1 Ali Akbar - The Influence of Ottoman Qur'ans

Proceedings of the British Academy • 200
FROM ANATOLIA TO ACEH

Ottomans, Turks and
Southeast Asia
Edited by
A. C. S. Peacock and
Annabel Teh Gallop
Published for THE BRITISH academy

by OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
00_Anatolia to Aceh_i-xvi.indd 3 08/01/2015 14:29

Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp
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Contents
List of Figures and Tables vii

Notes on Contributors ix
Acknowledgementsxiii
Maps
The Ottoman Empire and the Indian Ocean in the late sixteenth
century xiv
The Ottoman Empire and colonial Southeast Asia, c. 1900 xv
Editorial Note xvi
1. Introduction. Islam, Trade and Politics Across the Indian Ocean:
Imagination and Reality 1
a. c. s. peacock and annabel teh gallop
2. Rum and Jawa: The Vicissitudes of Documenting a Long-Distance
Relationship25
anthony reid
Part I: The Political and Economic Relationship from the Sixteenth
to the Nineteenth Century
3. From Istanbul with Love: Rumours, Conspiracies and Commercial
Competition in Aceh–Ottoman Relations, 1550s to 1570s 47
jorge santos alves
4. The Economic Relationship between the Ottoman Empire and
Southeast Asia in the Seventeenth Century 63
a. c. s. peacock
5. Hadhrami Mediators of Ottoman Influence in Southeast Asia 89
jeyamalar kathirithamby-wells
6. The Ottoman Caliphate and Muslims of the Philippine Archipelago
during the Early Modern Era 121
isaac donoso
Part II: Interactions in the Colonial Era
7. The Ottomans and Southeast Asia Prior to the Hamidian Era: A
Critique of Colonial Perceptions of Ottoman–Southeast Asian
Interaction149
İsmaİl hakki kadi

vi Contents
8. Acehnese Appeals for Ottoman Protection in the Late Nineteenth

Century175
İsmaİl hakki göksoy
9. Middle Eastern States and the Philippines under Early American
Rule, 1898–1919 199
william g. clarence-smith
10. ‘We Hope to Raise the Bendera Stambul’: British Forward
Movement and the Caliphate on the Malay Peninsula 221
amrita malhi
11. Indonesian Readings of Turkish History, 1890s to 1940s 241
chiara formichi
Part III: Cultural and Intellectual Influences
12. Representation of the Turkic–Turkish Theme in Traditional Malay
Literature, with Special Reference to the Works of the Fourteenth
to Mid-Seventeenth Centuries 263
vladimir braginsky
13. New Textual Evidence for Intellectual and Religious Connections
between the Ottomans and Aceh 293
oman fathurahman
14. The Influence of Ottoman Qur’ans in Southeast Asia Through
the Ages 311
ali akbar
Index335

Notes on Contributors
Ali Akbar works at Bayt al-Qur’an and Museum Istiqlal, Jakarta. He

has conducted research on manuscript and printed Qur’ans in Indonesian
collections since 2003 through his work at the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
His publications include ‘Tracing Individual Styles: Islamic Calligraphy
from Nusantara’, Lektur (2007), and as co-author, ‘The Art of the Qur’an
in Banten: Calligraphy and Illumination’, Archipel (2006). His blog (in
Indonesian) on the Qur’an in Southeast Asia can be found at www.quran-
nusantara.blogspot.com.
Jorge Santos Alves is Professor at the Faculty of Human Sciences,

Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, and Coordinator of the Asian
Studies Consortium. His research and teaching interests are mainly in the
history of Southeast Asia, China (Macau) and the Indian Ocean area, and
on the history of the Portuguese in Asia. His publications as editor include
Portugal and Indonésia: History of the Political and Diplomatic Relations
(1509–1974), 2 vols (Macao and Lisbon, 2013); Fernão Mendes Pinto and
the Peregrinação: Studies, Restored Text, Notes and Indexes, 4 vols (Lisbon,
2010); and Macau: The First Century of an International Port (Lisbon,
2007).
Vladimir Braginsky is Professor Emeritus and Professorial Research

Associate at the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at the School of Oriental
and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He was Professor of
Languages and Cultures of Southeast Asia at SOAS from 1993 to 2010. His
main fields of research are Malay and Indonesian literatures, Sufism in the
Malay archipelago, and comparative literature. His major publications include
Images of Nusantara in Russian Literature (Leiden, 1999) (co-authored with
E. M. Diakonova); The Comparative Study of Traditional Asian Literatures
(Richmond VA, 2001); The Heritage of Traditional Malay Literature (Leiden,
2004); and And Sails the Boat Downstream: Malay Sufi Poems of the Boat
(Leiden, 2007).
William Gervase Clarence-Smith is Professor of the Economic History of

Asia and Africa at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of
London, where he teaches Southeast Asian history. He is chief editor of the
Journal of Global History. He is author of Islam and the Abolition of Slavery

x Notes on Contributors
(London, 2006) and co-edited Hadhrami Traders, Scholars and Statesmen in

the Indian Ocean, 1750s to 1960s (Leiden, 1997). He is currently researching
the history of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa in Southeast
Asia and beyond. He also researches the history of other diasporas, slavery,
sexuality, transport, and tropical agriculture and livestock.
Isaac Donoso teaches at the University of Alicante in Spain. He was winner

in 2004 and 2008 of the Ibn al-Abbar research prize — the most important
Spanish award in Islamic Studies — and was awarded the Premio Juan Andrés
de Ensayo e Investigación en Ciencias Humanas in 2010. His publications
include the first critical edition of Noli me tangere (Quezon City, 2011) and
a volume of the prose of José Rizal (Madrid, 2012), and as editor More
Hispanic Than We Admit: Insights into Philippine Cultural History (Quezon
City, 2008), Historia cultural de la lengua española en Filipinas: ayer y
hoy (Madrid, 2012) and most recently Islamic Far East: Ethnogenesis of
Philippine Islam (Quezon City, 2013).
Oman Fathurahman is Professor of Philology at the Faculty of Adab and

Humanities, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University of Jakarta. He
is the President of the Indonesian Association for Nusantara Manuscripts,
or Masyarakat Pernaskahan Nusantara (MANASSA), and editor of Studia
Islamika, an Indonesian journal for Islamic Studies. His publications include
‘Ithaf al-Dhaki by Ibrahim al-Kurani: A Commentary of Wahdat al-Wujud
for Jawi Audiences’, Archipel (2011), and, as co-author, The Library of an
Islamic Scholar of Mindanao: The Shaykh Muhammad Said Collection at
the Al-Imam As-Sadiq (AS) Library, Marawi City, Philippines: An Annotated
Catalogue with Essays (Tokyo, forthcoming). He is currently working
on a project to develop a database of Nusantara Southeast Asian Islamic
Manuscripts.
Chiara Formichi is Assistant Professor in Southeast Asian Humanities

(Islam) at Cornell University. Her research focuses on the relationship
between Islam and the state, and the impact of this relationship on Asia’s
diverse societies; her publications have approached the theme from three
border-crossing perspectives: political Islam and nationalist ideologies,
secularism as a marker of socio-political modernity, and issues of sectarianism,
orthodoxy and religious pluralism. Her publications include the monograph
Islam and the Making of the Nation: Kartosuwiryo and Political Islam in 20th
Century Indonesia (Leiden, 2012), the edited volumes Shi≤ism in Southeast
Asia (with R. Michael Feener) (London, 2014) and Religious Pluralism, State
and Society in Asia (London, 2013), and a number of articles published in
Indonesia, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies and Die Welt des Islams.

