# Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy books



## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

http://www.ideo.ma/mbs2/En/index.htm

















The Moroccan British Society is supported by:
_Maroc Telecom, ONA (Omnium Nord Africain), CMH (Compagnie Marocaine des Hydrocarbures), AKWA Group, ONE (Office National d’Electricité), ONMT (Office National Marocain de Tourisme), Banque Centrale Populaire, Caisse de dépôt et de Gestion, OCP (Office Chérifien des Phosphates)._ 
Coexist Foundation is a UK registered charity whose mission is to promote understanding and good relations between Christians, Jews and Muslims, as well as to improve their relations with other faiths and those of no faith, by means of education, dialogue and research.
 See website
The Moroccan British Society’s main purpose is to provide means of all kinds likely to allow the Moroccan and the British peoples to acquire a better mutual understanding of their civilisations and cultures as well as political, academic, scientific, economic, financial and commercial institutions, so as to promote and foster their friendly relations and cooperative ties in every domain.
See website
Saint Catherine Foundation supports conservation work at the Monastery of Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai. The monastery’s Library is the present focus of conservation activities. To safeguard this historic archive, the Foundation is raising funds for the renovation of the Library building and the conservation and storage of the monastery’s ancient and fragile collection of early books and manuscripts.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

*Kufic Qur'an*

Early Qur'ans are important as evidence of the development of the written recording of Islam's holy book. This copy of the Qur'an in Arabic, probably from the ninth century, is copied on to vellum and uses an early script called kufic.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

*Barcelona Haggadah*

Stunningly illustrated with people, flowers, birds and imaginary creatures, this prayer book for the festival of Passover is one of the most richly pictorial of all Jewish texts. Meant to accompany the Passover eve service and festive meal, it was also a status symbol for its owner in 14th-century Spain.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

*Spanish Hebrew Bible*

This 14th-century design illuminates the Tetragrammaton: the four-letter inscription denoting the name of God. Despite lacking all representational imagery, the abstract illuminations manage to evoke the ceiling of a temple dome, and imbue the manuscript with a divine presence.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This page of the Duke of Sussex's German Pentateuch shows the kind of marginal decoration often painted in Hebrew medieval manuscripts, especially in Germany. The strange beasts here are outlined in minute Hebrew lettering. As a whole, the richly-decorated book is a fine example of the South German style of illumination, with its rich, contrasting colours and exaggerated, often strange-looking faces and animals, and micrographic adornments such as these odd marginal creatures.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This is a rare example of a Qur'an which survived the Christian reconquest of Spain - the expulsion of Islam from the peninsula under Ferdinand and Isabella, a process largely completed by 1492, when their recapture of Granada earned them the title 'the Catholic Monarchs'.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This legacy of an artist monk living in Northumbria in the early eighth century is a precious testament to the tenacity of Christian belief during one of the most turbulent periods of British history. Costly in time and materials, superb in design, the manuscript is among our greatest artistic and religious treasures. It was made and used at Lindisfarne Priory on Holy Island, a major religious community that housed the shrine of St Cuthbert, who died in 687.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This Qur'an from the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt provides a splendid example of a carpet page in an Islamic manuscript: the rich, ornate, ingeniously interwoven abstract patterns reminiscent of an exotic carpet.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

In this impressive New Testament - perhaps the most beautiful example in Greek in the British Library - a picture shows the Evangelist St Luke at his desk, his writing implements ready to hand. It serves as the frontispiece to the Gospel of St Luke. The manuscript was made at a high point in the history of the capital of Eastern Christendom, and demonstrates the unbroken tradition of the use of Greek as the literate language of the Eastern Mediterranean.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This fascinating psalter from medieval Sicily shows what a cultural crossroads it was under the enlightened rule of King Roger II: the document carries three parallel version of the psalms in Greek, Latin and Arabic, the latter probably for the benefit of converts from Islam.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This codex is one of the finest examples of the very few extant large, profusely illustrated Syriac Gospels, produced in what is now northern Iraq between c.1190 and 1240. Some believe that Syriac may have been the language in which some of the original Gospels were written.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

