Masahif al-Maghrib العربية
An illustrated guide · from the Idrisids to the Alaouites

Masahif al-Maghrib

Dated Qur’an manuscripts of Morocco with a known copyist or patron: the ones that survive, the ones that are lost, and the ones that can be browsed online today. Each era has a page of its own.

The erasThe combined timeline
Eras

A page for each era

Each page has a table of the Qur’ans and their state, a timeline set against the reigns of the rulers, cards with close-up samples of the script, and a presentation mode.

Idrisid Qur’ans

172–375 AH / 788–985 CE
0 surviving0 lost1 on the edge

No dated Qur’an is known from this period. The Qarawiyyin Library holds fragments of Qur’ans in early Abbasid script from around the fourth century AH.

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Almoravid Qur’ans

448–541 AH / 1056–1147 CE
1 surviving0 lost4 on the edge

The Almería Qur’an (534 AH) in the hand of Ahmad b. Ghalinduh, and the Munich Qur’an (533 AH), illuminated by Zakariyya al-Qurashi, with its pausal marks in lapis blue.

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Almohad Qur’ans

524–668 AH / 1130–1269 CE
5 surviving0 lost9 on the edge

The multi-volume Qur’an of the Caliph al-Murtada in his own hand, the Qur’an of Prince Abu Yaʿqub in Marrakesh, the Qur’ans of Ceuta and Valencia with their copyists’ names, the Seville Qur’an in Munich, and the Pink Qur’an.

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Marinid Qur’ans

646–869 AH / 1248–1465 CE
3 surviving5 lost6 on the edge

The rabʿa of Abu al-Hasan in his own hand in al-Aqsa, the Qur’an of Abu Yaʿqub Yusuf in Munich with its colophon in gold, and the sultans’ lost Qur’ans for the two holy sanctuaries.

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Wattasid Qur’ans

876–961 AH / 1472–1554 CE
0 surviving0 lost2 on the edge

A period from which few dated Qur’ans have been studied. It was then that al-Habti set out the pausal system that Maghribi Qur’ans have followed; from it come the Green Qur’an and a Qur’an endowed in Fez in 949 AH.

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Saadian Qur’ans

916–1069 AH / 1510–1659 CE
5 surviving0 lost9 on the edge

Qur’ans of the libraries of Princess Maryam, Prince Muhammad b. ʿAbd al-Qadir and the Sultans al-Ghalib and al-Mansur, the Qur’an of the bookbinder al-Sufyani in Fez, and the Escorial Qur’ans from Zaydan’s circle.

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Alaouite Qur’ans

1076–1330 AH / 1666–1912 CE
3 surviving3 lost2 on the edge

The Qur’an of Prince ʿAli (1142 AH) in Cairo, the Qur’ans of the woman copyist ʿAʾisha al-Takiyya, the rabʿa of al-Qandusi (1266 AH) in Meknes, and the first Qur’an lithographed in Fez.

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Combined timeline

All the Qur’ans on one line

The bars are the dynasties and the markers the Qur’ans listed on the era pages. A filled marker is a surviving Qur’an, a hollow one a lost Qur’an. Click a marker to open its page.