Notes on Contributors xi
Annabel Teh Gallop is Lead Curator for Southeast Asian studies at the
British Library. Her main research interests are in Malay manuscripts, letters,
documents and seals, and the art of the Qur’an in Southeast Asia. Recent
publications include Lasting Impressions: Seals from the Islamic World,
co-authored with Venetia Porter (Kuala Lumpur, 2012), and ‘Gold, Silver
and Lapis Lazuli: Royal Letters from Aceh in the Seventeenth Century’, in
Mapping the Acehnese Past (Leiden, 2011). With Andrew Peacock, she was
co-director of the British Academy-funded research project Islam, Trade and
Politics Across the Indian Ocean.
İsmail Hakkı Göksoy is Professor of Islamic history at the Theology Faculty

of Süleyman Demirel University in Isparta, Turkey. His main research
interest is the Islamic history of Southeast Asia and the contemporary Muslim
world. He has written widely on Islam in Southeast Asia and contributed
to the Turkish Encyclopaedia of Islam. His major books in Turkish include
Güneydoğu Asya’da Osmanlı-Türk Tesirleri (Isparta, 2004). Articles in English
include ‘The Policy of Dutch Government towards Islam in Indonesia’, The
American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (2002), ‘Dutch Policy towards
the Indonesian Haj’, İslam Araştırmaları Dergisi / Turkish Journal of Islamic
Studies (1998) and ‘Ottoman–Aceh Relations as Documented in Turkish
Sources’, in Mapping the Acehnese Past (Leiden, 2011).
İsmail Hakkı Kadı is Assistant Professor at Istanbul Medeniyet University

where he teaches economic and social history of the Ottoman Empire. His
research focuses on various aspects of Ottoman–Dutch interaction in the early
modern period as well as on Ottoman interaction with Southeast Asia during
the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Published chapters in books
include ‘On the Edges of an Ottoman World: Non-Muslim Ottoman Merchants
in Amsterdam’, in The Ottoman World (London, 2012); ‘Writing History: The
Acehnese Embassy to Istanbul, 1849–1852’ (with A. C. S. Peacock and A. T.
Gallop), in Mapping the Acehnese Past (Leiden, 2011); and ‘A Silence of the
Guilds? Some Characteristics of Izmir’s Craftsmen Organizations in the 18th
and Early 19th Century’, in Ottoman Izmir: Studies in honour of Alexander
H. De Groot (Leiden, 2007).
Jeyamalar Kathirithamby-Wells formerly held the Chair of Asian History

at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, and is currently affiliated to
the Centre of South Asian Studies and Clare Hall, Cambridge University.
Research into the Hadhramis of Southeast Asia has grown out of her long
interest in trade flows in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asian natural
resources and state formation. Her publications include The Southeast Asian
Port and Polity, co-edited with John Villiers (Singapore, 1990), and Nature

xii Notes on Contributors
and Nation: Forests and Development in Peninsular Malaysia (Honolulu,

2005), as well as contributions to the Cambridge History of Southeast Asia
(Cambridge, 1992) and the Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian History
(London, 2013).
Amrita Malhi is a Research Fellow at the University of South Australia,

where she works on Malaysian history and politics in transnational contexts.
She is interested in processes of enclosure and circulation which have shaped
political spaces and subjectivities from the colonial period to the present. Her
publications include ‘Making Spaces, Making Subjects: Land, Enclosure
and Islam in Malaya’, Journal of Peasant Studies (2011). She is currently
working towards a monograph on the Caliphate and the colonial geo-culture
in a 1928 uprising in Malaya, supported by a Social Science Research Council
Postdoctoral Fellowship for Transregional Research, with funds provided by
the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Andrew Peacock is Reader in Middle Eastern History at the University of

St Andrews. His interests include the political and intellectual history of
the Islamic world, and manuscripts and epigraphy, especially in Arabic and
Persian. He has worked extensively on early Turkish history. His publications
include Mediaeval Islamic Historiography and Political Legitimacy (London,
2007), Early Seljuq History (London, 2010) and The Great Seljuk Empire
(Edinburgh, 2015), and, as editor, The Frontiers of the Ottoman World,
Proceedings of the British Academy, 156 (London, 2009). He also has
research interests in the links between the Middle East and the broader Indian
Ocean world, and was co-director of the British Academy-funded research
project Islam, Trade and Politics Across the Indian Ocean.
Anthony Reid is a Southeast Asian historian, based as Emeritus Professor

at the Australian National University, after retiring as Director of the Asia
Research Institute at NUS, Singapore (2002–7). Some recent and relevant
books include An Indonesian Frontier: Acehnese and other Histories of
Sumatra (Singapore, 2004), Imperial Alchemy: Nationalism and Political
Identity in Southeast Asia (Cambridge, 2010) and To Nation by Revolution:
Indonesia in the 20th Century (Singapore, 2011), and as editor or co-editor
Verandah of Violence: The Historical Background of the Aceh Problem
(Singapore, 2006), Islamic Legitimacy in a Plural Asia (London, 2008),
The New Cambridge History of Islam, III (Cambridge, 2011) and Indonesia
Rising: The Repositioning of Asia’s Third Giant (Singapore, 2012).

Acknowledgements
The editors are very grateful to the British Academy and to the Board for
Academy-Sponsored Institutes and Societies (BASIS) for funding the
project Islam, Trade and Politics Across the Indian Ocean, which has given
rise to this volume. The project was conceived as a collaboration between
two BASIS-supported organisations, the British Institute of Archaeology
at Ankara (BIAA) and the Association for South-East Asian Studies in the
UK (ASEASUK). The papers published here derive in large part from those
presented at the final project workshop, under the same title as this volume,
held in Banda Aceh on 11–12 January 2012 through the assistance of the
project’s partners in Aceh, the International Centre for Aceh and Indian Ocean
Studies (ICAIOS) and the Postgraduate Programme of the State Islamic
Institute (IAIN) Ar-Raniry. We would like to take the opportunity to express
our special thanks to Saiful Mahdi of ICAIOS and his team for their help in
organising the workshop. Claire McCafferty also assisted with the financial
administration of the project. We would also like to thank Dr Paul Churchill
for his contribution to editing the papers in this volume.

14
The Influence of Ottoman Qur’ans in

Southeast Asia Through the Ages
ALI AKBAR
The tradition of copying Qur’an manuscripts in Southeast Asia had probably

started by the time Islam became the state religion of the kingdom of Pasai
by the end of the thirteenth century. Ibn Battutah (1304–69), who had visited
Pasai around 1345, reported that the sultan often attended Qur’an recitation
sessions, and took part in religious discussions with the people.1 The fact
that Qur’an recitation sessions were being held at this time offers reasonable
grounds for assuming that the copying of Qur’an manuscripts had commenced
in the region. Nonetheless, the oldest Southeast Asian Qur’an manuscript
known today is Rotterdam MS 96 D 16 from Johor, which was presented to a
Dutch official in 1606, and is presently held in Rotterdam Municipal Library,
the Netherlands.2 The tradition of copying Qur’an manuscripts continued in
Southeast Asia until the end of the nineteenth century, and known centres
of Qur’an production include Patani, Terengganu, Aceh, Riau, Padang,
Palembang, Banten, Cirebon, Yogyakarta, Solo, Madura, Lombok, Sumbawa,
Bima, Banjarmasin, Samarinda, Makassar, and places in the Moluccas,
including Ternate. Considerable numbers of these valuable heritage items are
now held in various libraries, museums and Islamic colleges ( pesantren), as
well as by families who have inherited them and private collectors.
The first part of this chapter traces the influence of Ottoman Qur’ans in
Southeast Asia, both in manuscript and print, while the second part looks at the
influence of Ottoman Qur’ans in Indonesia from the middle of the twentieth
century to the present day. Ottoman influence is discussed with reference to
calligraphy, illumination and page layout.
T. Mackintosh-Smith (ed.), The Travels of Ibn Battutah (London, 2003), p. 256.

1
P. G. Riddell, ‘Rotterdam MS 96 D 16: The Oldest Known Surviving Qur’an from the Malay
2
World’, Indonesia and the Malay World, 30:86 (2002), 9–20.
Proceedings of the British Academy 200, 311–334. © The British Academy 2015.
14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 311 26/11/2014 11:19

312 Ali Akbar
Ottoman Qur’ans in Southeast Asia
The primary method of judging the likely influence of Ottoman Qur’ans in

Southeast Asia is the presence of original Ottoman Qur’ans in Southeast
Asia itself, as well as Ottoman influences reflected in Southeast Asian
Qur’ans. A number of original Ottoman Qur’an manuscripts are found in
public and private collections in Southeast Asia, and can be identified as
such on the basis of their calligraphy and illumination. The characteristic
features of Ottoman calligraphy are evident in the distinctive and fine
anatomy of the letter forms. The calligraphic styles that are used are Naskh,
Thuluth and Riqa≥: Naskh is used for the text of the Qur’an, while Thuluth
and Riqa≥ are used for sūrah headings and colophons. As for illumination,
Ottoman Qur’ans are generally characterised by decorative frames with a
fundamentally rectangular format, along with certain distinctive decorative
features. Ottoman Qur’ans normally have on the initial illuminated pages a
thick outer band of floral decoration, from which rays of tiny floral motifs
Figure 14.1. Ottoman Qur’an manuscript. Collection of Prabu Diraja, Palembang, South
Sumatra.