In this bilingual copy of the Four Gospels from 1308, the Arabic version is in a parallel column to the right of the Coptic text. This is the Gospel of St Matthew.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This remarkable manuscript is very different to what the casual glance might suggest: despite the Islamic style carpet page, and the Arabic script, this is a Christian document - an account of the Gospels - made in Palestine in the 14th century.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This striking manuscript comes from the oldest independent country in Africa. It was commissioned in the late 1600s by the emperor for use in his royal city of Gondar. Generously illuminated with distinctive miniature paintings and highly decorative coloured borders, this is one of the most beautiful of the Library's Ethiopian manuscripts. Its many illustrations include Moses, Aaron, Ruth, Eusebius, John and Carpanius, scenes from the life of Christ, and portraits of the Evangelists.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This strikingly illustrated prayer scroll is written in Armenian, the language of the world's first Christian country. The picture of St Sargis on horseback would have provided protection for the 17th-century traveller carrying it.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

Though Queen Melisende's Psalter is probably not the earliest manuscript preserved from the Crusader Kingdom, it represents Crusading illumination of the early period at its best. From details within the psalter we know its place of origin to be the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and we can also date it fairly accurately between 1131 and 1143.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

As the earliest copy in English of part of the Old Testament and with over 400 illustrations, this manuscript is both remarkable and unique. The collaboration of a team of translators, scribes and an artist over many years, it is a vivid example of the demand for sacred texts in 11th-century England that were accessible to everyday people, who wanted a Bible presented in a way they could understand.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

The King James, or Authorised, Version of the Bible remains the most widely published text in the English language. It was the work of around 50 scholars, who were appointed in 1604 by King James (r. 1603–25), and it is dedicated to him.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This scroll was specially prepared for one of the farthest-flung and most remarkable religious communities of history: the Chinese Jews of Kaifeng. For 1000 years they are said to have maintained an outpost of Judaism on the banks of the Yellow River, but ended up as victims of their own success at integrating with other Chinese. However, the exact status of the Kaifeng community, and the extent of their Jewish practices, is not entirely clear.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This elegant, detailed Qur'an is one of the earliest dated examples of naskhi script, the Arabic calligraphic hand which became one of the most popular styles for such manuscripts thanks to its legibility.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This beautiful scroll from the 15th century commemorates the hajj - the pilgrimage to Mecca - by a woman called Maymunah. Illustrated with images of Mecca and other places of interest en route, it is a fascinating document that combines both religious and geographical information.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

Of all the British Library's collection of Qur'ans, this is the most magnificent. Each of its seven volumes is written in gold and has a superb frontispiece combining intricate geometric patterns with ornamental script. It was made in Cairo between 1304 and 1306 (704-5 in the Islamic calendar) for a high-ranking court official called Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Jashnagir, who later became Baybars II, ruler of the Mamluk Sultanate. This manuscript is the earliest dated Qur'an from the Mamluk period.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This is an unusual example of the Prophet Muhammad pictured in an Islamic manuscript. It comes from a royal miniature made to illustrate a copy of the poems of the celebrated Persian Nizami, and depicts the Prophet's ascension to heaven on the horse Buraq.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This elegantly decorated manuscript from Persia shows how much expertise and care could be lavished on religious legal documents: it is a collection of case law, compiled for the benefit of jurors.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

This lavish certificate records the marriage of the last Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah II (r. 1837-57) to Zinat Mahall Begam in India on 18 November 1840.


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

The annual hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, has involved Muslims from all round the world for over a thousand years. This prayer book contains two miniature paintings of the holy cities of Mecca (where the black Ka'bah is clearly visible) and Medina.


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## paw25694 (Nov 21, 2006)

may i know what's the point of this thread??


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## Mahratta (Feb 18, 2007)

^^ Yeah, I have no clue what the point of this thread is... Holy Books... thats nice...


