CORPUS CORANICUM PROJECT

The project CORPUS CORANICUM of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, BBAW) offers systematic access to early Qur'anic manuscripts with images and transliterated text. In parallel, a catalogue of variant readings included in the works of the Islamic scholarly tradition is produced. Based on textual history, the project creates a chronological commentary using methods of literary studies and referring to relevant texts from Antiquity and Late Antiquity. These source texts are accessible in the database “Texts from the environment of the Quran” (TEQ). The development of the first Muslim community is reconstructed for the first time as the interaction between the Prophet and the first addressees in Mecca and Medina.

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRAN

The NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRAN (NMI), with a rich history of 80 years, is the country's largest museum of archaeology and history. It was established in 1937 and comprises two sections: the Ancient Iran Museum and the Islamic Archaeology and Art Museum. A valuable collection of Quranic manuscripts can be found in the Islamic section, some of which date back to the first centuries of the Hijri calendar. The collection comprises of ancient Kufic script manuscripts and beautiful Qurans written in Muhaqqaq, Rayhan, Thuluth, and Naskh scripts. Most of the manuscripts have been transferred from Shaykh Safiuddin Ardabili's shrine to the National Museum. Within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding between NMI and BBAW (signed on July 7, 2017), the early Quranic manuscripts of NMI have been digitised and made accessible. In January 2019, samples from a selection of the manuscripts were taken and dated in collaboration with ETH Zurich. The results of radiocarbon dating is published at Spring and Summer 2021 issue of the Journal of Iran National Museum (Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 205-226).

CENTRAL LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEHRAN

The CENTRAL LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEHRAN (CLUT) is the largest university library in Iran, boasting a diverse and extensive collection of resources in various fields, including science, technology, and literature. The library, along with the faculty-specific libraries, is dedicated to fostering research and houses works related to Islamic studies, Iranian studies, and Oriental studies. In January 2019, within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding between CLUT and BBAW (signed on November 20, 2018), samples from six manuscripts were taken and dated in collaboration with the ETH Zurich. The results of radiocarbon dating is published in the journal Radiocarbon (doi:10.1017/RDC.2023.2).