1/5. The Codex Topkapı Sarayı Medine nr.1 could be the Qur’ān attributed to Caliph ‘Uthmān, once kept in the Mosque of Medina, next to the Tomb of the Prophet. This and other Qur’āns and objects were removed by the Ottoman troups during the 1st World War and sent to Istanbul.
2/5. This issue had a great impact. In 1918, the King of Hijaz asked for its restitution. The Qur’ān of ‘Uthmān even appeared in the Treaty of Versailles: France and Great Britain suspected Germany to have it and asked for its restitution. But Germany denied this claim.
3/5. In 1920, the Foreign Office concluded “The Turks must have it…[they are maybe] unable to recover it", and the case was closed. In 1920-30’s, the German scholar, G. Bergsträsser, visited the collection of Topkapi and photographed 2 mss with shelfmark Kodex Medina 1a and 1b.
4/5. Kodex Medina 1a is a vertical ms, written probably in the early 8th CE. There are 308 leaves in Bergsträsser’s archives (=78% of the Qur’ān). But maybe the ms has more folios. T. Altikulaç' new volume seems to confirm that, with this picture of the beginning of the muṣḥaf!
5/5. For now, we have to spend 400$ for continuing this investigation! ircica.org/en/publication…
Meanwhile, you can read Michael Marx’s article about Kodex Md 1a, “Le Coran d’‘Uthmān dans le traité de Versailles”. It’s available for free:
persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-…
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