Abdelghani Ballout-Safi

Said Jidiani, president of the Moroccan Manuscripts and Numismatics Club, examines the center of his library full of artifacts in Safi, Morocco, a small Koran as if he saw it for the first time and turn his papers carefully with great care, and check through the magnifying line of sight in his beautiful lines again and again as he shows to a number of visitors and friends.

Said Jidiani to the island Net "sitting in my workshop between these heritage manuscripts and re-search in its history and sources comfortable for the same and inspiring to walk the path of science and work."

Said, son of the city of Safi, the metropolis of the Atlantic known for its skilled craftsmen, in the manufacture of luxury ceramics collects heritage pieces and artifacts of more than 3,000 pieces of art arranged names and sources in a special register.

Among his personal collection, the hiker finds a variety of books in beautiful shapes and sizes, totaling more than 70 books, distributed among the ancient Qur'an, medicine, astronomy, language, poetry, optics and logic, some of which are three centuries old.

Said, known for his passion for heritage, says that he loved collecting ancient coins, coins and postage stamps from his childhood, to find great pleasure to show him the bright side of the history of the city and the country to the history of humanity.

Al-Jidyani says that this little Qur'an received by his elder brother is the closest to his soul .

Long trip
Said talks about his masterpiece with great pride and says that a very small Koran received a gift from his older brother is closest to his soul, and considers himself very lucky to have a manuscript rarely do not see his lines without the magnifier of the line or optical microscope and his calligrapher is a true creator.

According to the oral tradition, this small Koran came out of Upper Egypt through one of its inhabitants who went to Mecca for Hajj and gave it to one of the Moroccan pilgrims.He says that Muslims exchange gifts in the Holy Bekaa and are keen to be themselves from what they carried with them.

Said returns to reconsider the cover of the Koran purple gilded and small lines, and says that he arrived in Morocco in the twenties of the last century, but was taken out immediately after World War II to France among the many manuscripts have become a number of museums world.

He recounts how the expert manuscript researcher and Moroccan historian Allama Mohamed Menouni stated that the treasury of the Qarawiyyin mosque in Fez, for example, contained about 24,000 manuscripts, of which only four thousand remained.

According to researcher in the Moroccan and Arabic calligraphy, Dr. Mohamed Bendouri to Al Jazeera Net that a number of precious Moroccan manuscripts, including Korans written by Moroccan princes and kings are found in French and Spanish museums, and that Morocco is still negotiating to retrieve them.

back
As he looks at his valuable books several times to his visitors on that mild day of November, he says that the journey of this Koran, which has been kept in a tight glass box and placed in a red silk scheduler, has not stopped in France. Luck to return to Morocco.

Dr. Bandouri says that the Koran wrote what people call the specialized line (Al Jazeera)

Said unfortunately recounts the loss of valuable books, but his secrets soon relate to a number of jealous patriots after the independence of Morocco and how they worked to retrieve a number of valuable books, either through acquisition or through acquaintances, including the small Koran, which was restored in 1968.

Visitors ask Said about the type of calligraphy written in the Koran and the tools of writing and very fine letters.

The Moroccan researcher in Islamic heritage, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Nayyar, told Al-Jazeera Net that calligraphy Muslims have mastered the writing of the Koran in different sizes, and competed in its beautification.

He adds that Moroccans knew that such Korans were written with acupuncture and the use of magnifiers of magnitude, with the development of optics by Ibn al-Haytham, explains the researcher Mohamed Bandouri that calligraphers do not adhere to a single line in the copying of books and Korans, and they are keen to master the art to make their work piece Farida.

Built-in font
When academic Mohamed Bendouri puts the small Qur'an towards his eyes, he is surprised by its small size and the precise details of its form, although he is an expert in Moroccan and Arabic fonts. He stresses the merit of this Koran with careful study. He says that he wrote in various Arabic fonts, whether as separate words or in one word, what people call Jurisdiction in the integrated line.

Dr. Nayyar: Muslim calligraphers mastered writing the Holy Quran in different sizes and competed in its beautification (Al-Jazeera)

He explained that the depth in the form of decorated brackets and the type of paper used and the type of ink may refer to the chest of Islam or to the late centuries and to the countries where the manuscript was written heritage.

Said is keen to keep his beautiful Koran along with another rare manuscript of the book "Guide to good things" tagged in the words of prayer and peace be upon the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him written in Turkish in black and red.