When was this Page from the Qur'an made?
This page of the Qur'an was made between 850 and 1000 CE. This was a period when books, writing, and scholarship were highly valued in the Islamic world. A century or two before this manuscript was made, in 762 CE, the caliph Al-Mansur had founded the city of Baghdad in present-day Iraq. This planned circular city was founded near the ancient cities of Babylon and Ctesiphon. Medieval Baghdad became a center of science, culture, and invention in what became known as the Golden Age of Islam. In Baghdad in the 800s and 900s many scholars worked at the famous House of Wisdom, a public library and intellectual center. (See image of scholars in a library.)
Both religious manuscripts, like this Qur'an, and works of science and philosophy were studied, copied, and translated in this period. In later centuries, manuscripts like Qur'ans remained extraordinarily beautiful and important, and they were made in many locations around the medieval globe.
Yonglong (Ethan) Ren, Class of 2026, College of the Holy Cross
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