Influence of Ottoman Qur’ans in Southeast Asia 313
Figure 14.2. Ottoman Qur’an manuscript. Collection of Mpu Tantular State Museum, Sidoarjo,
East Java.
project towards the edges of the page, while to left and right of the gutter
of the book are decorative borders that stretch vertically to the edges of the
paper.
Among the original Ottoman Qur’ans found in Southeast Asia is a
manuscript belonging to Prabu Diraja, a descendant of the sultans of
Palembang, who inherited it from his family, as part of the royal regalia
(Figure 14.1). The owner himself is unaware of (or does not acknowledge) the
foreign origins of this manuscript. The decorative and calligraphic grounds
outlined above would nevertheless identify it as an Ottoman rather than an
indigenous Indonesian Qur’an.
Another Qur’an — also identified as Ottoman on the basis of its
codicological features — is held in the collection of the Mpu Tantular State
Museum, Sidoarjo, East Java (Figure 14.2), with accession number 07.145 M.
It is small in size, like many similar Ottoman Qur’an manuscripts, with each
folio measuring 19 cm by 12 cm, and the volume having a thickness of 2
cm. There is almost no information about its provenance, except that it was
purchased from a person from Pasuruan in East Java. Other Ottoman Qur’an
manuscripts are held in the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur (MS

314 Ali Akbar
Figure 14.3. Early printed Ottoman Qur’an, 1881. Collection of the family of Bunyamin Yusuf,
Wajo, South Sulawesi.
79a) and the Kota Tinggi Museum, Johor,3 and in a private collection in
Pontianak, West Kalimantan.4
Apart from Ottoman Qur’an manuscripts, there are also early printed
Ottoman Qur’ans in Southeast Asian collections, such as that found in Wajo,
South Sulawesi (Figure 14.3). This Qur’an was written by the renowned
Ottoman calligrapher, Hafiz Osman Efendi (1642–98), and was completed
at the beginning of Sha≤ban 1097 (June 1687). The Qur’an was printed by
lithography at the Matbaa-i Osmaniye in Sha≤ban 1298 (June–July 1881).
According to the current owners, this Qur’an was brought back from Mecca
3
A. T. Gallop, ‘The Manuscript Collection in the Muzium Kota Tinggi, Johor’ (unpublished paper,
2011).
4
None of these Qur’an manuscripts have colophons, but they have been identified as being Ottoman
on the basis of a combination of the following typically Ottoman codicological features: Naskh
calligraphy, generally of a high standard, and Ottoman orthography (rasm); the use of white ink
(never found in Southeast Asian Qur’ans) for the sūrah headings, written in Naskh or Riqa≥ and
set within decorated rectangular borders; illuminated frames constructed on essentially rectangular
principles; a relatively small size, with folio dimensions of around 19 cm by 12 cm; the use of thin
non-watermarked paper, compared with the thick European paper generally used in Southeast Asian
Qur’ans; and the uniquely Ottoman system of page layout described in detail below.

by a pilgrim who had performed the hajj. Hafiz Osman was an eminent
Ottoman calligrapher and Qur’an copyist, and copies of the Qur’an in his
hand have continued to be printed in Turkey, right to the present day.5
Exchanges of Qur’ans between Southeast Asia and the Ottoman world
did not take place solely through Mecca. There were also direct links with the
Malay world, as evidenced by documents in the Ottoman archives recording
requests for and shipments of hundreds of copies of the Qur’an, including to
Java, Sumatra and Bangkok. These documents dating from 1883, 1891, 1899
and 1900 record communications between the Ottoman authorities — the
Sultan, Grand Vizier, Foreign Ministry and the Ottoman consul-general in
Batavia. The documents state that with the sending of Qur’ans to Southeast
Asia, Muslims who received and were able to read the Qur’ans would offer
prayers for the well-being of the Caliph.6 A communiqué from the Ottoman
consul-general in Batavia in 1883 spoke of the need to present copies of the
Qur’an in the name of the sultan to Muslim notables in Java, and requested a
number of copies of the Qur’an printed at the Matbaa-i Osmaniye. When the
document came before the sultan, he agreed and instructed that the requested
copies should be procured.7
The examples of Ottoman Qur’ans cited above, whether manuscript or
printed, confirm the existence of links between the Ottoman Empire and
Southeast Asia over a long period. Even at times when there were no direct
political or trading links, religious and cultural contacts continued. One of the
most important facilitators of such contact would have been the pilgrimage
along with the extended stays in the Hijaz by Southeast Asian students and
religious scholars.
Evidence of Ottoman Influence in Southeast Asian Qur’ans
In terms of manuscripts, the strongest traces of Ottoman influence can be seen

in Qur’ans copied in Terengganu, on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula.
Indeed, Ottoman influence can be seen not only in Qur’an manuscripts,
but also in woodcarving — especially in calligraphic carving. The beauty
of calligraphic works in wood from Terengganu, as seen in some of the
royal palaces and houses of nobles currently erected in the grounds of the
5
Based on personal observation in 2011 of copies of the Qur’an in use in several major mosques in
Istanbul.
6
Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi, Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives (hereafter BOA), İ.HR. 290/18200/2,
321/20729, 323/20904, MF.MKT. 462/33. My thanks go to İsmail Hakkı Kadı for providing copies of
these documents and translating them.
7
BOA İ.HR. 290/18200/2.

316 Ali Akbar
Terengganu State Museum, greatly exceeds the capabilities of most other

parts of Southeast Asia in the execution of the Arabic script. It can be strongly
surmised that the scribe who supplied the calligraphic composition to the
woodcarver must have mastered the principles of Ottoman calligraphy; in
one source the scribe is named as Abdurrahman Istanbuli.8
The clearest proof of Ottoman influence in the art of the Qur’an in
Southeast Asia can be seen in the uniquely Ottoman page layout whereby
each juz≥ occupies exactly twenty pages, and each page ends with a complete
verse. In Ottoman Qur’ans this type of page layout is known as ayet ber kenar,
and its origins can be linked with the specific needs of students learning to
recite the Qur’an by heart. The model of each page ending with a complete
verse, and each juz≥ occupying exactly twenty pages, is of great help to a
person embarking on the task of memorising the Qur’an, because he or she
is better able to visualise the beginning and end of each verse on each page
of the Qur’an. For this reason, this type of Qur’an is very popular among
those learning to recite the Qur’an by heart. Indeed, this Ottoman model of
page layout, with relatively small Naskh calligraphy, appears to prioritise
legibility for everyday purposes. In contrast, Mamluk, Ilkhanid, Timurid,
Safavid and Mughal Qur’ans tend to use larger and more grandiose scripts
such as Muhaqqaq and Thuluth, for the greater glory of the Holy Book, which
necessitate the use of a variety of non-standard page layouts.
The ayet ber kenar system appears to have been developed in the late
sixteenth century, and one of the oldest Ottoman Qur’an manuscripts produced
to this model is a manuscript dated 1598, with fourteen lines per page.9 In the
early stages of the development of the ayet ber kenar Qur’ans, the number of
lines per page varied, but by the second half of the eighteenth century fifteen
lines were always used, and this became the standard formula which lasted
right until the end of the nineteenth century, when the era of the manual copying
of Qur’ans came to an end.10 While the ayet ber kenar system is found only in
Ottoman Qur’ans, not all Ottoman Qur’ans, whether manuscript or print, used
this model, which was probably developed specifically to cater to the needs of
memorisers of the Qur’an.11 Nonetheless, because the ayet ber kenar model
was introduced and developed by the Ottomans, it has come to be viewed as
8
H. Tan, ‘Qur’anic Inscriptions on Woodcarving from the Malay Peninsula’, in F. Suleman (ed.),
Word of God, Art of Man: The Qur’an and its Creative Expressions (New York, 2007), p. 212.
9
M. U. Derman, Ninety-nine Qur’an Manuscripts from Istanbul (Istanbul, 2010), p. 103.
10
T. Stanley, ‘Page-Setting in Late Ottoman Qur’ans’, Manuscripta Orientalia, 10:1 (2004), 59.
11
An early printed Ottoman Qur’an which did not use the ayet ber kenar system was printed at the
Matbaa-i Osmaniye in 1881 (see Figure 14.3). Each page contains 11 lines of text and does not always
end with a complete verse, while each juz≥ does not necessarily start at the top of a new page, but may
begin in the middle or towards the end of a page.

