In the Iraqi city of Halabja, the Holy Quran, which was handwritten about 150 years ago, continues to be carefully preserved by the people of the region.
A copy of the Holy Quran written by the Ottoman calligraphist Ahmed Dareyani has been preserved until today.
The work, which begins with a prayer for the Ottoman sultans and is believed to have been completed in 1883, was entrusted to Seyed Nureddin Serget, an imam in rural Halabja, in 1966.
After Serget, the copy was preserved by the cleric Abu Bakr Nureddin Habib.
Abu Bakr Nur al-Din Habib, a cleric from Halabja, said that the ink used in the writing of the Holy Quran was obtained from tree leaves and that each page was specially designed and framed in three different colors.
Habib said, “The paper used is also yellow. At that time, in madrassas, the paper was colored yellow with saffron. Because the yellow color was preferred at that time because it was easy on the eyes.”
Stating that it is not known when this work started to be written, Habib emphasized that the calligrapher Dareyani wrote the date of 1304 AH, which corresponds to 1883 AD.
“O Lord, grant our (Ottoman) sultans the spirit of victory”
Habib said that the prayer at the entrance of the Holy Quran, “O Lord, grant our sultans the spirit of victory and grant success to our military forces,” was made for the Ottoman sultans.
Habib, who has been protecting the Holy Quran with great devotion for years, said, “We inherited this artifact and we have a duty to protect it. The Iraqi Museum wanted to buy it for a high price, but we refused.”
