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Course of paleography by Jan Just Witkam

Specimens of Arabic manuscripts.
The specimens are arranged according to type of script and then in chronological order.

Scripts of the first millennium
• Qur’an in higazi script. (MS Paris, BnF, Arabe 328 (a))
• Qur’an in higazi-like script. (MS Leiden, Or. 14.545 c and Or. 14.545 b)
• Gharib al-Hadith by Abu `Ubayd al-Qasim b. Sallam. Copied in 252/866. (MS Leiden Or. 298)
• Qur'an in "ancient naskh" script, copied by Ibn al-Bawwab, Baghdad 391 (1000-1001). (MS Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, No. 1431)

Maghribi script

• Al-Risala al-Qushayriyya. Copied in or before 645 (1247), maghribi script, with readers’ notes from Damascus (MS Leiden Or. 141)
• Stories similar to the Arabian Nights. Copied in the 10/16th century, maghribi script, polychrome manuscript (MS Leiden Or. 89)
• `Uddat al-Hisn al-Hasin, by Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Gazari. Copied 1226 (1811), maghribi script, polychrome miniature manuscript (MS Leiden Or. 1335)
• Kashf al-Asrar `an `Ilm Huruf al-Ghubar, by `Ali b. Muhammad b. `Ali al-Qurashi al-Qalasadi al-Basti. Copied 1266 (1850), maghribi script, polychrome manuscript (MS private collection W. 35 (11))
• Ribh al-Tigara wa-Maghnam al-Sa`ada fima yata`allaqu bi-Ahkam al-Ziyara, by `Ali b. al-Hagg Musa. Copied (possibly in Algiers) in 1884, maghribi script (MS Leiden Or. 14.047)
• Matali` al-Shumus wal-Aqmar fi Targamat Mawlana Abi al-Shita’ al-Khammar, by `Umar b. Muhammad b. `Abd al-Qadir al-Sudi al-Qurashi al-Fasi. Copied in Rabat in 1337 (1917), maghribi script (MS Leiden Or. 8908 c)

Naskh script

• Mushkil al-Qur’an, by Ibn Qutayba. Copied in 404 (1014), naskh script (MS Leiden Or. 704)
• Kitab Khalq al-Nabi wa-Khulqih, by Abu Bakr Muhammad b. `Abdallah b. `Abd al-`Aziz. Copied in Ghazna between 441-444 (1049-1052), naskh script with thuluth (MS Leiden Or. 437)
• Kitab al-Hasha’ish, the Arabic translation of the Materia medica by Dioscurides. Copied in Samarqand in 475 (1082), naskh script (MS Leiden Or. 289)
• Kitab al-Alfaz, by `Abd al-Rahman b. `Isa al-Hamadani. Copied in 522 (1128), naskh script (MS Leiden Or. 1070)
• Fawa’id al-Hadith, by Tammam b. Muhammad al-Razi. Copied in Damascus in 594 (1198), cursive naskh script (MS Leiden Or. 580)
• al-Durar wal-Ghurar, by Abu al-Husayn al-Ahwazi. Copied in 630 (1233), naskh script in a safina-shaped manuscript (MS Leiden Or. 1093)
• Kitab Makarim al-Akhlaq, by al-Khara’iti. Copied in or before 669 (1271) in Damascus, naskh script (MS Leiden Or. 122)
• al-Risala al-Adhawiyya , by Ibn Sina. Copied in 674 (1275), naskh script (MS Leiden Or. 1067)
• Kitab al-Arba`in min Masanid al-Mashayikh al-`Ishrin `an al-Ashab al-Arba`in. Copied in Damascus in 726 (1326), naskh script (MS Leiden Or. 2548)
• Kitab Sulwan al-Muta` fi `Udwan al-Atba` by Muhammad Ibn Zafar. Possibly copied in Damascus around 1330-1340, naskh script (MS Humayzi Collection, Kuwait)
• Kitab fil-Firasa, ascribed to Iflimun/Aflimun (Polemon). Copied in Damascus in 757 (1356), naskh script (MS Leiden Or. 198)
• al-Bayan al-Shafi al-Muntaza` min al-Burhan al-Kafi, by al-Qadi Muhammad b. Ahmad b. `Ali b. Muzaffar. Copied (in Yaman) in 869 (1465), naskh script (MS Leiden Or. 23.267)
• Gami` al-Usul li-Ahadith al-Rasul , by Magd al-Din Ibn al-Athir. Copied in Sana'a (Yaman) in 924 (1518), naskh script (MS Leiden Or. 23.270 b)
• Sirat al-Haymi , by al-Hasan b. Ahmad al-Haymi. Copied in Kawkaban (Yaman) in 1060 (1650), naskh script (MS Leiden Or. 2600)
• Commentary by Khalid al-Azhari on al-Muqaddima al-Agurrumiyya, by Ibn Agurrum. Copied (in Yaman) in 1060 (1650), naskh script (MS Leiden Or. 23.977)
• Commentary by al-Dawwani on the Mawaqif, by al-Igi. Copied (in Anatolia or the Balkans?) in 1066 (1652), naskh script (MS Private Collection, W. 58)
• Kitab Sharh al-Azhâr, by `Abdallah b. Abi al-Qasim b. Miftah. Copied in Madinat Kuhlan Tag al-Din (Yaman) in 1095 (1684), naskh script (MS Leiden Or. 23.411)
• The commentary by Galal al-Din al-Mahalli on the Minhag al-Talibin by al-Nawawi, Copied (possibly in Daghestan) in 1148 (1735), naskh script (MS Leiden Or. 11.964)
• al-Fara'id al-Siragiyya, by Sirag al-Din Muhammad al-Sagawandi, on the law of succession. Probably copied in North India, 19th century, naskh script (MS Private collection, W. 1)
• Mukhtasar Tanbih al-Anam fi Uluww Maqam Sayyidina wa-Nabiyyina Muhammad 'alayhi Afdal al-Salat wal-Salam, by 'Abd al-Galil b. Muhammad b. 'Azzum al-Muradi al-Qayrawani, a tasliya prayer. Manuscript from Southern Ethiopia, dated 1337 (1917), naskh script (MS Private collection, W. 63)

Nasta`liq script

• Al-Risala al-Shamsiyya fil-Hisab, by al-Hasan b. Muhammad al-Nisaburi. Copied in 840 (1436), nasta`liq script (MS Leiden Or. 204)
• Commentary by al-Tuqati on the Gila' al-Qulub, by al-Birkawi. Copied (in Anatolia or the Balkans?) end 11/17th or beginning 12/18th century, Ottoman nasta'liq script (MS Private Collection, W. 12)
• Commentary by al-Gurgani on al-Fara'id al-Siragiyya, by al-Sagawandi. Copied in 1275/1858, Central-Asian nasta'liq script (MS Private Collection, W. 60)

Ruq`a script

• Kitab Daniyal al-Nabi lil-Shuhur al-Ithna`ashar wa-Dukhul al-Sana, anonymous. Copied 1271 (1854), ruq`a script (MS Leiden Or. 12.050)
• Kitab al-Hagg, anonymous. Possibly late-19th century, ruq`a script (MS Leiden Or. 14.524)

Sudani (West-African and Sub-Saharan) script

• Fragment of Kimiya' al-Sa`ada liman arada al-Husn wal-Ziyada by Yahya b. `Abd al-Rahman al-Muqaddasi al-Shafi`i al-Qadiri (883/1478). The Gambia, late-19th century, unvocalized sudani script (MS in private collection)
• Fragment of an Arabic text of eschatological content in a West African miscellany. Possibly mid-19th century, sudani script (MS Leiden Or. 14.052 (7))