in 2021 her detailed study of the physical nature of the manuscript and its folios, demonstrating that it was once a complete Quran codex, with a surah order having some similarites to that reported of the early companion Quran codices of Ubayy b. Ka'b and Ibn Mas'ud.<ref name="Cellard2021">Éléonore Cellard (2021) [https://www.academia.edu/68162838/ The Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices], Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 80(1) doi: 10.1086/713473.</ref> Cellard's paper also includes work by Hythem Sidky identifying verse ranges visible in numerous additional folios (the 'Eastern Library' folios), which are not yet possible to transcribe in detail due to the quality of available photographs.

	====Asma Hilali's thesis ~~that Sana'a 1 was just a practise book~~====		====Asma Hilali's exercise book thesis====
	Asma Hilali has argued that the lower text of the palimpsest might have actually been a student exercise book, in an attempt to explain the many differences to the standard Uthmanic text. However, leading Quranic manuscript expert Hythem Sidky refers to a paper by Nicolai Sinai for "criticism of her reading of the lower text and overall thesis"<ref>Nicolai Sinai, [https://www.academia.edu/42333408/ Beyond the Cairo Edition: On the Study of Early Qurʾānic Codices] JAOS 140 (2020): 189–204 cited in Sidky, H. (2020) [https://www.academia.edu/49523638/ On the Regionality of Qurʾānic Codices], Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association, 5(1) doi:10.5913/jiqsa.5.2020.a005</ref> and to a paper by another Quranic manuscript expert, Éléonore Cellard, "for a codicological reconstruction of portions of the undertext demonstrating the document’s status as a codex and the product of professional scribes".<ref name="Cellard2021" /> For these reasons Hilali's thesis is now widely considered to be completely untenable.		Asma Hilali has argued that the lower text of the palimpsest might have actually been a student exercise book, in an attempt to explain the many differences to the standard Uthmanic text. However, leading Quranic manuscript expert Hythem Sidky refers to a paper by Nicolai Sinai for "criticism of her reading of the lower text and overall thesis"<ref>Nicolai Sinai, [https://www.academia.edu/42333408/ Beyond the Cairo Edition: On the Study of Early Qurʾānic Codices] JAOS 140 (2020): 189–204 cited in Sidky, H. (2020) [https://www.academia.edu/49523638/ On the Regionality of Qurʾānic Codices], Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association, 5(1) doi:10.5913/jiqsa.5.2020.a005</ref> and to a paper by another Quranic manuscript expert, Éléonore Cellard, "for a codicological reconstruction of portions of the undertext demonstrating the document’s status as a codex and the product of professional scribes".<ref name="Cellard2021" /> For these reasons Hilali's thesis is now widely considered to be completely untenable.

	==Table of variants==		==Table of variants==
	This table lists some of the variants in the lower text, as described in a ~~lenghty~~ paper by Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi who have studied most of the manuscript folios in detail to reconstruct and analyse it.<ref name="Sadeghi2012" />		This table lists some of the variants in the lower text, as described in a lengthy paper by Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi who have studied most of the manuscript folios in detail to reconstruct and analyse it.<ref name="Sadeghi2012" />

	{\| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"		{\| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

Lightyears at 21:21, 14 November 2022

2022-11-14T21:21:21Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:21, 14 November 2022
Line 1:		Line 1:
	{{QualityScore\|Lead=1\|Structure=1\|Content=4\|Language=4\|References=1}}		{{QualityScore\|Lead=3\|Structure=3\|Content=4\|Language=4\|References=4}}


