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QUR’AN PAGE The Qur’an, the Holy Book of Islam, is never illustrated. However, it is often highly decorated with marginal palmates motifs, medallions, verse markers and sura headings. Gold and blue are favored colors for decoration because they represent the heavens and the stars. This eleventh century Qur’an leaf is written in an elegant calligraphy, fully marked with vowels as Qur’ans always are. Bear in mind that this is Arabic and read from right to left. The round disc-like decorations within the text are verse markers. The wide gold band near the bottom is a heading, introducing a new sura, or chapter. The decorative medallion at the left end of the heading says “Allah”. Under the sura heading, the first words are the bismillah, or bism allah al-rahman al-rahim, which begins almost every sura. It means: “In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.” |
Qur'an page. 11th century |
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