Safavid miniature Qur'an

Written in a flawless miniaturised script known as ghubari (from the Arabic ghubar, meaning “dust”) with a minute sharp nib, this miniature Qur’an might have served his owner more as a protective device rather than an actual book to read and consult. The manuscript would have originally fitted into a small octagonal box with loops and hooks to be carried around, tied on the upper arm with strings or sewn on clothes or robe lining. Miniature Qur’ans had an important protective function for their carriers; small pieces of parchment with Qur’anic passages were already used, rolled in small pendants, in the first centuries of the Islamic history. It is likely that soldiers heading to battle would have worn copies of the Qur’an such as this one around their necks, seeking protection that derives from the baraka of the divine message. Sources from the Ottoman period inform us that miniature Qur’an manuscripts were also stitched on banners to be carrier on the battlefield.