	The Sana'a manuscript or Sana'a palimpsest, dubbed Ṣanʿā’ 1, is one of the oldest copies of the Quran in existence. ~~Its~~ lower text, subsequently overwritten, is dated to the 7th Century CE and has many variations from ~~the~~ standard ~~Qur'an~~. It is the only known surviving example of a Quran manuscript that is not of the Uthmanic text type. It is considered to be a physical exemplar of the kinds of relatively substantial variations reported of the readings and codices of Muhammad's companions before such variety was constrained under Uthman around 650 CE. See the article [[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an#Disagreements_on_the_Qur.27an\|Textual History of the Quran]] for a discussion about how Muslim scholars explain the existence of such variants and the responses of critics.		The Sana'a manuscript or Sana'a palimpsest, dubbed Ṣanʿā’ 1 or DAM 01-27.1, is one of the oldest copies of the Quran in existence. It was found in 1972 in the loft of the grand mosque of Sana'a, Yemen, along with many other old manuscripts. A palimpsest is a parchment whose original text has been scraped clean so that it can be reused. After some centuries, a faint trace of the underlying text can sometimes resurface due to metals in the ink. The lower text of the Sana'a palimpsest, which was subsequently overwritten with the standard Uthmanic Quran, is dated to the 7th Century CE and has many variations from that later standard. It is the only known surviving example of a Quran manuscript that is not of the Uthmanic text type. It is considered to be a physical exemplar of the kinds of relatively substantial variations reported of the readings and codices of Muhammad's companions before such variety was constrained under Uthman around 650 CE. See the article [[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an#Disagreements_on_the_Qur.27an\|Textual History of the Quran]] for a discussion about how Muslim scholars explain the existence of such variants and the responses of critics.

	~~This table lists some~~ of the ~~variants in the lower text~~, ~~as described in~~ a ~~lenghty paper by~~ Behnam Sadeghi and ~~Mohsen Goudarzi who have studied~~ the ~~manuscript folios~~ in ~~detail~~ to ~~reconstruct~~ and ~~analyse it~~.<ref>Sadeghi, Behnam; Goudarzi, Mohsen (2012). [https://bible-quran.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Sadeghi-Goudarzi-sana-Origins-of-the-Quran.pdf Ṣan'ā' 1 and the Origins of the Qur'ān]. Der Islam. Berlin: De Gruyter. 87 (1–2): 1–129. doi: 10.1515/islam-2011-0025</ref> Asma Hilali has argued that the lower text of the palimpsest might have actually been a student exercise book, in an attempt to explain the many differences to the standard Uthmanic text. However, leading Quranic manuscript expert Hythem Sidky refers to a paper by Nicolai Sinai for "criticism of her reading of the lower text and overall thesis"<ref>Nicolai Sinai, [https://www.academia.edu/42333408/ Beyond the Cairo Edition: On the Study of Early Qurʾānic Codices] JAOS 140 (2020): 189–204 cited in Sidky, H. (2020) [https://www.academia.edu/49523638/ On the Regionality of Qurʾānic Codices], Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association, 5(1) doi:10.5913/jiqsa.5.2020.a005</ref> and to a paper by another Quranic manuscript expert, Éléonore Cellard, "for a codicological reconstruction of portions of the undertext demonstrating the document’s status as a codex and the product of professional scribes". <ref~~>Éléonore Cellard (2021) [https://www.academia.edu/68162838/ The Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices], Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 80(1) doi: 10.1086/713473.<~~/~~ref~~>For these reasons Hilali's thesis is now widely considered to be completely untenable.		===Notable academic findings===
			In a 2010 paper based on two parchment "leaves" of the Sana'a palimpsest (i.e. two pages, each with a front and back "folio", or side), Behnam Sadeghi and Uwe Bergmann applied a methodological approach which suggested that the variants in their sample could plausibly be explained as dictation errors, and that the standard Uthmanic text was closer to the original.<ref>Behnam Sadeghi & Uwe Bergmann (2010) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25782619 The Codex of a Companion of the Prophet and the Qurʾān of the Prophet], Arabica. 57(4): 343–436</ref> Revisiting the topic in a 2012 paper transcribing far more folios, Sadeghi identified numerous variants that were also reportedly recited by companions of Muhammad.<ref name="Sadeghi2012">Sadeghi, Behnam; Goudarzi, Mohsen (2012). [https://bible-quran.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Sadeghi-Goudarzi-sana-Origins-of-the-Quran.pdf Ṣan'ā' 1 and the Origins of the Qur'ān]. Der Islam. Berlin: De Gruyter. 87 (1–2): 1–129. doi: 10.1515/islam-2011-0025</ref> Moreover, Dr Marijn van Putten has noted that in this much larger data set there are variants which Sadeghi's earlier methodology would best explain as being more authentic than we find in the Uthmanic Quran.<ref>[https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1456282308147916802 "The Lower text of the Sanaa Palimpest is exciting to researchers, because its lower text is a non-Uthmanic version of the Quran."] Twitter.com thread by Dr Marijn van Putten - 4 November 2021 [https://web.archive.org/web/20220406173904/https://twitter.com/PhDniX/status/1456282308147916802 archive]</ref>

