Welcome to QMSB!
the Qur’an Manuscript Studies Blog is undoubtedly a very valuable resource for any scholar interested in early Qur’anic manuscripts.
Anaïs Salamon, McGill Islamic Studies Library
I am Ahmed W. Shaker, an independent researcher, translator, and editor. My field of study is in early Qur’anic manuscripts, particularly from the first two centuries of Islam, and I yearn to ensure the preservation and transmission process of the Quranic text in this formative period of Islam.
My contributions, both in English and Arabic, shed light on early Quranic documents and their characteristics. I especially concentrate my research on Quranic collections, exhibitions, scribal practices, and the 19th/20th-century orientalists’ interaction with Quranic codices, and particularly how these codices helped shape Quranic manuscript studies as we know them today.
I co-translated Sir Isaac Newton’s An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture into Arabic (Nama Centre for Research and Studies, Beirut 2015). More recently, I worked on The Library of al-Masjid al-Nabawi: History and Rarities (2020, forthcoming).
From 2014 to 2016, I was editor-in-chief for the Journal of Religious Studies. You can see a full bibliography of my work on my Academia.edu page. Follow me on Twitter (@shakerr_ahmed) to see other scholarly activities, events coverage, and follow-ups.
The Quran Manuscript Studies Blog (QMSB) is the online research platform I have dedicated to academic studies of Quran manuscripts and other relevant matters. Launched in 2014, its main aim was to share my research with anyone interested in the field. More and more people follow developments in this intriguing field where surprising discoveries are continually being made. One excellent example, the historical folios of the “Birmingham Quran” (re)discovered by the University in its archives in 2015.
Over the last few years, I have also hosted several interviews with other significant scholars, and plan to continue doing so. My aim is for them to share their academic findings and current projects with you, our respected followers.
The field of Quran manuscripts continues to grow, and as seen from news headlines from time to time, much work is still needed for better understanding these spectacular works and their preservation. If you are a scholar who would like to contribute to QMSB, email me here: ashaker@quranmss.com. You can either submit your articles in English or Arabic, including a short résumé, and I will get back to you. Don’t forget, your donations are also valuable to our ongoing research.