8008509009501000105011001150120012501300135014001450150015501600165017001750180018501900IdrisidsAlmoravidsAlmohadsMarinidsWattasidsSaadiansAlaouitesA Qur’an fragment in early Abbasid script in the Qarawiyyin Library — Fourth century AH (estimated)The Qur’an of Ahmad b. Ghalinduh, Almería — Mid-Jumada I 534 AHThe Munich Qur’an dated 533 AH — 533 AHThe Cordoba Qur’an dated 538 AH — 538 AHThe Qur’an of ʿAli b. Muhammad al-Batalyawsi — 488 AHVolume 8 of a Qur’an in eight volumes — Jumada I 483 AHThe rabʿa of the Caliph al-Murtada, in his own hand — 20 Jumada II – 6 Rajab 654 AHThe Qur’an of Prince Abu Yaʿqub, son of al-Nasir — Jumada II 599 AHThe Ceuta Qur’an — Muharram 587 AHThe Qur’an of Muhammad b. ʿAbd Allah b. Ghattus — 578 AHThe Qur’an of Yusuf b. ʿAbd Allah b. Khaldun — 596 AHThe Seville Qur’an — First ten days of Muharram 624 AHThe Pink Qur’an — Before Safar 650 AH (date of its endowment)The rabʿa of Prince Abu Ishaq Ibrahim — Before 22 Shaʿban 635 AH (date of its endowment)Volume 8 of the Malaga rabʿa — c. 620 AHThe Tinmal rabʿa — 632 AH (copied) · 649 AH (endowed)The Qur’an of Muhammad b. ʿAbd Allah al-Murri — Middle ten days of Shaʿban 580 AHThe Qur’ans of the Banu Ghattus in Valencia — 556–564 AHThe Qur’an of Ibn Marzuq the Grandfather — 559 AHDated Almohad Qur’ans that do not name their copyist — 565–598 AHThe Qur’an made for the library of Sultan Abu Yaʿqub Yusuf — Last ten days of Rajab 705 AHThe Maghribi rabʿa: the Qur’an of Abu al-Hasan in his own hand — 745 AHThe Qur’an of Abu Talib al-Juhani — End of Rabiʿ I 718 AHThe rabʿa of Abu Yaʿqub Yusuf for the Sacred Mosque — 703 AHAbu al-Hasan’s Qur’an for the ribāṭ of Chella — c. 739–740 AHAbu al-Hasan’s Qur’an for the Prophet’s Mosque — c. 740 AHAbu al-Hasan’s Qur’an for the Sacred Mosque — Shortly after 740 AHThe Hebron rabʿa — c. 750 AHThe Qur’an made for the library of Sultan Abu Saʿid ʿUthman — Between 710 and 731 AHVolume 7 of a rabʿa endowed by Abu ʿInan — Between 749 and 759 AHA complete Qur’an dated 703 AH — End of Jumada II 703 AHThe Qur’an of Yusuf b. Ridwan al-Shatibi — 1 Shawwal 727 AHA leaf from a Qur’an written in gold — UndatedA Marinid Qur’an on parchment dated 686 AH — 686 AHA Qur’an endowed in Fez in 949 AH — Endowed in 949 AHThe Green Qur’an — Undated, ninth century AHThe Qur’an made for the library of Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur — Wednesday 13 Rabiʿ II 1008 AHThe Qur’an made for the library of Sultan ʿAbd Allah al-Ghalib — Early Ramadan 975 AHThe Qur’an made for the library of Princess Maryam, daughter of Muhammad al-Shaykh — 1 Shaʿban 967 AHThe Qur’an made for the library of Prince Muhammad b. ʿAbd al-Qadir — Early Ramadan 968 AHThe Qur’an of Abu al-ʿAbbas Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Sufyani — 1025 AH“The Great Qur’an” endowed by al-Mansur to the Qarawiyyin — Endowed in Ramadan 1011 AHThe Qur’an of Muhammad b. ʿAbd al-Rahman b. ʿIsa on parchment — 982 AHA Saadian Qur’an dated 1044 AH — 1044 AHThe Qur’an of Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Sharif al-Hasani — Shaʿban 1028 AHThe two Qur’ans of Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Husayn — Safar 1015 AH and Rabiʿ II 1016 AHThe Qarawiyyin Qur’an no. 5 — Before 1020 AHA Saadian Qur’an dated 966 AH — 966 AHThe second half of a Qur’an in the hand of Saʿid b. ʿAli al-Darʿi — 3 Dhu l-Qaʿda 1069 AHThe Qur’an of the captive Muhammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahid al-Tazi — Thursday 16 Muharram 1065 AHThe Qur’an of the Alaouite Prince ʿAli — 1142 AHThe Qur’ans of the woman copyist ʿAʾisha bint Mubarak al-Takiyya — 1237 AH and 1245 AHThe rabʿa of Muhammad b. Abi al-Qasim al-Qandusi — Friday, end of Shawwal 1266 AHThe Qur’an of Amina bint al-Hajj ʿAbd al-Latif — c. 1227 AHThe first Qur’an lithographed in Fez — 1296 AHThe twenty-three Qur’ans Mawlay ʿAbd Allah sent to the Prophet’s Mosque — 1155 AHThe Qur’ans of the sharīfa Fatima bint ʿAli al-Zabadi — Before 1142 AHThe Qur’ans of Muhammad b. al-Hajj Muhammad al-Rifi al-Tamsamani — Before 1313 AHsurvivingedgelost
Click a marker to open its page. On a phone, swipe the timeline sideways.
Criteria

What goes into the guide?

Criteria for the first list of each era

  • The date of copying is stated explicitly in the colophon or the endowment deed.
  • The owner is known: the copyist, or the person for whom or for whose library the Qur’an was made.
  • It was demonstrably copied in the lands of that dynasty.

Each page has two further sections: Qur’ans recorded in the sources and since lost, and well-known Qur’ans on the edge of the criteria, with what each of them lacks.

The samples

The samples are close-ups of the writing itself, taken from Qur’ans digitised by their libraries or from images published under an open licence. For Qur’ans whose images are under copyright, we point to where they were published.