AhlulBayt News Agency: The State Museum of Oriental Arts recently presented a large-scale exhibition, "Moscow Qurans — The Truth of the most Beautiful", dedicated to the 1,100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by Volzhskaya Bulgaria (today Republic of Tatarstan) in Russia.
The exposition in six halls tells about the origin of the Quranic text, its meaning, the history and origin of the Quran manuscripts, as well as the artistic features of the copies, handwriting and traditions in which they are made.
The exhibition features 40 unique copies of the Muslim holy book dated from the 10th to the 19th centuries from various collections.
They include the State Museum of Oriental Arts itself, the Marjani Foundation, the Russian State Library, the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Scientific Library of Moscow State Institute (University) of Foreign Relations (MGIMO) of Foreign Affairs ministry of the Russian Federation, the Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Scientific Library of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, All-Russian State Library for Foreign Literature.
Collected together, the Qurans tell about the development of the art of copying the holy book over almost 1,000 years in a vast expanse of the globe — from the Maghreb to Kashmir, from the Volga region to Iran and from India to Dagestan (Russia).
According to Muslim beliefs, the Arabic book and the art of writing owe their appearance to divine intervention, being thus the embodiment of the word of God and sacred art. The first Arabic book was the Quran, a divine revelation sent down to people through Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century AD — as the Islamic creed says.
Deputy Chairman of the Muslim Administration for Education and Science of the Russian Federation Renat Islyamov called the exhibition a very important event: "We treat such events with great trepidation, where books on the history of Islam are exhibited, especially the Quran, which is the best interlocutor at any time…".
By the way, the first Quran in Russia was published in 1787 by decree of Empress Catherine the Great. The publication of the Quran is connected, first of all, with the policy of the Russian state at the end of the 18th century.
The task of Catherine the Great was to win over numerous subjects and achieve their loyalty including by granting freedom of religion to various denominations that were represented on the territory of the Russian Empire. These are all world religions. And, Islam is one of them.
This was also done due to the fact that the Empress was repeatedly approached by representatives of Islamic population in Russia who said that they had to buy Quran from abroad and it involved a lot of money.
In addition, the first translation of the Quran into Russian was by M.I. Verevkin (1732-1795) in 1790. This translation inspired the Russian poet, A.S. Pushkin, on the creation of the poem, "Imitation of the Quran" (1824).
Pushkin was particularly attracted by the philosophical aspects and moral values of the Islamic Holy Book.
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The exposition in six halls tells about the origin of the Quranic text, its meaning, the history and origin of the Quran manuscripts, as well as the artistic features of the copies, handwriting and traditions in which they are made.
The exhibition features 40 unique copies of the Muslim holy book dated from the 10th to the 19th centuries from various collections.
They include the State Museum of Oriental Arts itself, the Marjani Foundation, the Russian State Library, the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Scientific Library of Moscow State Institute (University) of Foreign Relations (MGIMO) of Foreign Affairs ministry of the Russian Federation, the Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Scientific Library of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, All-Russian State Library for Foreign Literature.
Collected together, the Qurans tell about the development of the art of copying the holy book over almost 1,000 years in a vast expanse of the globe — from the Maghreb to Kashmir, from the Volga region to Iran and from India to Dagestan (Russia).
According to Muslim beliefs, the Arabic book and the art of writing owe their appearance to divine intervention, being thus the embodiment of the word of God and sacred art. The first Arabic book was the Quran, a divine revelation sent down to people through Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century AD — as the Islamic creed says.
Deputy Chairman of the Muslim Administration for Education and Science of the Russian Federation Renat Islyamov called the exhibition a very important event: "We treat such events with great trepidation, where books on the history of Islam are exhibited, especially the Quran, which is the best interlocutor at any time…".
By the way, the first Quran in Russia was published in 1787 by decree of Empress Catherine the Great. The publication of the Quran is connected, first of all, with the policy of the Russian state at the end of the 18th century.
The task of Catherine the Great was to win over numerous subjects and achieve their loyalty including by granting freedom of religion to various denominations that were represented on the territory of the Russian Empire. These are all world religions. And, Islam is one of them.
This was also done due to the fact that the Empress was repeatedly approached by representatives of Islamic population in Russia who said that they had to buy Quran from abroad and it involved a lot of money.
In addition, the first translation of the Quran into Russian was by M.I. Verevkin (1732-1795) in 1790. This translation inspired the Russian poet, A.S. Pushkin, on the creation of the poem, "Imitation of the Quran" (1824).
Pushkin was particularly attracted by the philosophical aspects and moral values of the Islamic Holy Book.
/129