a distinctively Ottoman feature.12 In Southeast Asia, this feature is especially

associated with Qur’ans from the east coast of the Malay Peninsula.13
Ottoman influence can also be seen in the naming of sūrahs, for example,
the heading for Sūrat al-Fātiḥah is sometimes written as Sūrat al-Fātiḥat
al-Kitāb, which appears to derive from Ottoman Qur’ans, where the parallel
heading Sūrat Fātiḥat al-Kitāb is also found. Further research on the heading
for the Sūrat al-Fātiḥah reveals some interesting results, and calls for
more detailed comparative research. On the basis of a number of published
collections, the headings for the Sūrat al-Fātiḥah in eighty-five Qur’an
manuscripts covering almost five centuries, dating from 1494 to 1911,14 were
checked. Three styles of sūrah heading can be discerned: Sūrat Fātiḥat al-
Kitāb found in thirty-eight Qur’ans, Sūrat al-Fātiḥat al-Kitāb in forty-one
Qur’ans, and Sūrat al-Fātiḥah in six Qur’ans. On the basis of this corpus, it
appears that during the initial century and a half of the Ottoman era, this sūrah
was consistently named Sūrat Fātiḥat al-Kitāb in manuscripts. The heading
Sūrat al-Fātiḥat al-Kitāb is first documented in 1664 in a Qur’an written by
Dervis Ali, and the same heading was also used by the influential Ottoman
calligrapher Hafiz Osman.
The heading Sūrat al-Fātiḥat al-Kitāb is also often encountered in
Qur’an manuscripts from the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, both in the
Terengganu and in the Patani styles, and in east-coast-style Qur’ans found in
other parts of the Archipelago, including Riau and Ternate. From a sample of
thirty east-coast Qur’an manuscripts, the heading Sūrat al-Fātiḥat al-Kitāb
was found in twenty-one copies, while the other nine had Sūrat al-Fātiḥah;
the heading Sūrat Fātiḥat al-Kitāb was not encountered at all. Of the twenty-
one Qur’ans with the heading Sūrat al-Fātiḥat al-Kitāb, more than half the
sample, of thirteen Qur’ans, were either in the Patani style or in a hybrid
Terengganu–Patani style. Conversely, the heading Sūrat al-Fātiḥat al-Kitāb
has not been encountered in any other Southeast Asian Qur’an manuscripts,
except for a single example in the West Nusa Tenggara State Museum in
Mataram, Lombok; all known Qur’ans from Aceh, Java, Sumbawa, South
Sulawesi and Ternate use the heading Sūrat al-Fātiḥah. These findings
indicate that Ottoman influence is particularly strong in Qur’ans from
Terengganu and Patani.
12
Despite the presence of some non-ayet ber kenar printed Qur’ans (as mentioned above), the
association of the ayet ber kenar system with Ottoman Qur’ans gained momentum once the Ottomans
had embraced the printing press for copies of the Qur’an.
13
A. T. Gallop, ‘The Spirit of Langkasuka? Illuminated Manuscripts from the East Coast of the Malay
Peninsula’, Indonesia and the Malay World, 33:96 (2005), 121.
14
Derman, Ninety-nine Quran Manuscripts; M. Unustasi (ed.), The 1400th Anniversary of the Qur’an
(Istanbul, 2010).

318 Ali Akbar
Figure 14.4. Qur’an manuscript from Terengganu, nineteenth century. Collection of Muzium
Negara, 32.1992, Kuala Lumpur.
Ottoman influence can also be noted in the precision and quality of the
calligraphy. Qur’ans from Terengganu are among the finest in Southeast
Asia, not only for the beauty of their illumination, but also for the quality of
their calligraphy, which is generally excellent; at the very least, Terengganu
Qur’ans are nearly always written by a trained calligrapher (which is not
the case in general for Qur’ans from other parts of Southeast Asia). A few
manuscripts could even be described as superlative, for example MN 32.1992,
in the collection of the Muzium Negara in Kuala Lumpur (Figure 14.4).
Despite this clear evidence of Ottoman influence, Southeast Asian
manuscript artists continued to develop their own creativity, and produced a
Qur’anic manuscript art which is distinctively ‘Nusantaran’. One of the key
differences with the Ottoman tradition is in the placement of the illuminated
pages, as has been studied in detail by Gallop.15 In Southeast Asian Qur’ans,
double decorated frames are usually found in three locations, namely at the
front, middle and end of the book. On the other hand, in Ottoman ayet ber
kenar Qur’an manuscripts, double-illuminated frames are generally found
only at the opening of the book, surrounding the Sūrat al-Fātiḥah and the
beginning of the Sūrat al-Baqarah. The creativity of Southeast Asian artists
15
Gallop, ‘The Spirit of Langkasuka?’, 121.

is also evident in their use of ‘floral calligraphy’, a phenomenon totally absent

from the Ottoman calligraphic tradition. Floral calligraphy refers to a style
of calligraphy where the letter forms themselves transform into decorative
floral shapes (Figure 14.5). This style of calligraphy has been noted in Qur’an
manuscripts from Patani, Aceh, South Sulawesi, Ternate and Java, and can
even be noted in woodcarving from certain parts of Nusantara.
The extent (and limits) of influence of Ottoman Qur’ans in Southeast
Asia, particularly on manuscripts from the east coast of the Malay peninsula,
can be seen in Table 14.1. Qur’ans in the Terengganu style, which always use
the ayet ber kenar model, are also found in a few collections in Indonesia,
including (1) A.47 in the National Library in Jakarta; (2) a Qur’an in the
Sultan’s Mosque on the island of Penyengat, Riau Islands; and (3) the La
Lino Qur’an from the royal collection of Bima, now in the Bayt al-Quran
and Museum Istiqlal in Jakarta. These three Qur’ans share features with
Terengganu-style Qur’ans, but it is not known with certainty whether
they were made in Terengganu and sent from there to other parts of the
Archipelago, or whether they were made by local artists who attempted to
emulate precisely the Terengganu style. The former scenario is more likely,
as it is rare for one tradition to be able to ‘leap’ over into another so smoothly.
Qur’ans from Southeast Asia vary considerably across this wide region.
The copying of Qur’ans according to the ayet ber kenar model took place
in a number of different regions in Southeast Asia, but within different
traditions. Some regions appear to have embraced two systems, sometimes
using ayet ber kenar Qur’ans and sometimes not, but in other regions only
one system is in use. Qur’ans which Annabel Teh Gallop has termed as in
the ‘South Sulawesi style’ do not use the ayet ber kenar system. This family
of Qur’an manuscripts is found over a very wide area, from Bone, Flores,
Ternate and the southern Philippines to Kedah, and none of these use the
ayet ber kenar system. Thus, none of the six Qur’ans held in the palace and
Sultan’s Mosque of Ternate use this system, and the Qur’anic text is simply
written continuously from beginning to end. The start of each juz≥ may be
located at any point on the page, whether at the beginning, middle or end of
the page, but is usually indicated by writing the first word or words in bold
letters, and marking this place in the margin with a distinctive calligraphic
composition in red. This is also the case with Qur’an manuscripts from
Aceh, for as far as is known at present, none of the Qur’ans held in the
Museum Aceh, in the Ali Hasjmy collection, or at the madrasa at Tanoh Abee
uses the ayet ber kenar system, with the text being written in a continuous
stream. In contrast to the ‘South Sulawesi’ style, in Acehnese Qur’ans the
beginning of the sixteenth juz≥ is usually positioned on a new page and set
in an illuminated frame, which has the effect of dividing the volume into
two equal parts.

