Der Katalog enthält folgende Angaben, vgl. Irmeli Perho, Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts. Codices Arabici and Codices Arabici Additamenta, 3 Bände, Kopenhagen 2008, S.105-108: "Description: European binding. Spine and corners light brown leather, covers marbled paper. Five bands across the spine. On the spine, gilded Danish state emblems, monogram C7 and gilded text: Cod. Cuf. No. 6. Inner linings marbled paper. The text fols. are parchment. Between the text folios blank paper leafs. No title page. Text begins on fol. 1a. Text in Kūfī script, on fol. 1a in gold, on fol. 1b gold and white with gold frames, on fols. 2a-6b black ink with mainly red dots but also blue and green dots occur. Diacritic marks in black, on fol. 2 in green. Golden verse markers with red, green and black dots. On fol. 1a the text is placed on a background, decorated with black ink and framed with multiple frames in gold and black. On fol. 1b the text is placed on a faint decorated background in gold and enclosed in a carpet like frame in gold, red, black, and pale blue. In this frame, on pale blue background, text in gold. On fols. 1a and 1b large medallions in the margins, gold and black. Text ends on fol. 6b.
Notes: Each folio is a text fragment:
fol. 1: fragment of the introduction and on fol. 1b the words: ṣanaʿa-hu al-Ḥasan ibn. In the frame on fol. 1b, the beginning of sūrah 1.
fol. 2: verses 15:19-21: (الا] رض مددناها [...] ما ننزله])
fol. 3: verses 2:17-19: (لا يبصرون [...] من الصواعق)
fol. 4 verses 3:102-103: (يايها الذين [...] اخوانا وكنتم)
fol. 5: verses 24:48-50: (فريق منهم [...] قال المومنين)
fol. 6: verses 24:59-60: (كما استذان [...] خير لهن)
Lindberg 1830 has described the fragments under separate headings:
Fols 1 and 2 are described as number 1 on pp. 55f.
Fol. 3 is described as number 3 on pp. 58f.
Fols. 4-6 are described as numbers 5-I, 5-ii, and 5-iv on pp. 60-62.
Fols 4-6 are further fragments of Cod. Arab. 40.
According to the 1851 catalogue, the ms. earlier consisted of 8 fols. but three fols. were removed and included in Cod. Arab. 40. It seems that three further fols. – fols. 4-6 – belong to Cod. Arab. 40. This was noted by Lindberg, who in his description placed them together with Cod. Arab. 40 (Lindberg 1830, 60-62).
A copy of a letter is attached to the blank leafs placed between fols. 4 and 5. The letter is written in French by Étienne Fourmont (1685-1745), who held the chair of Arabic in Collège Royalin Paris since 1715. According to the letter, four folios were sent to Professor Fourmont sometimes between 1730-1734 to get his opinion on the texts (see Introduction). Part of the letter is transcribed in Adler 1780, 22f. According to Adler the letter was attached to Cod. Arab. 40, but it is now together with the fols. of Cod. Arab. 42.
Owner's marks: On fol. 1a, in the lower right corner pencilled mark: “No. 6” Provenance: The pencilled number (No 6) on fol. 1a and the same number on the spine is an old Royal Library Catalogue number (cf. Lindberg (1830), 60 and 1851-catalogue, entry XLII). The monogram on the spine indicates that the ms. was bound during the reign of Christian VII (1766-1808)."
Sieben kufische Koranfragmente aus dem Besitz Friedrich Buchwalds (1605-1676), der diese auf einer Reise erworben hatte, gelangten im 18. Jh. nach Dänemark und wurden, wie das Monogramm in der Buchbindung zeigt, zur Zeit von König Christian VII (1766-1808) in die königliche Bibliothek in Kopenhagen aufgenommen (vgl. Perho, Catalogue, 2008 in der Einleitung und im Eintrag Cod. Arab. 36). Die sieben Fragmente, zugänglich unter den Signaturen Cod. Arab. 36, Cod. Arab. 37, Cod. Arab. 38, Cod. Arab. 39, Cod. Arab. 40, Cod. Arab. 41 und Cod. Arab. 42 bilden das Objekt der ersten paläographischen Untersuchung zur arabischen Schrift im Abendland: Getragen vom Interesse an der biblischen Textkritik verfasste der Theologe und Orientalist Jakob Georg Christian Adler (1756-1834) zu den kufischen Fragmenten seine Descriptio codicum quorundam cuficorum partes corani exhibentium in bibliotheca regia hafniensi et ex iisdem de scriptura cufica arabum (Altona 1780), die erste paläographische Abhandlung zu Koranhandschriften. Diese enthält Angaben zur Geschichte der arabischen Schrift, Abbildungen und Vergleiche zwischen dem in den Fragmenten enthaltenen arabischen Text und der damaligen Referenzausgabe des arabischen Korantextes, die Abraham Hinckelmann in Hamburg 1694 hatte drucken lassen.
