"Size and general condition.- Large fine parchment 15.6x29.5 cm. The piece, found in three parts, is much damaged; the upper and lower portions are lost, and the remaining central section is considerably broken. The folio shows 15 lines to the page; to judge by the text lost, the original number of lines must have been 18.
Contents.- Recto, Sūrah 6:158 ([ايماذ]ها لم [يكن] on small fragment) to end. Recto 1 and 2 of the main piece show traces only; recto 3 has ينبئهم of verse 159; recto 4 begins with ومن جاء of verse 160. Verso, Sūrah 7:2 ([وذ]كرى لل[مومنين] on small fragment)-14 (الى). Verso 1 and 2 of the mainc piece again show traces only; the end of verso 3 gives جا[ءهم] [ا]ذ of verse 5.
Script.- The script closely resembles that of Ar. Pal. Plate 45 b in size, spacing, and letter formation; note especially the forms for k, medial h, and final ḳ and y. However, the script of the piece is more square in character, resembling in this respect Ar. Pal. Plate 42 b, given as a waḳf by Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Aflaḥ in A.H. 270/A.D. 883/84 to the Great Mosque at Damascus.
Red vowel dots are used; a red stroke indicates the waṣlah, as in recto 6 and 13 and verso 6 and 7. Medial hamzah of the printed text is expressed by a medial y, as in recto 10 (فينبيكم) and verso 6 (يوميذ).
The diacritical signs were perhaps originally meant for strokes, but many of them look very much like heavy dots. They are fully and freely used. The triangular arrangements have replaced the older groupings of th and sh respectively.
Ornamentation and text division.- A narrow band separates the sūrahs. More or less heart-shaped elements in gold, alternately erect and inverted, are outlined and filled in with red on a gold background. The band extends across the page and ends with a circular (?) design on the outer margin. A single black stroke of dot marks the end of a verse. What was used for five-verse groupings is uncertain, since the manuscript is broken where these would occur. Groups of ten verses are marked off by a gold square, as in recto 4, the end of verse 160 of Sūrah 6.”
- Abbott, Nabia. The Rise of the North Arabic Script and Its Ḳurʾānic Development, with a Full Description of the Ḳurʾān Manuscripts in the Oriental Institute. University of Chicago Oriental Institute Publications: 50. Chicago University of Chicago Press, 1939.
