Refine your search

The results of your search are listed below alongside the search terms you entered on the previous page. You can refine your search by amending any of the parameters in the form and resubmitting it.

Select all Deselect all Add selection to lightbox
Large Small
Thumbnails per page
Al-Mu'izz ibn Badis (1008–1062) was the fourth ruler of the Zirids in Ifriqiya, reigning from 1016 to 1062.<br/><br/> He is considered to be the author of the <i>Kitab umdat al kuttab wa uddat dhawi al-albab</i> ('Staff of the Scribes') on the preparation of types of inks, the preparation of coloured inks, metallic inks, the colouring of dyes and mixtures, secret writing and the making of paper.
Fabriano in central Italy was the first European centre of paper-making, developed after 1296 CE. Miliani also introduced the watermark technique. The technology for pulping and pressing paper in this 15th century factory was not dissimilar to Chinese paper mills some 16 centuries earlier.
The texts in the stylized headings on the top and bottom of the illustration indicate the chapters and the year of the work, 1307. The inscription in the centre reads: ‘Ahmad ibn al-Suhrawardi al-Bakri [the calligrapher’s name], who thanks God and sends prayers and greetings to the Prophet Muhammed, his family and companions’.
The page is one of 2,000 similar folios that make up this copy of the Qur’an, which is bound in 30 volumes, one for reading each day of the month.
The Cairo Geniza is an accumulation of almost 280,000 Jewish manuscript fragments that were found in the ‘genizah’, or store room, of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, presently Old Cairo. The documents were written from about 870 CE to as late as 1880.
The zigzagged text in the margins is a continuation of the manuscript written to economize on the use of expensive imported paper. The Qur’an (literally “the recitation”) is the main religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur’an to be the verbal divine guidance and moral direction for mankind. Muslims also consider the original Arabic verbal text to be the final revelation of God. Muslims believe that the Qur’an was revealed from God to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel from 610 to 632 CE, the year of the Prophet’s death. Muhammad recited the Qur’an to his thousands of followers, who recited it until they had memorized it. He also dictated it to his scribes (Muhammad is said to have been illiterate) who wrote down its verses during his life. Shortly after Muhammad's death the Qur’an was established textually into a single book form by the order of the first Caliph Abu Bakr.