Unknown - Qur'an leaf - Chapter 36, Ya-Sin - 1575

One of our most engaging folios from a dispersed C16th Safavid Persian Qur'an manuscript. The folio contains scripture from verses 18-22 of the Meccan chapter 'Ya-Sin' (Chapter 36), which records the confrontation between the townspeople and the messengers sent to guide them, followed by the courageous intervention of a believer (a man called Habib) who prevents the townspeople stoning the messengers. The story however has a sad ending. Traditional accounts state that the furious townspeople turned their anger away from the messengers and onto Habib, brutally martyring him on the spot for his defiance. Immediately following his death, the Quran transitions to his soul entering Paradise ("It was said, 'Enter Paradise.' He said, 'I wish my people could know...'"). Because of the town's absolute arrogance and ultimate rejection of guidance, they faced divine destruction shortly after.

The folio has the most wonderful and elaborate marginal in lapis blue and gold, framed by delicate polychrome floral scrollwork, indicating it may be a higher order structural marker rather than a lower order 5th verse division. Multiple decorative 'aya' rosettes in gold with 5 equidistant blue dots on the circumference mark the individual verses within the scripture. Red diacritical (devotional markings) provide guidance to the devotee. Persian inter-linear commentary in red brings the arabic scripture into the vernacular for the broader community of believers, bridging Arabic revelation and Persian devotional culture.

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