Codicology of the Qurʾānic Manuscripts (19): Yaḥyā b. Hibatullāh al-Ḥusaynī in Bayhaq: Transcribing and Endowment of a Qurʾānic Manuscript at the Shrine of Imām al-Riḍā in the Sixth/Twelfth Century

ʿImād al-Dīn Abū Muhammad Yaḥyā b. Hibatullāh al-Ḥusaynī was a renowned Shia scholar and a well-respected, well-to-do member of the Sādāt who lived in the fifth and sixth centuries AH. He was a prominent figure in the Bayhaq region, holding the position of leadership among Shia. Ancient sources praised him as a brilliant scholar and poet in both Persian and Arabic languages, earning him the title “Ṣāḥib al-Qurʾān” due to his deep attachment to the Holy Qurʾan. Yet, a thorough search of the Āstān Quds Library’s endowment records reveals that Yaḥyā ibn Hibatullāh al-Ḥusaynī and his grandson, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā b. Hibatullāh al-Ḥusaynī, endowed two significant Qurʾānic manuscripts to the Shrine of Imām al-Riḍā in the sixth century, which has hitherto remained unknown and unreported.
The Qurʾān of Yaḥyā b. Hibatullāh Ḥusaynī is a masterpiece of Qurʾānic writing in Iran during the sixth century AH, beautifully crafted by a Shia scholar from the Ḥusaynī Sādāt in Bayhaq and dedicated to the Shrine of Imām al-Riḍā in 535 AH/ 1140 AD. In fact, the scribe originally meant to create a work of art for dedication to the Shrine, and lavished it with exquisite decorative and illuminative elements throughout its entirety. The manuscript’s textual features, including its reading variants (which does not conform to a specific reading tradition), adherence to analogical orthography in writing Qurʾānic words, use of the Basra system of verse counting, and similar characteristics, are consistent with Sunni Qurʾānic writing in central Iran and Greater Khorasan during this period. Two distinctive features of this manuscript stand out: the scribe’s explicit intention to dedicate the work to the Shrine of Imām al-Riḍā, marked by beautiful calligraphy at the beginning and end of each part, and the use of striking decorative and illuminative elements throughout the manuscript.