A study of the manuscript Qur'an has begun in Ostroh

September 18, 2013

An Arabic manuscript of the Qur’an has been stored in the funds of Ostroh State Historical and Cultural Reserve for quite a long time. It was found in the early 1990s by the reserve’s specialist Oleksandr Pozikhovskyi. As the study showed, not only does this Qur’an belong to the unique cultural legacy of so-called Western Tatars (who lived on the territory of Lithuania, Poland, Belarus and Ukraine since the 18th century), it had also been rewritten in Ostroh. For a long period this book has been in possession of this community’s descendants.

According to Mykhailo Yakubovych, Cand.Sc. (History), Senior Lecturer of the Department of Religious Studies of the National University of Ostroh Academy, the text dates back to the beginning of the 19th century. Thanks to the help of local history expert Mykola Bendiuk and the experts of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve, there is now a possibility to study this unique manuscript. It turned out that the manuscript Qur’an was rewritten by Mustafa Adamiv, who has finished his work on 9 April 1804. All 114 surahs and a part of a prayer, which was said in the end of Qur’an recitation, were saved.

«Interestingly, besides the Arabic text, the manuscript has inscriptions written in Polish and Ukrainian using Arabic letters. The place of writing, Ostroh, is mentioned as well. Owing to this and other peculiarities, this monument can be referred to the so called Ketabs, manuscripts of the Western Tatars. Tens of text copies of this kind have been preserved in Poland, Belarus and Lithuania, which is a rare thing for Western Ukraine», said Mykhailo Yakubovych. According to the scholar, Western Tatars had been keeping the old tradition of rewriting the sacred book of Islam until the last century.

It should be mentioned that Tatar community already existed in Ostroh in the 16th century. For some time Ostroh Tatars served as castle guards, and later had great privileges granted by Polish kings. It is interesting that according to the records, the local mosque still functioned here at the beginning of the 20th century.