Koran

Date: n d, 1918

By: New Zealand Bible Society; Bible Society in New Zealand

Reference: MS-Group-1776

Description: This collection includes a Treatise on the Lord's Supper by a Coptic priest, Abyssinia (Anaphora of our Lady, Mary, mother of God), in cloth bag and leather pouch, four manuscript copies of the Koran in cloth and leather bags and a copy of the New Testament annotated by a First World War soldier, Ernest Brown in 1918. Quantity: 7 volume(s). Physical Description: Holographs, illuminated, typescript (with leather and cloth bindings and cases) Provenance: The Bible Society has little information about these manuscripts. It is unknown where they come from and there are no specific dates available. Transfers: To Book Collections - The bible society also donated a number of printed items which have been transferred to the printed collection where there is material from a previous donation..

Date: Undated

From: London Missionary Society : Miscellaneous manuscripts / Collected by Kenneth Webster

Reference: MS-Papers-9507-3

Description: Folder comprises three unbound leaves of a Qur'an, with marginal notes in another hand. Material is written in Arabic with an attached note in English commenting that corrections have been made by another person. Has the Webster Collection number W14. Other - Laid paper, laid lines c.1mm thick with 6 per cm; chain lines 3 cm apart. Paper is watermarked, indistinct but appears to include Western lettering. The text is written in black ink with the marginal notes in red ink; written space of main text 170 x 105 mm. The text on the 3 leaves is not consecutive. Quantity: 1 folder(s). Physical Description: Paper, 3 leaves, unbound; 225 x 162 mm.

Date: [ca 1700]

Reference: MSR-48

Description: Koran/Qur'an written in Arabic (Naskh script), with later Persian notes in the margins, likely created in Persia during the Safavid Period. The manuscript was remargined by the 19th-century scribe Ibn Abdul Razzak. Preliminary leaves include short treatise on various types of divination. Quantity: 1 Monograph(s). Physical Description: Ink and pigments on gold-sprinkled paper laid into later margins, 312 leaves, 169 x 111 mm. Provenance: Purchased by Maggs Bros Ltd, London, from Diana and W. D. Peyton in 2011. W.D. Peyton was an American Arabist who spent much of his life working in the Middle East.

Date: 2012

From: Scott, Thomas, 1947- :[Digital cartoons published in the Dominion Post]

By: Dominion post (Newspaper)

Reference: DCDL-0020272

Description: The cartoon questions the furore over the burning of the Koran at a United States air base, in response to which, President Obama apologised to President Karzai. By contrast civilians are still being killed in Syria by President Assad's loyal forces. Context: President Barack Obama apologized for the burning of Korans on a U.S. air base in Afghanistan as Afghans and NATO troops died in a third day of riots over the treatment of the Islamic scripture. (Bloomberg Feb 24 2012) The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly approved a new resolution condemning rights violations in Syria and calling on president Bashar al-Assad to step aside. (ABC February 17 2012) Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).

Date: n d [12th century AH?]

From: Bible Society in New Zealand : Religious manuscripts

Reference: MSR-33

Description: It was examined on June 23 1939, by Rev Father Michel Bardowuil who declared it a manuscript copy in perfect Arabic, beautifully written. He also estimated that it may date back to the 12th century AH [eighteenth century CE]. Quantity: 1 volume(s). Physical Description: paper, 410 leaves (includes front flyleaf), bound; 190 x 130 mm. Provenance: Typescript in front of volume states that the volume was "A gift to the British and Foreign Bible Society, New Zealand, for their museum from Mrs E F Denton Leech of Dunedin. Mrs Denton Leech writes:- It has been in the possession of my family since 1887 (as near as I can judge) a member of which was Major in a Punjaub regiment and during one of the `frontier incidents' found it...in its present wrapping in a deserted hut. The British Museum guarantees it as hand written in a dialect - obviously notes have been added to the original.

Date: [ca 1850-1900]

From: Bible Society in New Zealand : Religious manuscripts

Reference: MSR-35

Description: Probably copied out as a religious duty as there are numerous deletions and additions to the text. It is also incomplete; only the second half from surah (chapter) 18 "Kahf" (Cave) to surah 114 "Nass" (People), ie surahs 1-17 are not present. Quantity: 1 volume(s). Physical Description: Holograph (in leather pouch with ties). Volume is unbound Processing information: Pages (which were out of order) collated in Jun 1999 by Mr M Esmaeil Nia (Iranian Embassy).

Date: [1608/9]

From: Bible Society in New Zealand : Religious manuscripts

Reference: MSR-34

Description: Arabic (Hijiri) calendar date at end of text is 1017. Quantity: 1 volume(s). Physical Description: paper, 248 leaves, bound; 170 x 120mm.

Date: [not after 1789]

From: Bible Society in New Zealand : Religious manuscripts

Reference: MSR-32

Description: Note in Arabic in a different hand on verso of front flyleaf: [One] must consider a sacrifice for a new-born, on the seventh day after birth. The rules are to sacrifice two sheep if the child is a boy and one if it is a girl. [Reportedly] the prophet [Mohammad] 'peace upon him' sacrificed for himself when he was chosen [by god as a prophet]. He [the prophet] says [while slaughtering the sheep] 'O God! This sacrifice is for my son (the name of the child); its flesh for his flesh, its skin for his skin, and its hair (wool) for his hair. O God! Please consider it as redemption from hell for my son'. And he does not break any of the sacrifice's bones; and gifts the midwife its thigh; or [gives the sacrifice] for cooking a 'Jadwal' without breaking any of its bones; and he makes a donation. He does so on either the seventh [day after birth] or the fourteenth or twenty first. And [also] he kisses the child's head and donates a 'Waraqa' and a 'Zenan'. (Source: al-Shari'ato Fi Khazanat al-Rwayat'). [The nouns Jadwal, Waraqa, and Zenan, appear to be obsolete, but suggested meanings are: Jadwal, a type of dish cooked in rituals. Waraqa, a unit of money or wealth. Zenan, object with either nutritious or financial value commonly used for donation.] Translation by Ali Mazraeh. The endleaves following the Qur'an text contain a poem in Persian added in a later hand. The poetry discusses fortune telling practices by using the Qur'an. There is some loss of colophon text, including the year of copying, in a later gutter repair. Remaining text establishes that copying was completed on the afternoon of Thursday, 18th of the month Dhu al-Qi'dah [the 11th month of the Islamic calendar]. On the same page the scribe included a prayer for blessing the completion of this Qur'an. The prayer includes short verses from the Qur'an as well as additional notes by the scribe. Quantity: 1 volume(s). Physical Description: Paper, 438 leaves, bound; 162 x 100 mm.

Date: n.d. [ca 1800?]

Reference: MSR-30

Description: Note in Arabic on endleaves in ink following main text is the Khatm al-Qur'an which is read after one has finished reading the Qur'an. This example is a long supplication glorifying God and praying that the aforementioned recitation has been done meticulously and that any afterlife consequences be auspicious, beseeching God to keep the reader on the straight path and ending by praise of Muhammad and further supplications to God. Inscription in ink on front pastedown says that one manuscript ends and another one begins. Further inscriptions in pencil on last endleaf. Source of title - Supplied title Quantity: 1 volume(s) (unpaged). Physical Description: paper, 354 leaves, bound; page size 160 x 110 mm.