Folio from a Qur'an

The sacred book of Islam, the Qur'an is believed by Muslims to be a literal transcription of the word of God, spoken in Arabic to the Prophet Muhammad (died 632). In order to convey the importance of the divine word, Arabic calligraphy—sometimes highly elaborate and embellished with gold—was used to create copies of the Qur'an.

This folio was written in the oldest style of Arabic calligraphy, called Kufic script, used in earliest surviving copies of the Qur'an. The wide format of the page is well suited to this style of Kufic that has elongated, horizontal strokes. Vowels are indicated by red dots, and the triangles of gold dots mark the end of each verse.