			Éléonore Cellard, a noted expert on early Quranic manuscripts who studied under Francois Deroche, published in 2021 her detailed study of the physical nature of the manuscript and its folios, demonstrating that it was once a complete Quran codex, with a surah order having some similarites to that reported of the early companion Quran codices of Ubayy b. Ka'b and Ibn Mas'ud.<ref name="Cellard2021">Éléonore Cellard (2021) [https://www.academia.edu/68162838/ The Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices], Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 80(1) doi: 10.1086/713473.</ref> Cellard's paper also includes work by Hythem Sidky identifying verse ranges visible in numerous additional folios (the 'Eastern Library' folios), which are not yet possible to transcribe in detail due to the quality of available photographs.

			====Asma Hilali's thesis that Sana'a 1 was just a practise book====
			Asma Hilali has argued that the lower text of the palimpsest might have actually been a student exercise book, in an attempt to explain the many differences to the standard Uthmanic text. However, leading Quranic manuscript expert Hythem Sidky refers to a paper by Nicolai Sinai for "criticism of her reading of the lower text and overall thesis"<ref>Nicolai Sinai, [https://www.academia.edu/42333408/ Beyond the Cairo Edition: On the Study of Early Qurʾānic Codices] JAOS 140 (2020): 189–204 cited in Sidky, H. (2020) [https://www.academia.edu/49523638/ On the Regionality of Qurʾānic Codices], Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association, 5(1) doi:10.5913/jiqsa.5.2020.a005</ref> and to a paper by another Quranic manuscript expert, Éléonore Cellard, "for a codicological reconstruction of portions of the undertext demonstrating the document’s status as a codex and the product of professional scribes".<ref name="Cellard2021" /> For these reasons Hilali's thesis is now widely considered to be completely untenable.

			==Table of variants==
			This table lists some of the variants in the lower text, as described in a lenghty paper by Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi who have studied most of the manuscript folios in detail to reconstruct and analyse it.<ref name="Sadeghi2012" />

	{\| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"		{\| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
Line 204:		Line 213:
	\|}		\|}

			==See also==
			[[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an\|Textual History of the Quran]]

			==References==
			<references />
	[[Category:Qur'an]]		[[Category:Qur'an]]
	[[Category: Qur'anic textual history]]		[[Category: Qur'anic textual history]]

