Ramadan 2023: Exhibition of rare manuscripts of handwritten Quran started at Srinagar SPS Museum

The Shri Pratap Singh Museum in Srinagar on Thursday launched an exhibition of rare manuscripts of the Quran. Some of the manuscripts on display belong to the 18th century. It is just a coincidence that this weekly exhibition coincides with the beginning of Ramzan. While Muslims in Kashmir and Kerala are celebrating Ramzan from Thursday, other parts of the country will celebrate it from Friday.

Museum curator Rabia Qureshi said that this is the first time we are organizing an exhibition of manuscripts. As it is the beginning of the holy month of Ramzan, we wanted to make people aware of these manuscripts, so that they can enhance their knowledge. The museum houses manuscripts on a wide variety of subjects, but the exhibition was limited to manuscripts of the Quran.

He said that one of the manuscripts is more than 230 years old and was written on Kashmiri paper using pure gold and black ink. No chemicals were used. Apart from this, there is Tafsir Kabir written in 1209 Hijri which you can call the year 1757 in normal language, and Qaseed-e-Burd-e-Sharif written in the year 1905, and Imam Al Basri's manuscript.

E-Dalikho Khairat, written in praise of the Prophet of Islam Hazrat Mohammad, is also kept in the exhibition. Athar Samoon, a student of calligraphy, said that it is a very good step taken by the Department of Archeology and Archives to organize a week-long exhibition of Quran manuscripts. This type of exhibition is being organized by the department on various occasions, which is encouraging. There has been a decline in calligraphy art during the last 30 years. But now the new generation is adopting this art again.

Shahid Ahmed, another youth, said that we are seeing old manuscripts here which were written by hand. Present-day computer prints may contain errors, but there are no errors in these manuscripts. Through these exhibitions, we get to know about our history. Athar Samoon, a student of Katabat, said that this initiative of the Archeology and Archives Department is very commendable. For the first time, an exhibition of rare manuscripts of the Quran is being held here.

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