Papyrus No. 32 der Papyrussammlung von George Michaelides (gest. 1973) gehört zu den wenigen Korantexten auf Papyrus, die nicht als magische Papyri oder Koranzitate in Briefen oder anderen Dokumenten klassifiziert werden können. Der Papyrus ist in der Michaelides Sammlung, die inzwischen von der Universität Cambridge aufbewahrt wird, nicht mehr nachweisbar. Das angezeigte Bild stammt aus Adolf Grohmanns kleiner Studie zur Datierung frühere Korantexte, s. Adolf Grohmann, "The problem of dating early Qurʾāns", Der Islam 33 (1958), Tafel 1.
Im angegebenen Aufsatz ("The problem of dating early Qurʾāns", S. 222-228) schreibt Grohmann über den Papyrus Nr. 32: "P. MICHAÉLIDÈS n. 32. (Plate I) Qurʾān 54 11-38, 45-55, 55 1-32    Brown, fine papyrus. 14.8 x 5.9 cm. On the recto twenty lines containing sūra 54 11-38, are written in black in parallel to the horizontal fibres, containing verses 45-55 of sūra 54, and verses 1-32 of sūra 55. In the line 4, at the end of verse 50, a verse-division mark is visible. Sūra 54 is divided from 55 by two parallel horizontal lines running over the full width of the page, and filled in with an ondulating line with pearls in the compartments.   Place of discovery unknon.     The script has become obliterated in some places and the papyrus is torn upon all sides. The fragment shown here (Plate I) comes from the middle of the page, which as the line originally contained about threetimes as much as at present, would have been about 17.7 cm wide. This Qurʾān was certainly destined for private use only, and belongs to the small oblong sizes particularly used for private owners already in very early times.     Before entering into the question of dating it will be recommendable to give a paleographical analysis of the script of P. MICHAÉLIDÈS no 32. The Alif (line 8), the most significant letter of the Arabic alphabet, as J. v. KARABACEK has said, shows a definite bend to the right side, as it is already the case in PER Inv. Ar. Pap. 94 (ca. 30 A. H., 650 A. D.). It differs therefore from the straight, vertical Alif in PERF no 558, in the bilingual protocol BM 1473, in Arabic Palaeography Pl. 43 and in the Qurʾān Paris. Arabe 328 as well as from the Alif, curved to the right of the basis, shown by Qurʾān Medina 1a in the Saray in Istanbul.   The Dāl corrsponds to the form offered by PERF no 558, P. Berol. 15002 (Plate IIb), P. Mich 6714 (Plate IIa), P. Berol. 9177 (124 A.H., 742 A. D.) and the parchment Qurʾab Paris. Arabe 328 (1).  The Rā (Zāy) is similar to the same letter in PERF no 558, P. Berol. 15002, PERF no 573 (Plate IIc, 57 A. H., 677 A. D.).   In Sīn the tail of the final-letter (recto line 6) goes down in an almost straight line, as in the Nūn occuring in PERF no 558, 573, PERF Inv. Ar. Pap. 94. It therefore differs from the final-Sīn with a curved tail occuring e. g. in PERF no 558.    The Ṭā has a rectangular body and a vertical stroke bending to the right side, as e.g. in Paris. Arabe 328 (4). The latter charactericti feature already occurs in PERF no 558 and P. Loth II, further in the legend of coppercoins from the second decade of the first century of the Higra and in the Qurra-papyri, where it interchanges with the straighht form. This characteristic feature is preserved in the third century of the Higra (ixth century A. D.) in the papyrus script, and in early Christian Arabic manuscripts forming the transition to Maghrabī-writing, in which it is preserved until recent times. Possible this form of the Ṭā was also significant for the Makkī-script, while the old scripts of al-Kūfa, al-Baṣra and Damascus preferred the vertical stroke.   The Nūn has about the same form as in PER Inv. Ar. Pap. 94. An additional characteristic feature is reverted Yā (e. g. in  ʿalā  recto line 2 and in  fī  verso lines 9, 16).   All these characteristics show, together with the general impression of the writing, that the script of P. MICHAÉLIDÈS no 32 can not be dated later than the first century of the HIGRA (end of the seventh or beginning of the eighth century A. D.).   Some orthographical pecularities should be added here. The Alif madda is frequently omitted:  
On the recto line 3   تركنها  for تركناها      
12  صحبهم    for  صاحبهم      
12  فعطى  for فتعاطى               
17  رودو[ه for راودو[ه
On the verso line  2  ضلل  for ضلال     