320
14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 320

Ali Akbar
Figure 14.5. The heading for the Sūrat al-Shu≤arā≥ in floral calligraphy, in the La Lino Qur’an manuscript from Bima. Collection of Bayt al-Qur’an and Museum
Istiqlal, Jakarta.
26/11/2014 11:19
Table 14.1. The extent (and limits) of influence of Ottoman Qur’ans in Southeast Asia.
No. Category Ottoman Qur’ans Terengganu and Patani
1 Calligraphy of the Qur’anic text Naskhi Naskhi
2 Calligraphy of the sūrah headings Thuluth Local (including floral
styles)
3 Style of illumination Ottoman style Local styles
4 Location of double-decorated frames Beginning of the Qur’an Beginning, middle
and end of the Qur’an
(Terengganu); beginning
and sometimes end
(Patani)
5 Rasm (orthography) Imlā᾿ī * Imlā᾿ī
6 Presence of colophon Usually present Usually not present
7 Size (particularly for ayet ber kenar Small Large (Terengganu); small
layout) (Patani)
8 Heading for Sūrat al-Fātiḥah Sūrat al-Fātiḥat al-Kitāb Sūrat al-Fātiḥat al-Kitāb
(selected MSS) (selected MSS)
* The term rasm imlā᾿ī in this chapter is taken to refer to the standard spelling of the Arabic, except
for the words al-salāt, al-zakāt, al-ḥayāt which use the letter waw, not alif.
In Java both systems of copying the Qur’an are known, although those
Qur’ans which use the ayet ber kenar system reflect a different tradition from
that of Terengganu Qur’ans. This difference is manifest in both calligraphy
and illumination, and reflects a more localised style. In Javanese Qur’ans
there is enormous variety in the quality of the calligraphy, from fine examples
to very basic ones; a similar variety can be seen in illumination. In general,
Qur’ans written on dluwang (local Javanese paper made from tree bark) have
lower levels of both calligraphy and illumination. Another difference with
Terengganu Qur’ans is that while in Terengganu illuminated frames in the
middle of the Qur’an are located at the start of the Sūrat al-Isrā≥ (Q.17), in
Javanese Qur’ans they are located at the start of Sūrat al-Kahf (Q.18).
In order to discuss in more detail the use of the ayet ber kenar system
in Javanese Qur’ans, I will focus on a sample of manuscripts belonging to
Michael Abbott QC, a collector in Adelaide, Australia, who owns sixteen
Qur’ans (along with a number of other manuscripts) originating from East
Java and Madura.16 Of these sixteen Qur’ans, five use the ayet ber kenar
16
I would like to express my gratitude to Michael Abbott for giving me permission to see his collection
in 2006, and to study it in more detail and photograph it in 2011. None of the Qur’ans in this collection
have colophons or dates, but their Javanese origin can be seen in the illumination, calligraphy, page
layout, and in some cases the use of dluwang (paper made in Java). This impression was confirmed
by Abbott’s information that he had bought the manuscripts in Madura, East Java, and Bali. For a
study of some Qur’an manuscripts from East Java, see A. Akbar, ‘Tradisi lokal, tradisi Timur Tengah,
dan tradisi Persia-India: mushaf-mushaf kuno di Jawa Timur’, Jurnal lektur keagamaan, 4:2 (2006),
242–61; see also A. T. Gallop, ‘The Art of the Qur’an in Java’, Suhuf, 5:2 (2012), 215–29.

322 Ali Akbar
Table 14.2. The use of ayet ber kenar Qur’ans in Southeast Asia.
No. Regional tradition Layout Comments
ayet ber not ayet ber
kenar kenar
1 Terengganu P
2 Patani P
3 Riau P P Terengganu and Bugis style.
4 Aceh P
5 South Sulawesi (Bone, Bugis) P
6 Ternate P
7 Banten P
8 Cirebon P P Of 14 Qur’an manuscripts checked,
one was laid out in the ayet ber
kenar style.
9 East Java and Madura P P Of 16 Qur’an manuscripts checked,
5 were laid out in the ayet ber kenar
style.
10 Lombok P
11 Sumbawa P P A Qur’an in the ayet ber kenar
layout was written in Mecca, while
another not in this layout was in the
‘South Sulawesi’ style.
model, showing that this system was also known in Java. Significantly, none
the Qur’ans written on dluwang — which was generally used in pesantren
circles in Java — use the ayet ber kenar model, suggesting a very simple
tradition of Qur’an copying in these circles. The use of ayet ber kenar Qur’ans
in Southeast Asia is presented in Table 14.2.
Ottoman Influence in the Early Printed Era
The earliest printed Qur’ans from Southeast Asia were printed in Palembang
at the lithographic press of Haji Muhammad Azhari bin Kemas Haji
Abdullah, and were completed on 21 Ramadan 1264 (21 August 1848).17
Only one surviving example is known, in the possession of Abd Azim Amin
of Palembang (Figure 14.6). Azhari also printed another Qur’an, which was
completed on Monday, 14 Zulqaidah 1270 (7 August 1854) in Kampung
Pedatuan, Palembang (Figure 14.7). Von de Wall, a nineteenth-century
manuscript collector and scholar, wrote a detailed note on this Qur’an at the
J. Peeters, ‘Palembang Revisited: Further Notes on the Printing Establishment of Kemas Haji
17
Muhammad Azhari, 1848’, International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS ) Yearbook (1995), 181–90.

Figure 14.6. Qur’an printed by Muhammad Azhari in Palembang in 1848, the first Qur’an printed
in Southeast Asia. Collection of Abdul Azim Amin of Palembang, South Sumatra.
request of the Dutch Resident of Palembang, which was published in 1857.18

There is a copy of the 1854 Qur’an in Masjid Dog Jumeneng, in the complex
of the tomb of Sunan Gunung Jati, Cirebon.
Both of the Qur’ans printed by Azhari follow the ayet ber kenar model,
but there are some differences between them. The 1848 printing exhibits
Ottoman influence in the ayet ber kenar style, the decorated frames at the
beginning and end, and the marginal ornaments marking the start of the juz≥
and nisf juz≥ (half juz≥). In the 1854 printing, on the other hand, the decorated
frames have lost their Ottoman ‘feel’ and are much more Nusantaran in
style. While the 1848 printing only had decorated frames at the beginning
and end of the book, in the 1854 printing decorated frames are also found
in the middle, at the start of the Sūrat al-Kahf; the presence of three sets
of double-decorated frames in the Qur’an accords with traditions in many
parts of Southeast Asia. The fact that Azhari continued to use the ayet ber
kenar model may perhaps be attributed to the fact that he himself was known
H. von de Wall, ‘[Berichten:] Eene Inlandsche Drukkerij te Palembang’, Tijdschrift voor Indische
18
Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 6 n.s. 3 (1857), 193–8.

324 Ali Akbar
Figure 14.7. Second edition of the Qur’an printed by Muhammad Azhari in Palembang in 1854.
Collection of Masjid Dog Jumeneng, Cirebon, West Java.
to be a ḥāfiẓ (someone who could recite the entire Qur’an from memory),
according to his descendants.
Although these two Qur’ans printed in Palembang prove that Azhari’s press
was in operation for at least six years (1848–54), there is little information on
the range of distribution of these Qur’ans, as surviving examples are so rare.
On the other hand, by the end of the nineteenth century, on the evidence of
available copies, the most widely distributed printed Qur’ans in Southeast
Asia were in fact printed in Singapore (Figure 14.8) and Bombay (Figure
14.9). Qur’ans printed in Singapore have been located in Palembang, Jakarta,
Cirebon, Surakarta, Bali, Palu and the Moluccas, as well as in nearby Johor,19
while Qur’ans printed in India have been found in Palembang, Riau, Jakarta,
Cirebon, Demak, Lombok, Bima and the southern Philippines.20 Indeed, in
the second half of the nineteenth century Bombay was noted as a centre for
Information on the Johor finds is based on Gallop, ‘Manuscript Collection’.

19
For information on the southern Philippines see A. T. Gallop, ‘Islamic Manuscripts from the
20
Philippines in U.S. Collections: A Preliminary Listing, Including Two Printed Qur’ans’, www.oovrag.
com/bibliography/bibliography13.shtml.

