SARAJEVO MUSHAF TRANSCRIBED BY AHMAD RIFQI ŠEHOVIĆ IN 1748

The holding of manuscripts in the Oriental Institute, previously one of important repositories with over five thousand hand-written codices, presently stores somewhat fewer than a hundred. Among other manuscripts in Arabica, it stores nineteen manuscripts of the Qur'an and its fragments, the oldest known copy of which dates back from the ninth month of 1573. We know the names of seven transcribers but, unfortunately, we do not know the name of any of the illuminators. Although, at present, the Islamic world knows of books where a single master worked both as a calligrapher and an illuminator, we consider the assumption that transcribers in Bosnia and Herzegovina were also illuminators and/or miniaturists as untenable. Design of manuscripts required certain skills, with clearly divided tasks and jobs. Quite often, several people worked on a single manuscript, and the most representative pages were reserved for the most skillful among them.

Mushaf transcribed by Ahmad Rifqi, also known as Šayḫ-zade (Šehović), a student of Muhammad Saʻid, known as Barbar-zade (Berberović) from 1162/1748 is the only copy of richly illuminated manuscripts of the Qur'an from the holdings of the Oriental Institute, stored under the shelf mark R 49. It is a book of a small size, with a total of three hundred and forty leaves of fine paper.

The text was written by a skillful hand, calligraphically and in small letters, with fifteen lines on almost all the pages. The Qur'anic text was written in black ink, with marks above in the red color. Ornamental parts which mark the end of an ayat are filled with gold. The first page of the frontispiece reflects on the second one. They are richly filled with golden color, particularly in unvans (headings) and decorative borders of geometric type. Above the part of the unvan which consists of the text written in white ink, a space rises in the form of pointed segmental arch from which tendrils spread. Within it, there are densely intertwined floral ornaments which spread all the way to a thin, dividing borders, which enclose another, smaller segmental arch filled with dark-blue color in the middle of unvan. The Qur’anic text is positioned between two equally designed rectangles on both pages, thus framing the introductory Qur’anic surah on the first – right page, and the first five ayats of surah Al-Baqarah on the second, left page. The entire composition is bordered with several broader and narrower borders which alternate in different colors: orange, golden, black, blue and red.

In the following part, the Qur’anic text is distributed in fifteen lines on a page bordered with a broad golden border, which is accompanied with thin black and red lines. By some parts of the Text, at the place which requires a certain note, multicolored medallions are painted, forty-one of them in total. The text in them is written subtly: in white or black ink on golden background. Each of them is designed differently, using floral motifs, at some places stylized, mostly using golden, dark-blue and orange ink. Green, pink, red and light-blue ink were used much less frequently. The number of unvans which mark the beginning of each surah is one hundred and fourteen, which corresponds to the number of the Qur’anic chapters. They are positioned within rectangles, the size and the composition of which corresponds to those on the frontispiece. The palette of the used colors is identical to one in medallions. There is n doubt that all the illuminated parts of the mushaf were created by the same hand. Thus, the illuminated parts serve to enhance the Text: to divide it, make it simpler and easier to use, as much as they serve to enrich it.

The mushaf has a leather binding with a flap (miklab). In the middle of the cover there are golden imprinted medallions, the surface of which is filled with intertwined floral motifs. On both covers, as well as on the flap, there are angular golden imprinted ornaments, also filled with floral motifs. The whole composition is framed by a broad border, where we see two intertwined ribbons in the form of a braid.   

Quite understandably, art design of Arabic manuscripts created, procured and used in the Ottoman Bosnia over many centuries was under a strong influence of styles characteristic of the Ottoman period.

The luxury and design of a manuscript depended on the customer, the purpose it was intended for, as well as on other circumstances hidden in the nooks of historical unpredictability. Over the long history of Islam, many rulers, dignitaries and individuals remained known as customers of magnificently transcribed and illuminated mushafs, due to the fact that an ordering a (costly) illuminated hand-written book was a matter of prestige. Therefore, with this action they showed their reputation, devoutness, and care for the religion and the community.

References:

• Al-Muṣḥaf aš-šarῙf, Orijentalni institut u Sarajevu, R 49.

• Gazić, Lejla (2009), Katalog arapskih, turskih, perzijskih i bosanskih rukopisa, London-Sarajevo: Fondacija Al-Furqān za islamsko naslijeđe, Orijentalni institut u Sarajevu.

• Smailbegović, Aida (2019), “Iluminacije u arabičkim rukopisima rukopisne zbirke Orijentalnog instituta Univerziteta u Sarajevuˮ, Prilozi za orijentalnu filologiju, 68, str. 245-279.