A remarkable thing here is  السماوت  in line 18 for السماوات and السموت in P. MICHAÉLIDÈS no 235 line 2 (first century A. H., viith century A. D.). Diacaritical dots are used sparingly and are formed in the same way as in PERF no 558 already described in CPR III, 1/i, pp. 70-71. Once a short dash is used in Ḏāl (on the reacto line 17 in النذر   ) instaed of a dot. Such diacritical dashes are used very early. We find them - arpart from the parchment-Qurʾan Paris. Arabe 328 (1) - in PER Inv. Ar. Pap. 8181 (first cent. of the Higra, seventh century A. D. ), 10136 (second century of the Higra, eighth century A. D.), Inv. Perg. Ar. 186, in P. Mich 6714 (22-75 A. H., 643-694 A. D.), where the short dashes are similar to oval dots. There can be no doubt whatsoever that in alle these examples the dots or dahses are set by the original hand.   The occurence of dots in such an early Qurʾān as P. MICHAÉLIDÈS no 32 is of some importance, since Prof. A. JEFFERY, the greates Western authority in Koranic science, emphasizes the fact that the oldest Qurʾānic codices were generally without diacritical points and the lines replacing dots (occuring only in some old codices and fragments) may well be nothing more than scribal fantasy.    It is quite possible that the dashes, used as diacritical marks in some old Qurʾān manuscripts, e. g. Arabic Palaeography Pl. 1ff. were added later. But the occurence of such dashes - and dots - would no longer militate in se ipso against a dating in the first century of the Higra, since dashes are not unsual in papyri of the first century of the Higra and the use of dots is proved by papyri as early as even in the first half of the first century of the Higra.   Another important statement, made by Prof. A. JEFFERY is that the oldest QurʾAns had no rubrics or marks for divisions which were reproved by traditions traced back to early authorities, and that the occurence of marks indicating divisions of ten verses would argue agaist so early a dating as the first to second century of the Higra, attributed to Miss. N. ABBOTT to some specimens in the collection of the Oriental Institute in Chicago University.   As A matter of fact there is one mark indicating the ending of a group of ten verses after verse 50 of sūra 54 on the verso of P. MICHAÉLIDÈS no 32 line 4. It consistes of a ه surrounded by dots. It is said that the markung of the endings of groups of five or ten verses was introduced vy al-Ḥaggāg ibn Yūsuf, the governor of the ʿIrāq (75-95 A. H., 674-714 A. D.) or by Naṣr ibn ʿĀṣim al-Laithī (died 89/90 A. H., 798/9 A. D.). The occurence of a ten-verses division mark in P. MICHAÉLIDÈS no 32 argues in favour of these authorities, and shows, that Qurʾan copies containing these marks could well be placed in the time suggested by Miss. N. ABBOTT. Another question is the origin of these marks.     I have suggested already in 1929 that these division-marks were an imitation of the use of plain circles as pontuation marks in Pahlawi literary papyri, e. g. PERF no 446 and P. Berol. 4442. Such plain circles recur still in Arabic papyri of the second and third centuries of the Higra (eighth-ninth century A. D.), and when it is just an ʿIrāqī governor who is credited with its introduction, Persian influence is thereby very probable.    Still more important is the occurrence of an ornamental Sūra-divisian after Sūra 54 on the verso of P. MICHAÉLIDÈS no 32 between the lines 6 and 7. It is formed by two parallel horizontal lines, framing an ondulation line, the curves of which are filled in with pearls.   The oldest extant parchment Qurʾans are apparently destitute of any rubric or indication of the ending of the sūra or the beginning of a new one, ander there are several traditions disapproving such practice, which, nevertheless, made its way into copies of the Qurʾan of the first century of the Islamic era, and even those destined for private use, as the example of P. MICHAÉLIDÈS no 32 shows. A comparison with another fragment of a papyrus-Qurʾān in the Collection MICHAÉLIDÈS (no 190, Pl. IV), forming the leaf of a quire, comprising two columns on each sided, folded in the middle, which contains Sūra 59 11 to 65 4, furnishes interesting details for the early adornment of Qurʾān manuscripts (see Plate IV). This fragments is apperently considerably later than P. MICHAÉLIDÈS no 32, and may, according to the script, appartain to the end of the second or beginning of the third century of the Higra (first half of the ninth century A. D.)."