Polosin V.V. Ibn Muqla and the Qur'anic Manuscripts in Oblong Format // Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph. Liban: Beyrouth, 2006. Vol. LIX. P. 309-317.
The problem of the oblong format which was chosen for this paper is, in a way, the result of the relatively recent reclassification of the different types of Kufic by F. Deroche1 and of resulting revision in the dating of corresponding manuscripts. This revision dates the manuscripts in question to the Early Abbasid period and no earlier. Consequently the redated Qur'ans—all in oblong format and in Kufic script—are now sandwiched between another two groups of Qur'anic manuscripts, both in vertical format and in scripts other than Kufic.
Thanks to this redating, an alternation of formats was noticed. Scholarly interest was excited by the fact that in the Early Abbasid period the ancient Qur'anic codices formerly in vertical format began to be executed in horizontal or oblong format. This innovation continued to be employed until at least the 10th century A.D. Then the vertical format returned, and manuscripts assumed the original form…
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