Figure 14.8. Qur’an printed in Singapore in the late nineteenth century, of a type widely distributed
all over Southeast Asia. Collection of Bayt al-Qur’an and Museum Istiqlal, Jakarta.
the publication of Islamic books21 which were distributed all over Southeast
Asia.
Qur’ans printed in Singapore adopted the Ottoman ayet ber kenar model,
with fifteen lines of text, but in Indian Qur’ans the text is written continuously
without any special consideration paid to the start of each juz≥,22 and each page
usually has seventeen lines. There is also a clear difference in the calligraphic
style and in rasm (orthography) between Indian and Ottoman Qur’ans, for
Indian Qur’ans are written in a very characteristic ‘thick’ hand, and use the
rasm khaṭṭ al-imām, popularly known as the rasm ≤uthmānī. The differences
between the Ottoman-style Singapore and Indian Qur’ans do not appear
to have posed any problems to readers, for both types of publication were
evidently in use among the Muslims of Southeast Asia at the same time. Each
probably had its own markets, reflecting ease of distribution and access.
21
I. Proudfoot, ‘Malay Books Printed in Bombay: A Report on Sources for Historical Bibliography’,
Kekal Abadi, 13:3 (1994), 1.
22
However, in more recent printings, from the early 20th century onwards, greater efforts seem to
have been made so that the start of each juz≥ is located on the first line of a new page.

326 Ali Akbar
Figure 14.9. Qur’an printed in Bombay in the late nineteenth century, with characteristic ‘thick
letters’. Collection of Andi Syarifuddin, Palembang, South Sumatra.
Developments in the Early Twentieth Century
Due to the wide distribution of Bombay Qur’ans and other printed religious
books in Southeast Asia, it comes as no surprise to find that in subsequent
years Qur’ans printed in this region were often reproductions of these
Bombay books.23 The publisher Sulaiman Mar≥i, who was based in Singapore
and Penang, for many years from the start of his enterprise in the 1930s
only reproduced Qur’ans originally printed in Bombay, distinguished by
their thick letter forms, and thus these Qur’ans were known as ‘Bombay
Qur’ans’. Several versions of these thick-lettered Bombay Qur’ans circulated
throughout Southeast Asia for decades, right up until the 1980s. Some are still
in print today, although the same publishers may also issue Qur’ans in other
types of script, due to the wider availability of a variety of fonts.
What about the ayet ber kenar Qur’ans? After the ebb in the flow of
Qur’ans printed in Singapore around the beginning of the twentieth century,
M. van Bruinessen, Kitab kuning, pesantren dan tarekat: tradisi-tradisi Islam di Indonesia
23
(Bandung, 1995), p. 136.

the fate of ayet ber kenar Qur’ans printed in Southeast Asia is not very clear.
During this period, the local market was dominated by the reproduction of
Indian Qur’ans, and there is no evidence of ayet ber kenar Qur’ans being
printed locally; rather, all the evidence suggests that local publishers based
in Singapore, Penang, Surabaya, Cirebon and Bandung focused on printing
‘Bombay Qur’ans’. Nonetheless, ayet ber kenar Qur’ans did not disappear
from circulation in Southeast Asia, for small numbers continued to be brought
back by pilgrims returning from Mecca after performing the hajj. The Museum
Samparaja in Bima holds an ayet ber kenar Qur’an printed at the Matbaa-i
Bahriye in Istanbul dated 1332 (1913/14) belonging to Sultan Salahuddin of
Bima, which he brought back from the pilgrimage. During the same period
Qur’ans printed in Egypt were also available in small numbers in Southeast
Asia.
Apart from the pioneering the efforts of Azhari in Palembang, the first
generation of Qur’an publishers in Indonesia comprised Abdullah bin
Afif of Cirebon (who started his business in the 1930s, at the same time
as Sulaiman Mar≥i, who was based in Singapore and Penang), Salim bin
Sa≥ad Nabhan of Surabaya, and the Al-Islamiyah Press in Bukittinggi; they
were followed by the Al-Ma≥arif Press in Bandung, founded by Muhammad
bin Umar Bahartha in 1948.24 They printed not only Qur’ans but also other
religious books for Muslims. By the 1950s Qur’an publishers included
Sinar Kebudayaan Islam of Jakarta, who issued a Qur’an in 1951; Pustaka
al-Haidari of Kutaraja and Pustaka Andalus of Medan, who collaborated
in the issue of a Qur’an in 1951; Tintamas, Jakarta, in 1954, and Bir &
Company, Jakarta, in 1956. In the 1960s Toha Putra Press of Semarang
commenced the printing of Qur’ans too, as did several smaller publishers.
Right up until the 1970s these publishers remained the main players in the
production of Qur’ans in Indonesia.25 The types of Qur’ans they printed
used as a base the Bombay text with thick letters, with local additions such
as instructions on correct recitation (tajwid), an explanation of the virtues of
reading the Qur’an, and lists of Sūrahs, all written in Malay in Jawi script.
These additional texts, which were located before or after the Qur’anic text,
were written by local scribes, in calligraphic styles very different from the
thick Bombay letters.
24
Ibid., p. 138.
25
A. Akbar, ‘Pencetakan Mushaf Al-Qur’an di Indonesia’, Suhuf, 4:2 (2011), 278.

328 Ali Akbar
The Appearance of the ‘Kudus Qur’an’
The domination of reproductions of ‘Bombay Qur’ans’ in Indonesia from

the 1930s onwards lasted until 1974, when the Menara Kudus Press26 began
to print an ayet ber kenar Qur’an of Turkish origin. Here also we have
confirmation of the link between ayet ber kenar Qur’ans and the specific
needs of Qur’an memorisers, for according to sources the Menara Kudus
Press obtained the ayet ber kenar Qur’an which it printed from Kiai Arwani
Amin,27 director of the Yanbu≥ul Qur’an Pesantren, a renowned pesantren in
Kudus with thousands of students which specialised in training memorisers
of the Qur’an.
Menara Kudus Press did not state the name of the scribe of its Qur’an, but
after a careful examination of the handwriting it can be confirmed that this
Qur’an is a reproduction of one printed in 1951 by the Uthman Bik Press in
Turkey,28 written by Mustafa Nazif. The dimensions of the original are 19.5
cm by 13.5 cm with a thickness of 5 cm, while the Menara Kudus Qur’an
measures 15.5 cm by 11.5 cm, with a thickness of 2.5 cm. This was smaller
than average for Qur’ans of that time, but would have been particularly suited
for the practical needs of Qur’an memorisers, who needed to carry it around
for their daily practice.
Since there were a number of differences in spelling between this Qur’an
and the ‘Bombay Qur’ans’ in widespread use, at the back of the Qur’an
printed by Menara Kudus Press is an appendix in Jawi entitled ‘Quranic
readings which need attention’, written by Kiai Sya≥roni Ahmadi of Kudus,
and checked and corrected by Kiai Arwani Amin. On the following page is a
‘Certification of Checking’ issued by the Commission for the Checking of the
Qur’an, Ministry of Religious Affairs, with the following statement below:
‘This edition of the Qur’an has been examined and studied by (1) al-Allamah
al-Hafiz Kiai Arwani Amin, (2) al-Mukarram al-Hafiz Kiai Hisyam of Kudus,
26
Menara Kudus was the first Indonesian publishing firm founded by non-Arabs for the publication
of religious literature. See van Bruinessen, Kitab kuning, p. 139.
27
It is said that the Qur’an belonging to Kiai Arwani Amin was a Mushaf Bahriyah from Syria (see
http://digilib.uin-suka.ac.id/4313/). ‘Bahriyah’ refers to the printing press for Qur’ans and Islamic
works owned by the Ottoman navy during the sultanate.
28
The script of this Qur’an is exactly the same as that in the Qur’an printed by Menara Kudus. In a
colophon at the end of the work, it is stated that this Qur’an was written by Mustafa Nazif, and was
checked by the Hay≥ah Tadqīq al-Maṣāḥif al-Sharīfah (Board for Qur’anic Approvals, Mushafları
İnceleme ve Kıraat Kurulu Başkanlığı) of the Turkish government, and printed at the Osmanbey
Press in Jumada al-Ula 1370 (Feb.–Mar. 1951). On the flap of the cover is written ‘Muḥammad Ṣālih
Aḥmad Manṣūr al-Bāz al-Kutubī bi-Bāb al-Islām bi-Makkah al-Mukarramah’, probably referring to
the Meccan distributor for this Qur’an.

