Qur’anic readings and verse divisions in 18th-century Banten Qur’ans A.51, W.277 and RAS Arabic 4

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines three Qur’ans that probably hail from 18th-century Banten. The first two, A.51 and W.277, are held in the National Library of the Republic of Indonesia, and the third of which, RAS Arabic 4, is part of the collection at the Royal Asiatic Society in the United Kingdom. It undertakes an analysis of the Qur’anic reading and verse numbering systems applied in these manuscripts, using selected samples from Sūrat al-Kahf to identify the textual relationships between these three Qur’ans. Examination of these three Qur’ans reveals variations in the ways in which each copy treats verse numbering and locates verse endings. On the basis of the textual analysis undertaken here, the author argues that the copyists of Qur’ans A.51, W.277 and RAS Arabic 4 appear to have applied to the respective text a combination of different methods that determined their approach to the reading and verse numbering systems. The Qur’anic textual transmission process is one in which the copyists referred to older copies but also relied on their own knowledge of qirāʾāt literature.