World's largest Qur'an unveiled in Afghanistan

[Al-zakir]

World's largest Qur'an unveiled in Afghanistan

Calligrapher created the 500kg book to show that his country's rich cultural heritage and traditions had survived the war

Tuesday 17 January 2012 13.00 EST Article history

Mohammad Sabir Khedri, fourth from left, shows Afghan officials the Qur'an he spent five years working on. Photograph: Mohammad Ismail/Reuters

A calligrapher worked for five years to create the world's biggest Qur'an in a bid to show the world that Afghanistan's rich cultural heritage and traditions have been damaged but not destroyed by 30 years of war, it has been revealed.

The lavish book, with pages measuring 2.28 metres by 1.55 metres, has been certified as the world's largest by the Afghan ministry of Haj and religious affairs, according to the Kabul cultural centre that houses it.

The previous claim to the title was for a copy unveiled last year in Russia's Tatarstan region.

The Afghan Qur'an weighs 500kg and its 218 pages of cloth and paper, bound inside an embossed leather cover made from the skins of 21 goats, cost over £300,000 to create.

Mohammad Sabir Khedri, the master calligrapher behind the project, worked with nine students on a design that combines gold script with millions of tiny colourful dots, forming highly symbolic decorations around the giant pages.

"I wanted to use as many tasteful colours as possible to make this holy book look beautiful," he said, standing beside his enormous creation in a room built specially to house it.

Khedri not only created the masterpiece, he managed to keep it a secret for over two years. It was finished in 2009, but the binding and room to house it were not ready until the start of 2012, when it was finally unveiled.

The Qur'an is housed in a cultural centre originally founded in the 1980s, and once home to 50,000 books, a medical centre, and schools for Afghan crafts such as carpet weaving.

All of that was destroyed during the civil war that followed the 1989 withdrawal of Soviet troops, and the harsh Taliban rule from 1996.

But its founder revived the centre after the 2001 ousting of the hardline government, and his daughter – member of parliament Farkhunda Zahra Naderi – now also helps support its work and manages a much smaller library.

"The cultural centre is proud that it provided this opportunity for an Afghan artist to actually show his talent to the world … We have Afghan people who show the positive aspect of Islam," Naderi told Reuters.

The giant Qur'an was her father's dream and a project he devoted himself to for years, Naderi said.

"Writing the Qur'an is a privilege, and … of course if you can make the biggest Qur'an everyone wants to do it, because they want to show the feeling they have, the biggest feeling inside their heart," Naderi said of the project.

But as a devout Muslim, Khedri said he would welcome ceding his moment in the spotlight to an even larger Qur'an made by someone else.

"I will be happier if someone else makes a bigger Qur'an. It is serving Islam," he said with a smile.


World's largest Qur'an unveiled in Afghanistan | World news | guardian.co.uk

---------- Post added at 10:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:09 PM ----------

 

[SenLin]

"Calligrapher created the 500kg book to show that his country's rich cultural heritage and traditions had survived the war."

Well, good for them.
But i wish they could say that about the Buddhas of Bamiyan too.

 

[Quasar]

what matters is "what is written" i.e "the idea" like any other book, not the weight or the size of the book!!!

 

[BelligerentPacifist]

The statues of Bamiyan were worthless, this bookform is worthless (except by intentions to its makers), all culture is worthless. There's absolutely no problem in eliminating signs of culture - tear down the stone men and burn the book.

The Qur'an was never meant to be written in big books if we don't listen to it.

 

[Gold1010]

ITS A GIANT !!!

 

[Leader]

what matters is "what is written" i.e "the idea" like any other book, not the weight or the size of the book!!!

its actually more display of Calligraphy; the ART

got it?

 

[DarkPrince]

super.............

 

[Quasar]

its actually more display of Calligraphy; the ART

got it?

No! I dont got it

 

[shuntmaster]

The Compilation of the Qur'an

The Qur'an was written down from the earliest time.

Posted: 16 Muharram 1423, 31 March 2002

The Qur'an is the Holy Book of Islam. It is the word of God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, over a period of 23 years (from 610 to 633 CE) through the angel Jibreel (Gabriel). The Qur'an is still in its original form as it was revealed to Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam.

During the time of Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, the Qur'an was mainly preserved through memorization. Hundreds of Companions of the Prophet, were huffaz, or memorizers of the whole Qur'an and had memorized the Qur'an without any mistakes. But the Qur'an was also preserved through writing.

Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, made special arrangements to have it written down. When Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, used to receive a revelation, he dictated it to a Companion, who wrote it down on anything that was available: bark, stone, bones, leaves, etc. The companion then read, what he had written, to the Prophet. If there were any mistakes, Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, would correct it and then let it be brought before everyone. Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, also told the order of the verses, etc, and they were written accordingly.

