Die sieben kufischen Koranfragmente, die im 18. Jh. in die Königlische Bibliothek gelangten (Cod.Arab. 36, Cod.Arab. 37, Cod.Arab. 38, Cod.Arab. 39, Cod.Arab. 40, Cod.Arab. 41, Cod.Arab. 42) bilden den Gegenstand 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) mit Angaben zur Geschichte der arabischen Schrift, Reproduktionen der kufischen Handschriften und Vergleichen zwischen dem arabischen Korantext der Fragmente mit der arabischen Druckausgabe des Korans des Abraham Hinckelmann (Hamburg 1694).

Der Katalog enthält folgende Angaben (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).