KARACHI, Aug 29: An exhibition of rare Quranic manuscripts opened at the National Museum of Pakistan on Monday. The display, which will last till Sept 15, was inaugurated by Sindh Culture Secretary Abdul Aziz Uqaili.

There were more than a dozen precious and beautiful copies of the Holy Quran, a few of which were not accompanied by relevant captions, keeping the general public unaware of their origins. Those that did have details given alongside them were easier to appreciate.

Among the rare manuscripts in the exhibition, one was published in 1694 AD in Europe. It’s one of the first printed copies of the Holy Quran in Arabic, bound in cream colour vellum, in green and watered silk. It could not be ascertained in which European country it was published. According to the information provided by the museum, the publishing of the nuskha was the first ‘encounter’ of the West of the holy book in its original form. Another marked feature of the exhibit is that its title is written in two languages — Arabic and Latin.

A copy of the Holy Quran transcribed on a piece of paper in the Ghubari Naskh script (12th century Hijra, 18th century AD) caught the attention of the small number of guests, which included cultural officer of US consulate Tony M. Jones. Alongside it, in the same showcase, was another piece of Quranic calligraphy on paper (11th century Hijra, 17th century AD). They’re remarkable exhibits indicative of the kind of detailing and decorations that calligraphers in those days employed.

Portions and fragments of early Kufic Qurans were put up on the walls. There were also exhibits of some special folios, two of which (Egypt, 4th century Hijra, 10th century AD) nicely underlined the hard work that had gone into the script. The front cover and flap of another nuskha had the description that its decoration was done by Muhammad Mudhahhib al-Sultan (Turkey, 1264 century Hijra, 1848 century AD). It’s an awe-inspiring work. No different was the sight of a copy scripted in 1447 AD in Gujarat, India displayed at the corner of the exhibition hall.

Prior to the exhibition opening, the culture secretary told the gathering that the government intended to upgrade the national museum, including its sprawling gardens.