Lightyears at 19:46, 1 July 2022

2022-07-01T19:46:43Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:46, 1 July 2022
Line 4:		Line 4:
	The Sana'a manuscript or Sana'a palimpsest, dubbed Ṣanʿā’ 1, is one of the oldest copies of the Quran in existence. Its lower text, subsequently overwritten, is dated to the 7th Century CE and has many variations from the standard Qur'an. It is the only known surviving example of a Quran manuscript that is not of the Uthmanic text type. It is considered to be a physical exemplar of the kinds of relatively substantial variations reported of the readings and codices of Muhammad's companions before such variety was constrained under Uthman around 650 CE. See the article [[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an#Disagreements_on_the_Qur.27an\|Textual History of the Quran]] for a discussion about how Muslim scholars explain the existence of such variants and the responses of critics.		The Sana'a manuscript or Sana'a palimpsest, dubbed Ṣanʿā’ 1, is one of the oldest copies of the Quran in existence. Its lower text, subsequently overwritten, is dated to the 7th Century CE and has many variations from the standard Qur'an. It is the only known surviving example of a Quran manuscript that is not of the Uthmanic text type. It is considered to be a physical exemplar of the kinds of relatively substantial variations reported of the readings and codices of Muhammad's companions before such variety was constrained under Uthman around 650 CE. See the article [[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an#Disagreements_on_the_Qur.27an\|Textual History of the Quran]] for a discussion about how Muslim scholars explain the existence of such variants and the responses of critics.

	This table lists some of the variants in the lower text, as described in a lenghty paper by Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi who have studied the manuscript folios in detail to reconstruct and analyse it.<ref>Sadeghi, Behnam; Goudarzi, Mohsen (2012). "Ṣan'ā' 1 and the Origins of the Qur'ān". Der Islam. Berlin: De Gruyter. 87 (1–2): 1–129. doi: 10.1515/islam-2011-0025</ref> Asma Hilali has argued that the lower text of the palimpsest might have actually been a student exercise book, in an attempt to explain the many differences to the standard Uthmanic text. However, leading Quranic manuscript expert Hythem Sidky refers to a paper by Nicolai Sinai for "criticism of her reading of the lower text and overall thesis"<ref>Nicolai Sinai, ~~“Beyond~~ the Cairo Edition: On the Study of Early Qurʾānic Codices,” JAOS 140 (2020): 189–204 cited in Sidky, H. (2020) "On the Regionality of Qurʾānic Codices", Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association, 5(1) doi:10.5913/jiqsa.5.2020.a005</ref> and to a paper by another Quranic manuscript expert, Éléonore Cellard, "for a codicological reconstruction of portions of the undertext demonstrating the document’s status as a codex and the product of professional scribes". <ref>Éléonore Cellard (2021) "The Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 80(1) doi: 10.1086/713473.</ref>For these reasons Hilali's thesis is now widely considered to be completely untenable.		This table lists some of the variants in the lower text, as described in a lenghty paper by Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi who have studied the manuscript folios in detail to reconstruct and analyse it.<ref>Sadeghi, Behnam; Goudarzi, Mohsen (2012). [https://bible-quran.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Sadeghi-Goudarzi-sana-Origins-of-the-Quran.pdf Ṣan'ā' 1 and the Origins of the Qur'ān]. Der Islam. Berlin: De Gruyter. 87 (1–2): 1–129. doi: 10.1515/islam-2011-0025</ref> Asma Hilali has argued that the lower text of the palimpsest might have actually been a student exercise book, in an attempt to explain the many differences to the standard Uthmanic text. However, leading Quranic manuscript expert Hythem Sidky refers to a paper by Nicolai Sinai for "criticism of her reading of the lower text and overall thesis"<ref>Nicolai Sinai, [https://www.academia.edu/42333408/ Beyond the Cairo Edition: On the Study of Early Qurʾānic Codices] JAOS 140 (2020): 189–204 cited in Sidky, H. (2020) [https://www.academia.edu/49523638/ On the Regionality of Qurʾānic Codices], Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association, 5(1) doi:10.5913/jiqsa.5.2020.a005</ref> and to a paper by another Quranic manuscript expert, Éléonore Cellard, "for a codicological reconstruction of portions of the undertext demonstrating the document’s status as a codex and the product of professional scribes". <ref>Éléonore Cellard (2021) [https://www.academia.edu/68162838/ The Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices], Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 80(1) doi: 10.1086/713473.</ref>For these reasons Hilali's thesis is now widely considered to be completely untenable.