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## goschio (Dec 2, 2002)

:lock:


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## arriaca (Feb 28, 2006)

Redalinho said:


> This is a rare example of a Qur'an which survived the Christian reconquest of Spain - the expulsion of Islam from the peninsula under Ferdinand and Isabella, a process largely completed by 1492, when their recapture of Granada earned them the title 'the Catholic Monarchs'.



hno: 


*Stop lies*


Do you know something of History?


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## Redalinho (May 15, 2006)

@ the Nigel Effect and goschio: It’s an exhibition organised by Morocco & the United Kingdom inside the British Library and that brings together some of the world's most important and beautiful religious texts for the first time:cheers: 

@ Arriaca, you are pathetic as well, tis text is from http://www.bl.uk/sacred :nuts: 
You can send them an email and tell them that they are racist


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## gamayun (Feb 26, 2007)

paw25694 said:


> may i know what's the point of this thread??


Hon, this is fine art. It has nothing to do with religion.


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## arriaca (Feb 28, 2006)

Redalinho said:


> @ the Nigel Effect and goschio: It’s an exhibition organised by Morocco & the United Kingdom inside the British Library and that brings together some of the world's most important and beautiful religious texts for the first time:cheers:
> 
> @ Arriaca, you are pathetic as well, t*his text is from http://www.bl.uk/sacred :nuts:
> You can send them an email and tell them that they are racist*


*

Well...

You must response of your words. Use quote and url if if appointments texts of other people. Ok you have committed two failures, I hope mods make their work and banned you. 

And please, stop crying about racism. Spanish people can´t speak in Moroccan Forum about Ceuta, Melilla or Western Sahara. Is not that racism?*


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## Insanedriver (Oct 18, 2006)

Speaking of art... i thought that muhhamad's face cannot be shown to the non-muslims according to the muslims...
because muhhamad's face in our library's history books were covered with crayons... The librarian explained this...


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## Mahratta (Feb 18, 2007)

arriaca said:


> Well...
> 
> You must response of your words. Use quote and url if if appointments texts of other people. Ok you have committed two failures, I hope mods make their work and banned you.
> 
> And please, stop crying about racism. Spanish people can´t speak in Moroccan Forum about Ceuta, Melilla or Western Sahara. Is not that racism?


What the hell are you talking about? If anything, YOU should be banned for flaming and trolling this thread!


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## paw25694 (Nov 21, 2006)

Insanedriver said:


> Speaking of art... i thought that muhhamad's face cannot be shown to the non-muslims according to the muslims...
> because muhhamad's face in our library's history books were covered with crayons... The librarian explained this...


Drawing/painting Muhammad, is totally forbidden. So eventhough you're a Muslim, you wont find a Muhammad pic/painting/else, since it's forbidden for everyone (based from the Islamic Law) to draw him..


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## goschio (Dec 2, 2002)

So now I have seen Mohammeds face here on SSC. Will he kill me now?


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

Insanedriver said:


> Speaking of art... i thought that muhhamad's face cannot be shown to the non-muslims according to the muslims...
> because muhhamad's face in our library's history books were covered with crayons... The librarian explained this...


What the hell? :crazy:

Muslims don't draw our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) for that stupid reason. Islam considers any kind of drawing of any prophet idol worship, something that was common in pre-Islamic Arabia.

The beautiful Arabic calligraphy was a response for that.


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## Maxx☢Power (Nov 16, 2005)

Nice thread. Lots of interesting and beautiful artwork here.


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## lucknowii sky (Oct 29, 2006)

goschio said:


> So now I have seen Mohammeds face here on SSC. Will *he* kill me now?



who??


> Speaking of art... i thought that muhhamad's face cannot be shown to the non-muslims according to the muslims...
> because muhhamad's face in our library's history books were covered with crayons... The librarian explained this...


phophet(p.b.u.h) face is not drawn , you woldnt find drawing of him anywhere, becuase its forbidden in islam because of two reason...
1.) so that people dont start worship his potrait
2.) prophet is too superior to draw, most beautiful image in world cant be compared to him.


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