Brannon Wheeler and Abdur-RahmanAbouAlmajd in Qur'an Manuscripts

Brannon Wheeler and Abdur-RahmanAbouAlmajd in Qur'an Manuscripts.  

We have a fresh opportunity to reflect about Qur'an Manuscripts. At this point Professor Brannon Wheeler is going to speak about his views on Qur'an Manuscripts.

Prof. Brannon Wheeler

Brannon Wheeler is the founding Director of the Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies and Professor of History at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. He received his PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago and has been a visiting scholar at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, the College of Shariah and Islamic Studies at Kuwait University, the Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies at the University of Bergen in Norway, and the American University of Kuwait. Prof. Wheeler has authored and edited seven books and is Editor of the book series and journal of Comparative Islamic Studies.

- Mecca and Eden: Ritual, Relics, and Territory in Islam(July 1, 2006)

- Moses in the Qur'an and Islamic Exegesis (July 1, 2006)

- Prophets in the Quran: An Introduction to the Quran and Muslim Exegesis(December 19, 2002)

The dialog

Q: First of all I wonder what made you focus on Qur'an Manuscripts?

B W: As a college student I was fascinated with the idea of divine revelation being written down in human language, an equally compelled by the concept that the form of the writing (calligraphy) and the physical quality of the book or codex helped to convey the divine authority of its contents.

Q: Could you elaborate on Qur'an Manuscripts?

B W: Because Islam is such a popular and far-reaching religion, and because Islam is practiced by so many different people in various cultures and regions around the world, the Quran is preserved in many diverse forms. Each culture keeps its own form of the Quran, in Arabic, but written down in local styles utilizing local ideas and styles.

Q: Can you give us some examples of your findings in Qur'an Manuscripts?

B W: Quran manuscripts help us to tell the history of how the Quran got assembled and made public from the colleciton and memorization of the revelations received by Muhammad and transmitted to his followers.

Q: I wonder how you like Qur'an Manuscripts?

B W: The best part about the study of Quran manuscripts is being able to travel to the various lands, meeting interesting people, and engaging in meaningful dialogue about the texts.

Q: There’re many kinds of Qur'an Manuscripts, Ma'ili, Kufi, Yaquti, Thuluth, Naskh, etc.which of them you find western readers enjoy more?

B W: Thuluth is one of the most elegant. My favorite, however, is the Sini or "Chinese" style that is in Arabic but looks almost like Chinese characters.

Q: What about Competing Ideologies in the Paleography Qur'an Manuscripts?

B W: This is a big question--I am not sure, however, that paleography is where the real discoveries are to be made--some of the most fascinating work is being done compiling the manuscripts to create witnesses for the published text.

Q: No doubt you is looking for Qur'an Manuscripts in west, I wonder what you find US Museum.

B W: I would look in the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago.

Q: What about your travelling for Qur'an Manuscripts?

B W: l have travelled all over the middle east, central Asia, china, and south Asia looking for Quran manuscripts. Probably the most amazing was the copy of the Uthman Quran in special vault in a mosque in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Q: What did you find in the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago?

B W: these should all be published.

Q: What about Qur'an Manuscripts Arabs have never seen or known that you’ve seen in western Museums.

B W: it would depend on the museum but some of the finest examples have been in western exhibits devoted to “scripture” –Bibles, Quran, etc.

Abdur-RahmanAbouAlmajd: Thank you very much.