Figures 14.10–11. Qur’an printed in Turkey (top) and its reproduction by the Indonesian publishing
house Menara Kudus in the 1970s (bottom). Collection of Bayt al-Qur’an and Museum Istiqlal,
Jakarta.

330 Ali Akbar
(3) al-Muhtaram al-Hafiz Kiai Sya≥roni Ahmadi, Kudus’, with each of their
signatures.
The Menara Kudus Press obtained permission to distribute this Qur’an
from the Head of the Department for Religious Materials on 29 May 1974,
after the Qur’an had been checked by the Commission for Checking Qur’ans,
Ministry of Religious Affairs on 16 May 1974, and since then the publisher
has continued to print this Qur’an up to the present day. For a period of twenty-
five years the Menara Kudus Press was probably the sole publisher of ayet ber
kenar Qur’ans in Indonesia, because, until around 2000, Bombay-style printed
Qur’ans still dominated the market in Indonesia. Its role as the sole publisher
of ayet ber kenar Qur’ans in this period earned the Qur’an it produced a firm
following among the public, gaining it the sobriquet of Qur’an Kudus or ‘the
Kudus Qur’an’. This term is in widespread use among memorisers of the
Qur’an, and it was used right up till the end of the twentieth century in nearly
all pesantren in Indonesia which specialised in teaching Qur’anic recitation
by heart. The other name for this type of Qur’an in Indonesia is Qur’an pojok
or ‘Corner Qur’ans’, referring to the ending of each page with a complete
verse in the ayet ber kenar model.
Since then not all ayet ber kenar Qur’ans in Indonesia have been
reproductions of Turkish Qur’ans. In 2000, the Asy-Syifa Press in Semarang,
Central Java, published a Qur’an written by Rahmatullah from Demak, and in
2001 the Wicaksana Press, also in Semarang, published a Qur’an written by
Safaruddin, from Panunggalan, which he completed writing in 1418 (1997/8).
The layout of both these Qur’ans was the same as the Kudus Qur’an, but
unlike the Kudus Qur’an, which uses the rasm imlā≥ī, both these Qur’ans use
the rasm ≤uthmānī, as did the widely used Bombay Qur’ans.
Developments in the Last Decade
In 1982 the Saudi Arabian government established a Qur’anic printing press.

It was named Mujamma≤ al-Malik Fahd li-Tiba≤at al-Mushaf al-Sharif and
began to print the Qur’an, known officially as the Muṣḥaf al-Madīnah al-
Nabawīyah, in early 1985. Before the establishment of this government press,
in 1980 — and possibly in the preceding decades — Qur’ans printed by the
Saudi Arabian government followed Turkish models, with Ottoman features
such as the ayet ber kenar layout and rasm imlā≥ī, as can be seen in a Qur’an
printed by the Riyasat Idarat al-Buhuth al-≤Ilmiyah wa al-Ifta≥ wa al-Da≥wah
wa al-Irshad (Directorate of the Administration of Scholarly Research, Legal
Advice, Missionary Activity and Propaganda, Saudi Arabia), produced in
1400 (1980). For its new Qur’an the Saudi government retained the Ottoman

Figure 14.12. Ayet ber kenar layout in a recent Indonesian Qur’an: Muṣḥaf al-Hudā, published by
Gema Insani Press, Jakarta, 2010. Collection of Bayt al-Qur’an and Museum Istiqlal, Jakarta.
ayet ber kenar layout but chose a different system of orthography, the rasm
≤uthmānī — the established choice of the Egyptian government and the scholars
of Al-Azhar University.29
The Mujamma≤ has expanded from year to year and now prints Qur’ans
of all types and sizes, including translations into various languages and
interpretations. Each year it prints hundreds of thousands of Qur’ans which
are distributed gratis throughout the Muslim world, and also to pilgrims who
come to Mecca each year. Apart from those gifted by the Saudi government,
this Qur’an is also widely reproduced, including by several presses in
Lebanon, and is widely marketed in Indonesia.30 The Muṣḥaf al-Madīnah al-
Nabawīyah was written by Uthman Taha, a renowned Syrian calligrapher.31
29
Qur’ans printed in Egypt did not use the ayet ber kenar layout; see, for example, the Qur’an
printed by Abd al-Hamid Ahmad Hanafi (1934), the Mushaf Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi (1935), and
the Qur’an published by Maktabah al-Jumhuriyah al-Arabiyah (1972). All use rasm ≤uthmānī without
the ayet ber kenar system.
30
With the rapid recent technological advances, Muṣḥaf al-Madīnah al-Nabawīyah is not only
distributed in printed form, but also in a digital version which can be read on personal computers,
laptops, tablets or even mobile phones.
31
I strongly suspect that the version of the Qur’an currently most widely distributed and read
throughout the Middle East and indeed the whole Islamic world is the work of Uthman Taha.

332 Ali Akbar
The calligraphy of this Qur’an is exceptionally fine, and almost flawless from
the point of view of accuracy and consistency.
The ease of obtaining this Qur’an, now called the ‘Saudi Qur’an’, together
with its beautiful and impressive calligraphy coupled with technological
advances, has led to several new tendencies in Qur’an production in Indonesia.
From around 2004 to the present, many Qur’an publishers in Indonesia have
taken the easy route, in reproducing this Qur’an with several adjustments
in accordance with Indonesian preferences and requirements (Figure 14.12).
Many primary and secondary Islamic schools are now promoting the
memorisation of the Qur’an, especially the ‘Integrated Islam’ (Islam Terpadu)
schools which are now spreading widely, and thus the memorisation of the
Qur’an is no longer the exclusive domain of specialist pesantren, but is
spreading throughout society. There is an increase in Islamic observation in
urban areas, supported by the active propagation by the mass media of Islamic
programmes on television as well as in printed media, and the ayet ber kenar
layout of the ‘Saudi Qur’an’ has won favour with the general public.
All these factors have led to increasing competition among Qur’an
publishers to reproduce the ayet ber kenar Qur’an from Saudi Arabia in ever
higher quality formats, in terms of the nature of additional contents and paper,
each aimed at specific sectors of the market.32
Conclusion
The highly developed Ottoman tradition of Qur’an copying was extremely

influential over the centuries, in terms of both calligraphy and illumination. This
influence can be felt in the furthest reaches of the Islamic world — Southeast
Asia — in certain specific aspects, but ebbed and flowed according to local
conditions and manuscript traditions. Contact between the Ottomans and
Southeast Asia in the arena of copies of the Qur’an has a long history, from the
manuscript era and through the period of early printing and into the modern
age. The pioneering Ottoman developments of the ayet ber kenar layout and
the writing of the Qur’anic text in Naskh, which is both easy to read and
aesthetically pleasing, made a deep impression which has lasted through the
ages.
In more recent times the ayet ber kenar system has been adopted by
the ‘Saudi Qur’an’ which, over the past twenty-five years, has been printed
in millions of copies and distributed freely throughout the Muslim world,
leading in turn to the reproduction of hundreds of thousands more copies
32
See Akbar, ‘Pencetakan Mushaf Al-Qur’an di Indonesia’, 282.