So, in the days of the Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, one copy of the Qur’an existed of what he had gotten written under his personal supervision. It was not in book form but in different parchments. Other Companions also had collections of the Qur'an for their personal record but no standard copy of the Qur'an in book form existed.

Hadith About Reading From a Transcript

Some people argue that the Qur'an was not written at all during the time of Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam. This is not true as there are many Hadith, or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, that indicate that the Qur'an did exist in written form during the time of Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam. For example, the Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, has said:

“If anyone recites the Qur'an without seeing the transcription, the reward is one thousand times, and if he reads it from the transcription, the reward is two thousand times.”

This Hadith shows that Companions did possess written copies of the Quran during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam.

Compilation in the Khilafah of Abu Bakr

After Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, died in 633 CE, Sayyidna Abu Bakr, Radi-Allahu anhu, became the Khalifah (caliph). The need of the compilation of the whole Qur’an in the form of a Book was seen. In the battle of Yamamah and other battles, many huffaz were martyred. Sayyidna Umar, Radi-Allahu anhu, noticed this and went to the Khalifah, and told him about this matter. At first Sayyidna Abu Bakr, Radi-Allahu anhu, hesitated in doing something that the Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, hadn’t done but then, seeing the importance of this, he agreed.

Then Sayyidna Zayd bin Thabit, Radi-Allahu anhu, was called. Hazrat Zayd bin Thabit, Radi-Allahu anhu, used to write the Qur'an for the Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, during his time. At first, Sayyidna Zayd, Radi-Allahu anhu, refused to do so but then, he, too, agreed.

The compilation of the Qur'an started, with Sayyidna Zayd bin Thabit, Radi-Allahu anhu, in charge. Lots of companions, including himself had memorized the whole Qur'an and so the Qur'an could have easily been written down from memory. There were also complete collections of the verses of the Holy Qur'an available with many companions. But Sayyidna Zayd bin Thabit, Radi-Allahu anhu, knew he had to be careful. He used both methods by collecting verses that were written during the time of Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam and also using memory. He followed four steps.

First he verified the verse with his own memory.

Sayyidna Umar, Radi-Allahu anhu, who was a Hafiz, was also in charge of the project and he verified it, too.

Then, before the verse could be accepted, the two reliable witnesses had to testify that it was written in the presence of Prophet Muhammad Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam.

After that, written verses were collated with the collections of different Companions.

The purpose of this method was so that the utmost care be taken in the transcription of the Qur'an, and rather then rely on memory, it should be transcribed from verses that were written in the presence of the Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam.

It was this way that the Qur'an was compiled. In this copy, all Surahs were written separately. The purpose of this transcription was to prepare an organized document with the endorsement of the whole Ummah so that reference could be made to it when required. The transcripts stayed with Sayyidna Abu Bakr, Radi-Allahu anhu. After his death in 634 CE they were passed on to the second Khalifah Sayyidna Umar, Radi-Allahu anhu. And after Sayyidna Umar, Radi-Allahu anhu, they were given to his daughter, Hazrat Hafsah, Radi-Allahu anha.

Compilation in the Khilafah of Sayyidna Uthman

When Sayyidna Uthman, Radi-Allahu anhu, became Khalifah in 644 CE, Islam had spread to far areas such as Iran and Byzantine. People who accepted Islam learned how to read the Qur'an from Muslim soldiers, traders and other Muslims. There are seven different ways to recite the Qur'an and different Companions had learned it from the Holy Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, in different recitals. People though that only their way of reciting was correct and started disputing with other people. Sayyidna Uthman, Radi-Allahu anhu, accomplished the feat of making the Qur'an’s recitation standard.

First, Sayyidna Uthman, Radi-Allahu anhu, borrowed the first copy of the Holy Qur'an from Hafsah, Radi-Allahu anha. He then formed a group of four companions, Sayyidna Zayd bin Thabit, Abdullah bin Zubayr, Saeed ibn al Aas, and Abdur Rahman bin Harith Radi-Allahu anhuma. The group had the task of making transcripts of the original copy and also to put the Surahs in sequence. Other companions were also called upon to help them.

After having these standard transcripts prepared, all other transcripts were burnt, so that all copies of the Qur'an become uniform in script and the sequence of Surahs, leaving no room for differences. The copy produced by Sayyidna Uthman, Radi-Allahu anhu, is still extant. All copies of the Qur'an available today in the world are exactly identical to the Uthmani Version, which was completed less than twenty years after the death of Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam.

Later some improvements were made in the Arabic script, like the adding of dots and diacritical marks, to make it easier for non-Arabs to read, but of course, the text of the Qur'an has remained, and will remain the same forever.