6. The Najaf Codex

Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Dawudi al-Hasani, known as Ibn ‘Inabah (d. 825/1422) – mentions in ‘Umdat al-talib a Qur’an which existed in the collection at ‘Ali’s shrine at Najaf. He also mentions another Qur’an written, by ‘Ali (A) which he had seen at the shrine of ‘Ubayd Allah ibn ‘Ali. Any connection between these two Qur’ans and their link with the one in Egypt requires further investigation.

Even today there exists a Qur’an in the collection at ‘Ali’s shrine at Najaf ⁴² which some scholars believe to be the one mentioned by the author of Umdat al-talib. It is possible that the codex at the tomb of ‘Ubayd Allah ibn Ali might have comprised some parts of the one at Najaf.

Sayyid Ahmad al-Husayni al-‘Ashkawari in Fihrist khizanat al rawdat al-Haydariyyah, quoting Mawsu’at al-‘atabat al-muqaddasah (chapter on Najaf), writes that in the year 755/1354 the shrine of ‘Ali (A) was affected by fire in which many rare possessions of the collection were lost including the Qur’an written by ‘Ali (A) in three volumes.

On the margin of the manuscript of ‘Umdat al-talib present at the library of Astanah-a Quds-e Radawi, there are useful notes written by a librarian of Nassabah named Husayn, which include a description about the Najaf codex. The relevant note says: “The codex seen by al Sayyid al-Naqib (i.e. Ibn ‘Inabah al-Hasani Nassabah, author of ‘Umdat al-talib) at Najaf still exists in the collection at Najaf. However, a considerable part of it was burnt and only one volume remained, and that too without the marginal notes since all the margins along with a part of the text were destroyed in the fire.” ⁴³