Report on the 8th Conference on Manuscripts Titled: The Holy Quran from Revelation to Codicology

Abstract

This report reviews the proceedings of the 8th International Conference organized by the Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation in Istanbul, titled "The Holy Qur’an from Revelation to Codification." The conference was convened in response to the extensive scholarly and media discourse following the University of Birmingham’s 2015 announcement regarding the radiocarbon dating of early Qur’anic manuscript fragments. It addressed the subsequent Orientalist claims that sought to cast doubt on the historical integrity of the Qur’anic text. The conference aimed to provide a robust scholarly Islamic perspective on the history of codification, emphasizing the necessity of indexing, digitizing, and providing researchers access to early manuscripts, while offering a critical analysis of Western projects such as the Corpus Coranicum.

The conference featured thirteen specialized researchers who presented twelve scholarly papers. These papers covered rigorous thematic axes, including the project of the Uthmanic Codices, orthographic signs (Dabt) in manuscripts from the 1st to the 4th centuries AH, and the impact of the "Seven Modes" (al-Ahruf al-Sab'ah) on the codification of the text. Furthermore, discussions focused on critiquing the methodology of the Orientalist school and maintaining a precise distinction between the stage of "Compilation" (Jam') during the caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq and the stage of "Transcription" (Naskh) during the caliphate of Uthman bin Affan. Researchers utilized codicological and historical evidence to refute doubts raised concerning the authenticity and the certainty of the Qur’an's transmission (al-Naql al-Yaqini).

The conference concluded with strategic recommendations, most notably the necessity of translating the presented research into foreign languages to engage with the Western academic mindset and adopting a comprehensive project for the care of early Qur’anic manuscripts. Participants called for the establishment of a specialized scientific center for the history of the Masahif (codices), the publication of a scholarly encyclopedia to highlight the Islamic historical perspective, and the coordination with other institutions to enhance digital and bibliographic research in global Qur’anic studies.