in other Muslim countries. Although the Ottoman era has drawn to a close,
Ottoman influence continues to be felt in Qur’ans, and is likely to continue.
Note. This article has been a long time in gestation, and I would like to record my thanks
to many who have helped the research. Firstly to Dr Annabel Teh Gallop, for her support
and comments, and also for her help in translating this article; the Islam, Trade and Politics
Across the Indian Ocean research project funded by the British Academy, and Dr Andrew
Peacock, for enabling me to visit Istanbul from 26 July to 6 August 2011 and for his
valuable comments which have helped to improve this article; Dr İsmail Hakkı Kadı for
his help in Istanbul, for reading colophons in Turkish, and for information on Ottoman
documents on the sending of Qur’ans to Southeast Asia; Professor M. Uğur Derman, who
agreed to meet me and to be interviewed in Istanbul; Professor Dr Henri Chambert-Loir
for reading an earlier draft of this article and for his valuable comments; Professor Dr
Jan Just Witkam for his helpful critical comments; the Barakat Foundation, London, and
James Bennett, for his support and for facilitating my visit to Adelaide to study a number
of Qur’ans from Java; Seasrep Foundation, Quezon City, which in 2008–9 supported
my visits to a number of centres in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei to see
collections of Qur’an manuscripts; H. Abd Azim Amin for kindly allowing me access to
his exceptionally early printed Qur’an; Dr Bunyamin Yusuf for allowing access to a printed
Ottoman Qur’an in his family’s collection; Imam Muttaqin, Mustofa, Ahmad Jaeni, Abdul
Hakim and Zainal Arifin Madzkur (all ḥāfiẓes from the Board for Checking Copies of the
Qur’an, Lajnah Pentashihan Mushaf Al-Quran, Jakarta), for information about the Kudus
Qur’an, an Ottoman Qur’an manuscript from Pontianak, and a printed Saudi Qur’an; and
Bambang Priyadi for the information and photos of an early printed Qur’an from Egypt.
Lastly I would like to record my thanks to H. Muhammad Shohib, Head of Lajnah, for
allowing me to carry out this research and to attend the Workshop in Banda Aceh. To all of
these I would like to record my sincere thanks, while affirming that of course responsibility
for this article rests with me.
Bibliography
Archive
Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi, Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives, Istanbul (BOA)
Published Works
Akbar, A., ‘Tradisi lokal, tradisi Timur Tengah, dan tradisi Persia-India: mushaf-mushaf
kuno di Jawa Timur’, Jurnal lektur keagamaan, 4:2 (2006), 242–61.
Akbar, A., ‘Pencetakan Mushaf Al-Qur’an di Indonesia’, Suhuf, 4:2 (2011), 271–87.
Badan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Agama, Mengenal Mushaf Al-Qur’an Standar
Indonesia (Jakarta, 1984–5).
Bruinessen, M. van, Kitab kuning, pesantren dan tarekat: tradisi-tradisi Islam di Indonesia
(Bandung, 1995).
Derman, M. U., Letters in Gold: Ottoman Calligraphy from the Sakıp Sabancı Collection,
Istanbul (New York, 1998).

334 Ali Akbar
Derman, M. U., Ninety-nine Qur’an Manuscripts from Istanbul (Istanbul, 2010).

Gallop, A. T., ‘The Art of the Qur’an in Java’, Suhuf, 5:2 (2012), 215–29.
Gallop, A. T., ‘Islamic Manuscripts from the Philippines in U.S. Collections: A
Preliminary Listing, Including Two Printed Qur’ans’, www.oovrag.com/bibliography/
bibliography13.shtml
Gallop, A. T., ‘The Manuscript Collection in the Muzium Kota Tinggi, Johor’ (unpublished
paper, 2011).
Gallop, A. T., ‘The Spirit of Langkasuka? Illuminated Manuscripts from the East Coast of
the Malay Peninsula’, Indonesia and the Malay World, 33:96 (2005), 113–82.
Mackintosh-Smith, T. (ed.), The Travels of Ibn Battutah (London, 2003).
Peeters, J., ‘Palembang Revisited: Further Notes on the Printing Establishment of Kemas
Haji Muhammad Azhari, 1848’, International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS)
Yearbook (1995), 181–90.
Proudfoot, I., ‘Malay Books Printed in Bombay: A Report on Sources for Historical
Bibliography’, Kekal Abadi, 13:3 (1994), 1–20.
Riddell, P. G., ‘Rotterdam MS 96 D 16: The Oldest Known Surviving Qur’an from the
Malay World’, Indonesia and the Malay World, 30:86 (2002), 9–20.
Salim, E. Y., ‘Gairah Penerbitan Al-Qur’an Indah’, Gatra, 7 (September 2011).
Stanley, T., ‘Page-Setting in Late Ottoman Qur’ans’, Manuscripta Orientalia, 10:1 (2004),
56–63.
Sudrajat, E., ‘Perkembangan penerbitan dan problema pentashihan’, paper presented at
Lokakarya Penerbit Mushaf Al-Qur’an, Bekasi, 29–30 March 2011 (unpublished).
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(ed.), Word of God, Art of Man: The Qur’an and its Creative Expressions (New York,
2007), 205–15.
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Proceedings of the British Academy • 200

FROM ANATOLIA TO ACEH

Published for THE BRITISH academy

00_Anatolia to Aceh_i-xvi.indd 3 08/01/2015 14:29

00_Anatolia to Aceh_i-xvi.indd 4 08/01/2015 14:29

List of Figures and Tables vii

00_Anatolia to Aceh_i-xvi.indd 5 08/01/2015 14:29

8. Acehnese Appeals for Ottoman Protection in the Late Nineteenth

00_Anatolia to Aceh_i-xvi.indd 6 08/01/2015 14:29

Ali Akbar works at Bayt al-Qur’an and Museum Istiqlal, Jakarta. He

Jorge Santos Alves is Professor at the Faculty of Human Sciences,

Vladimir Braginsky is Professor Emeritus and Professorial Research

William Gervase Clarence-Smith is Professor of the Economic History of

00_Anatolia to Aceh_i-xvi.indd 9 08/01/2015 14:29

(London, 2006) and co-edited Hadhrami Traders, Scholars and Statesmen in

Isaac Donoso teaches at the University of Alicante in Spain. He was winner

Oman Fathurahman is Professor of Philology at the Faculty of Adab and

Chiara Formichi is Assistant Professor in Southeast Asian Humanities

00_Anatolia to Aceh_i-xvi.indd 10 08/01/2015 14:29

İsmail Hakkı Göksoy is Professor of Islamic history at the Theology Faculty

İsmail Hakkı Kadı is Assistant Professor at Istanbul Medeniyet University

Jeyamalar Kathirithamby-Wells formerly held the Chair of Asian History

00_Anatolia to Aceh_i-xvi.indd 11 08/01/2015 14:29

and Nation: Forests and Development in Peninsular Malaysia (Honolulu,

Amrita Malhi is a Research Fellow at the University of South Australia,

Andrew Peacock is Reader in Middle Eastern History at the University of

Anthony Reid is a Southeast Asian historian, based as Emeritus Professor

00_Anatolia to Aceh_i-xvi.indd 12 08/01/2015 14:29

00_Anatolia to Aceh_i-xvi.indd 13 08/01/2015 14:29

The Influence of Ottoman Qur’ans in

The tradition of copying Qur’an manuscripts in Southeast Asia had probably

T. Mackintosh-Smith (ed.), The Travels of Ibn Battutah (London, 2003), p. 256.

World’, Indonesia and the Malay World, 30:86 (2002), 9–20.

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 311 26/11/2014 11:19

Ottoman Qur’ans in Southeast Asia

The primary method of judging the likely influence of Ottoman Qur’ans in

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 312 26/11/2014 11:19

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 313 26/11/2014 11:19

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 314 26/11/2014 11:19

Evidence of Ottoman Influence in Southeast Asian Qur’ans

In terms of manuscripts, the strongest traces of Ottoman influence can be seen

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 315 26/11/2014 11:19

Terengganu State Museum, greatly exceeds the capabilities of most other

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 316 26/11/2014 11:19

a distinctively Ottoman feature.12 In Southeast Asia, this feature is especially

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 317 26/11/2014 11:19

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 318 26/11/2014 11:19

is also evident in their use of ‘floral calligraphy’, a phenomenon totally absent

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 319 26/11/2014 11:19

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 320

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 321 26/11/2014 11:19

Ottoman Influence in the Early Printed Era

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 322 26/11/2014 11:19

request of the Dutch Resident of Palembang, which was published in 1857.18

Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 6 n.s. 3 (1857), 193–8.

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 323 26/11/2014 11:19

Information on the Johor finds is based on Gallop, ‘Manuscript Collection’.

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 324 26/11/2014 11:19

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 325 26/11/2014 11:19

Developments in the Early Twentieth Century

(Bandung, 1995), p. 136.

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 326 26/11/2014 11:19

14_Anatolia to Aceh_311-334(COLOUR).indd 327 26/11/2014 11:19

List of Figures and Tables vii