Heritage: Aligarh has 400 years old rare manuscripts of Quran, decorated with gold and precious stones.

AligarhMany historical and rare things are present in Aligarh, the city of locks and education, One of these is Ibne Sina Academy of Aligarh, whose many manuscripts take us straight to the corridors of history, Here is the treasury, where priceless, hand-written books of the Mughal and Sultanate period of India have been preserved, The biggest attraction of this collection are the manuscripts of Quran Sharif which are not just texts but wonderful examples of art, These are decorated with gold and precious stones, These manuscripts remind us of that old era when every book of knowledge was written by hand and the artisans who made them used to gift their art to the emperors,

Giving information, the director of the academy, Zia ur Rehman says that the Quran of the Mughal period is an important part of the collection of manuscripts present in our library. We have about 24 manuscripts of Quran Sharif here. The biggest feature of these manuscripts is their excellent penmanship and calligraphy. Tilakari i.e. gold work has been used in their decoration. In addition to gold, precious stones such as ruby ​​and turquoise were ground and used to make decorative inks. Generally, the first page of every Quran Sharif is more decorated, although in some, very beautiful work has been done on the border of each page, which is completely filled with gold.

Zia ur Rehman said that these rare copies were usually prepared by calligraphers and presented to kings or great nobles. It is important to note that despite its historical importance, it is always advisable to read the Quran in printed form, as there is a possibility of the writer making a mistake. Therefore it is forbidden to read it in manuscript form. This Quran Sharif present with us has been under the close watch and protection of great scholars and scholars for centuries. Some of these are our family heritage, while some have been donated to this library by people. There are many galleries in our library and one of them is exclusively dedicated to manuscripts. These manuscripts belong to the period when books were unpublished, because the printing press came to India around the 16th century. Before the 16th century, all works were written by hand.

He said that apart from Quran Sharif, this collection also includes manuscripts on many other subjects. Such as on medicine, poetry, tasawwuf, seerat (biographies of prophets) and treatment of animals. There is also some collection of documents like farman i.e. royal orders. These manuscripts are mostly 300 to 400 years old and mainly from the Mughal period, although we also have some rare items from the pre-Mughal i.e. late Sultanate period. We try to keep them on display on special occasions.