Almohad Qur’ans العربية
Surviving, meeting the criteria

The Ceuta Qur’an

Le Coran de Ceuta · مصحف سبتة

Muharram 587 AH · c. 28 January – 25 February 1191 CE

In the reign of Yaʿqub al-Mansur

The card on the Almohad Qur’ans page
The opening of Surat al-Baqara, close up
The opening of Surat al-Baqara, close up · Topkapı R. 27, folio 2v, after Bongianino, thesis 2017, vol. 2, Q16
SurvivesCompleteness unknownNot digitised
Copyist
Muhammad b. Muhammad b. ʿAli b. Shuʿayb al-Ansari
Place
Ceuta
Today
Istanbul, Topkapı Palace Library, R. 27
Format
Parchment; a single large oblong volume; 31.5 × 26.2 cm

Copied in Ceuta in the reign of the Caliph Yaʿqub al-Mansur (580–595 AH), it is one of the oldest dated Almohad Qur’ans whose copyist is known. The Topkapı Palace Library holds a group of large Maghribi Qur’ans, among them this one and the rabʿa of Prince Abu Ishaq described below.

Not digitised. It is described in the CALLFRONT database of the Institut national d’histoire de l’art in Paris, after Umberto Bongianino’s book (2022).

CALLFRONT recordBongianino 2020, appendix
Close-ups of the script (2)Click to enlarge →
The opening of Surat al-Baqara, close up
The opening of Surat al-Baqara, close up · Topkapı R. 27, folio 2v, after Bongianino, thesis 2017, vol. 2, Q16
A full page: al-Fatiha and the start of al-Baqara
A full page: al-Fatiha and the start of al-Baqara · Topkapı R. 27, after Bongianino, thesis 2017, vol. 2, Q16
Almohad Qur’ans

Other Qur’ans of this era

← Ibn Ghattus’s Qur’an of 578 AHThe Qur’an of Ibn Khaldun of Valencia →
Ibn Ghattus’s Qur’an of 578 AH578 AHThe Qur’an of Ibn Khaldun of Valencia596 AHAbu Yaʿqub’s Qur’an (Topkapı)Jumada II 599 AHThe rabʿa of al-Murtada20 Jumada II – 6 Rajab 654 AHIbn Marzuq’s Qur’an559 AHThe Qur’ans of the Banu Ghattus556–564 AHAl-Murri’s Qur’an (Dresden)Middle ten days of Shaʿban 580 AHDated Qur’ans without a copyist565–598 AHThe Malaga rabʿac. 620 AHThe Seville Qur’an (Munich)First ten days of Muharram 624 AHAbu Ishaq’s rabʿa (Topkapı)Before 22 Shaʿban 635 AH (date of its endowment)The Tinmal rabʿa632 AH (copied) · 649 AH (endowed)The Pink Qur’anBefore Safar 650 AH (date of its endowment)