About 7 centuries ago, Sultan Ali Abu Al-Hassan Al-Marini wanted from Morocco Al-Aqsa to leave his mark in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Islamic Museum at Al-Aqsa Mosque embraces the Qur’an known as the “Moroccan Rab'a”, because it was kept in a square-shaped box of ebony decorated with colored silver. The box was divided into several sections from the inside to contain the Qur’an in 30 separate parts, in addition to its endowment papers.
According to the endowment of the "Moroccan Raba", it was copied in 1344 AD in the handwriting of Sultan Abi Al-Hassan Al-Marini, then it was sent as a gift from him in honor and interest in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
It is stipulated in the conditions of the endowment that the raba'a should be recited inside the Dome of the Rock after sunrise every day in full, and after that Surat Al-Ikhlas, Mu`tadin, Al-Fatiha and the beginning of Surat Al-Baqarah is recited, and the Prophet, peace be upon him, is called to the one who is standing, his parents, his descendants, and all Muslims, as it is stipulated that the reader should be a book-keeper. God and the people of good and righteousness.
The square wooden box that embraced the "Moroccan Quarter" (Al Jazeera)
Prince of Muslims, good calligraphy and good manners
Sultan Abu Al-Hassan Al-Mansour Billah Al-Marini - nicknamed Prince of the Muslims - was one of the elders of the Banu Marin, and they were an Amazigh dynasty that ruled Morocco. Morocco, the Far and Near, and built many educational and religious institutions, such as schools, madrassas, and mosques.
Throughout history, the Muslim sultans considered Qur’ans to be among the most honorable gifts and valued them. They were crowned with majestic processions and paid as gifts to strengthen political and diplomatic ties between countries, especially between the East and the Islamic Maghreb, and the Sultans of Morocco looked to Egypt and the Levant as Morocco is an extension of the Islamic world.
With regard to the “Moroccan Quarter”, Sultan Abu al-Hassan al-Marini was a contemporary of the Mamluk Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad ibn al-Mansur Qalawun. Of those quadrants today, only Rab'a Al Aqsa.
Researcher Samar Bekirat at the Book Fair in Morocco in 2020, where she received support from the Bayt Al-Mal Agency to print her study (Al-Jazeera)
A recent detailed study
mentioned by many researchers the "Moroccan Rab'a", but not a sufficient academic study was devoted to it until the year 2020, when the Jerusalemite researcher and manuscript restoration expert, Samar Nimr Bekirat, issued a historical study on the art of writing Qur’ans in the Marinid era. The science of studying the physical impact of manuscripts (codecology), a modern science that originated in the study of early Qur’ans.
The researcher says to Al-Jazeera Net that studying the Rab'a requires great patience and effort.
The cover of one of the parts of the Qur’an decorated with colorful floral and geometric motifs (Al-Jazeera)
The loss of some of its parts
helped the Rabaa Fund to keep it in good condition, in addition to the fact that it was written on “parchment” (leather) that does not erode like paper, and the researcher says that 5 parts were lost, and it was rewritten in the Ottoman period by Hajj Mubarak bin Abdul Rahman al-Maliki in the year 1807 AD, and in 1932 the 30th of it was lost, so today it has become only 24 parts of the line of Sultan Marinid.
The Rab'a was written in ink made from fragrant materials such as saffron and musk mixed with carbon ink, and simple, leafy and braided Kufic script was adopted to write the titles of the surahs and their endings, and the body of the Qur’an was written in simple Moroccan script devoid of decoration.
And the researcher shows that each part of the Rab'a consists of 12 notebooks, with 5 lines per square page, and the calligraphy was deliberately highlighted and enlarged in reverence for the words of God Almighty.
The endowment found in every part of the "Moroccan Quarter" and written with gold water (Al-Jazeera)
Creativity in decoration and decoration The
researcher noticed the distinction of the Rab'a with various decorative paintings at the beginning of each part, rich in geometric, floral and colorful decorative elements in bright colors, which were evident in the verse breaks, fifths, tenths and creative frames that reflected the beauty of Islamic art in Morocco in the Marinid era.
Concerning the cover and binding, the researcher says that it was very beautiful and accurate, and was decorated with a braided frame embroidered with gold and silver threads, with the presence of writing ribbons of the same strings, while the Rab'a box was decorated and covered with leather and the ribbons of braided silver strings and silver cuffs decorated with exquisite geometric and plant motifs, indicating the progress of the art Decoration in Morocco and its contrast from what is followed in the East.
Researcher Bikirat prepared a detailed and integrated study on the "Moroccan Quarter" in Al-Aqsa Mosque (Al-Jazeera)
A great historical value,
according to the researcher, the importance of the "Moroccan Quarter" stems from the importance of the Noble Qur’an to Muslims, in addition to its copying by the Sultan himself, which is rarely the case, in addition to it being the only surviving copy of Sultan Abi al-Hassan’s Qur’an that was mentioned in Islamic literature.
She added, "This copy has a great historical value and is invaluable to the people of Jerusalem, and also for Moroccans, as they are proud of it because it is one of the historical evidence of the interest of the Sultans and the people of Morocco in the city of Jerusalem, for they have real estate, homes and Qur’ans that were read daily in the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
It is noteworthy that several Qur’ans were arrested in the Al-Aqsa Mosque by Muslim sultans and princes, especially in the Mamluk and Ottoman periods, such as the Sultan Barsbay’s Qur’an, which is the largest in the Islamic Museum, the Anwar Pasha’s Qur’an and the fourth of Sultan Murad.