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09.04.2025

Dr Morteza Karimi-Nia deliveres a seminar on the ‘Codex Mashhad: Unlocking the Early History of the Qur’an

The Qurʾān, as the central scripture of Islam, has been transmitted and preserved through centuries of meticulous care. Yet modern scholarly inquiry continues to explore how early Muslim communities recorded, arranged, and interpreted its contents. At the heart of these studies lie rare and ancient manuscripts—physical witnesses to the Qurʾān’s transmission history. One such manuscript is the Codex Mashhad, a remarkable Qurʾānic codex believed to date back to the first century AH. Preserved in the Āstān-i Quds Library in Mashhad, this codex offers a unique window into early Islamic history, scriptural orthography, and regional transmission practices. Through a careful analysis of its textual features, endowment history, and orthographic anomalies, this research challenges assumptions about uniformity in early Qurʾānic codices.
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About the Speaker

Dr Morteza Karimi-Nia is an associate member of the Academy of Sciences of Iran. He studied Islamic theology traditionally at Qom Seminary (al-Ḥawza al-ʿIlmiyya) and pursued academic training in Qurʾānic and Ḥadīth studies at the University of Tehran. Specialising in early Qurʾānic manuscripts and the history of tafsīr, he has published extensively in Persian, Arabic, and English, with over 100 articles and several monographs. His landmark publication, Bibliography of Qurʾānic Studies in European Languages (2012), engaged deeply with Western scholarship. Since 2010, his research has focused on Qurʾānic manuscripts, most notably the critically acclaimed facsimile edition of Codex Mashhad. His current work also explores sectarian interactions in Qurʾānic exegesis from the 4th–6th centuries AH, particularly among Shiʿa, Sunni, and Muʿtazilī scholars.
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September 8, 2025 No Comments

Join us for the Hadith and History conference, ‘Esoteric Currents and Intellectual Tensions: The Ghulāt in Formative Shiism,’ hosted by Al-Mahdi Institute on 9th – 10th February 2026. This event will explore the ghulāt movements within early Shiism and their impact on the Imāmī tradition. Scholars are invited to submit abstracts on the historical and theological dimensions of these movements. Don’t miss this chance to engage in essential discourse in Islamic studies!

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