Almohad Qur’ans العربية
On the edge of the criteria

The Pink Qur’an

Le Coran rose · المصحف الوردي

Before Safar 650 AH (date of its endowment) · before April–May 1252 CE

The leaf at the Metropolitan Museum ↗The card on the Almohad Qur’ans page
Yunus 47–48
Yunus 47–48 · Metropolitan Museum 2017.232 (detail)
SurvivesIncompletePartial images
Endowment
Endowed by the Caliph al-Murtada in Safar 650 AH to the tomb of one of his wives, “the mother of our son Ishaq”, after his defeat by the Marinids
Place
Probably Marrakesh
Today
Marrakesh, Ibn Yusuf Library ms. 431 (most of the volumes); scattered leaves in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2017.232), the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (Ms. 122), the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, and elsewhere
Format
Paper dyed pink; ten volumes; five lines to the page

A Qur’an in a monumental script on pink paper, made by two calligraphers and two illuminators in Marrakesh in the last decades of the Almohad state. At the top of its leaves, pinpricks spell the word «حبس», “endowed”, made when the Marinids re-endowed it.

Undated, and no copyist is named. Its latest possible date comes from its endowment deed.

The leaf at the Metropolitan MuseumThe leaf at the Getty MuseumBongianino & Cellard (2025)
Close-ups of the script (4)Click to enlarge →
Yunus 47–48
Yunus 47–48 · Metropolitan Museum 2017.232 (detail)
Yunus 48–49
Yunus 48–49 · Metropolitan Museum 2017.232 (detail)
End of Surat al-Muʾminun
End of Surat al-Muʾminun · Getty Museum Ms. 122
Opening of Surat al-Nur
Opening of Surat al-Nur · Getty Museum Ms. 122
Almohad Qur’ans

Other Qur’ans of this era

← The Tinmal rabʿa
Ibn Ghattus’s Qur’an of 578 AH578 AHThe Ceuta Qur’anMuharram 587 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)