	{\| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"		{\| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

Lightyears at 18:31, 23 August 2021

2021-08-23T18:31:13Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:31, 23 August 2021
Line 4:		Line 4:
	The Sana'a manuscript or Sana'a palimpsest, dubbed Ṣanʿā’ 1, is one of the oldest copies of the Quran in existence. Its lower text, subsequently overwritten, is dated to the 7th Century CE and has many variations from the standard Qur'an. It is the only known surviving example of a Quran manuscript that is not of the Uthmanic text type. It is considered to be a physical exemplar of the kinds of relatively substantial variations reported of the readings and codices of Muhammad's companions before such variety was constrained under Uthman around 650 CE. See the article [[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an#Disagreements_on_the_Qur.27an\|Textual History of the Quran]] for a discussion about how Muslim scholars explain the existence of such variants and the responses of critics.		The Sana'a manuscript or Sana'a palimpsest, dubbed Ṣanʿā’ 1, is one of the oldest copies of the Quran in existence. Its lower text, subsequently overwritten, is dated to the 7th Century CE and has many variations from the standard Qur'an. It is the only known surviving example of a Quran manuscript that is not of the Uthmanic text type. It is considered to be a physical exemplar of the kinds of relatively substantial variations reported of the readings and codices of Muhammad's companions before such variety was constrained under Uthman around 650 CE. See the article [[Textual_History_of_the_Qur%27an#Disagreements_on_the_Qur.27an\|Textual History of the Quran]] for a discussion about how Muslim scholars explain the existence of such variants and the responses of critics.

	This table lists some of the variants in the lower text, as described in a lenghty paper by Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi who have studied the manuscript folios in detail to reconstruct and analyse it.<ref>Sadeghi, Behnam; Goudarzi, Mohsen (2012). "Ṣan'ā' 1 and the Origins of the Qur'ān". Der Islam. Berlin: De Gruyter. 87 (1–2): 1–129. doi: 10.1515/islam-2011-0025</ref> Asma Hilali has argued that the lower text of the palimpsest ~~was~~ actually a ~~kind of~~ student ~~scrap~~ book, in an attempt to explain the many differences to the standard Uthmanic text. ~~While~~ her ~~theory was already widely rejected by scholars such an Marijn van Putten~~ and ~~Hythem~~ Sidky, ~~it is now considered completely untenable by~~ the ~~work~~ of manuscript expert Éléonore Cellard, ~~who has proven that it formed~~ a ~~complete~~ codex.<ref>Éléonore Cellard (2021) The Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 80(1) doi: 10.1086/713473.</ref>		This table lists some of the variants in the lower text, as described in a lenghty paper by Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi who have studied the manuscript folios in detail to reconstruct and analyse it.<ref>Sadeghi, Behnam; Goudarzi, Mohsen (2012). "Ṣan'ā' 1 and the Origins of the Qur'ān". Der Islam. Berlin: De Gruyter. 87 (1–2): 1–129. doi: 10.1515/islam-2011-0025</ref> Asma Hilali has argued that the lower text of the palimpsest might have actually been a student exercise book, in an attempt to explain the many differences to the standard Uthmanic text. However, leading Quranic manuscript expert Hythem Sidky refers to a paper by Nicolai Sinai for "criticism of her reading of the lower text and overall thesis"<ref>Nicolai Sinai, “Beyond the Cairo Edition: On the Study of Early Qurʾānic Codices,” JAOS 140 (2020): 189–204 cited in Sidky, H. (2020) "On the Regionality of Qurʾānic Codices", Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association, 5(1) doi:10.5913/jiqsa.5.2020.a005</ref> and to a paper by another Quranic manuscript expert, Éléonore Cellard, "for a codicological reconstruction of portions of the undertext demonstrating the document’s status as a codex and the product of professional scribes". <ref>Éléonore Cellard (2021) "The Ṣanʿāʾ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices", Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 80(1) doi: 10.1086/713473.</ref>For these reasons Hilali's thesis is now widely considered to be completely untenable.

	{\| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"		{\| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"