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Selections of Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Calligraphy
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Fal-i Qur'an (divination by the Qur'an)
AUTHOR/CREATOR
unknown
CREATED/PUBLISHED
c. 1550-1600
NOTES
Dimensions of Written Surface: 19.8 (w) x 30.9 (h) cm
Script: nasta'liq
This single sheet of a Fal-i Qur'an lays out in rhyming Persian distichs (couplets) the means of divination by letters selected at random when opening to a page of the Qur'an. This now single-page folio originally was included at the very end of a Safavid Persian Qur'an, immediately after the last surah (Surat al-Nas) and a closing prayer (du'a ba'd khatim al-Qur'an) on behalf of the Prophet and his family (e.g., see 1-85-154.74 R and V). The layout of the divination text, the script, and the remaining original illumination in the text frame are typical of fals included at the end of Qur'ans made in Shiraz or Qazvin during the second half of the 16th century (see James 1992b: 172-81, cat nos. 39 and 43).
The pasting of the rectangular bands in the two vertical columns, as well as the illumination running around the text frame, may be tantamount to censorship in Sunni Ottoman hands, perhaps at the request of Sultan Ahmed III (r. 1703-30), whose tugra (royal emblem) appears on the folio's verso (see 1-84-154.42 V). In particular, the pasted bands in the right vertical column hide individual letters of the alphabet, beginning with the letter "lam" (l), from which a poetical divination was extracted. In other words, the poetical prognostication remains, while the letters themselves have been concealed. Furthermore, this particular fragment must have been the third folio of the original divination text. Today, it appears that the title and the first two pages (containing the letters "alif" through "kaf") of the fal do not survive.
Although divination by the Qur'an appears largely in a Safavid Shi'ite context, other examples of fals by means of the Qur'an entitled "Fi tafa'ul min kalam Allah al-majid" (on divination by means of Allah's glorious words) and "dar fal-i mushaf" (on divination by the Book) also appear in Sunni Ottoman artistic traditions during the latter part of the 16th century. For example, an Ottoman Turkish Qur'an signed by a certain 'Abdallah and dated 980/1573 in the Keir Collection, England (VII.49) also contains a terminal fal (Robinson 1976, 294). The reason prognostication by the Qur'an has largely been seen as a Shi'ite phenomenon is due to the fact that the practice, as well as the text, often times is attributed to 'Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. In another extant Safavid Qur'an, for example, the divination text is entitled "Falnamah-ya hazrat-i Amir al-Mu'minin, 'Ali b. Abi Talib" (Keir VII.52, Robinson 1976, 294).
SUBJECT
Arabic calligraphy
Arabic script calligraphy
Illuminated Islamic manuscripts
Islamic calligraphy
Islamic manuscripts
Nasta'liq
MEDIUM
28.7 (w) x 48.8 (h) cm
CALL NUMBER
1-84-154.42 R
REPOSITORY
Library of Congress, African and Middle Eastern Division, Washington, D.C. 20540
DIGITAL ID
ascs 089
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.amed/ascs.089
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