On a Sunday morning, along the shores of Kozhikode beach, waves sweep the sand in ea­rnest. The wind, drunk on saltiness, feels up the leaves of the lanky coconut trees guarding the shores. Leaves swayed in protest, trying to get the attention of passersby by drizzling dewdrops. Unruffled, the wind carries on. A few hundred metres away, it stops to knock on the windows of a house owned by Muhammad Nizar.

In a city still filled with traces of the colonial past, Nizar has been trading in handicrafts from Kerala, including palm leaves, seashells, wood and clay. For the past 23 years, he has been dealing with Indians living in the Gulf.

Three small steps welcome you at Nizars, which begins with a nothing-out-of-the-ordinary room: A sofa, centre table laden with fruits and walls that brandish pictures of various forts of Kerala.

This living room may be the place where Nizar spends most of his time when he is India; however, his favourite room is the adjacent one, where his most extravagant purchase rests.

In a box made of mother of pearl, a handwritten copy of Quran-e-shareef is kept wrapped carefully in a green velvet cloth. Containing over 850 handmade pages, the book almost weighs six kg. On the cover, exquisite artwork weaves around an ayah (verse) from Quran. The ayah rests on a rose tree whose branches are elaborated with semi-precious stones. The borders are painted in gold and silver, and decorated with Arabic motifs. When closed, the book measures 30 cm in length and 20 cm in breadth.

“This Quran is written in a unique calligraphic style, which is slender and flowery. While writing this, lot of attention must have been paid, as not even a single mistake is permissible in Quran. Also, along the borders and around the frame, extensive designs are made in great depth, on every single page of the book,” says Mohd Nizar. To highlight key paragraphs (ayat in Urdu), gold and silver are used.

The Quran, which literally means ‘the recitation’, is considered to be word of God, verbatim. Composed in the form of verses (ayah), Quran contains over 114 chapters (suras) of unequal number of pages. It is widely regarded as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language. It is widely believed that not a single word has been changed in the 114 chapters of Quran, since it was revealed to Prophet Muhammad over 14 centuries ago. Quran, the last revealed word of God, is considered a must for all Muslims to be read, understood and followed.

The first Quran was written after the death of Prophet Muhammad, by the order of the first Caliph Abu Bakr. With the rise in believers of Islam, the demand for Quran also climbed. Juxtaposing aesthetic values of art and design with religious beliefs, many calligraphers (khatibs) have made their mark. Two of the prominent calligraphers to have served the art form are Yaqut al-Mustasimi and Mir Emad.

Yaqut al-Mustasim, who is credited for inventing new style of calligraphy ‘Yakuti’, wrote over 1,000 copies of Quran with his own hand. Several copies of Quran written by Mir Emad, who wrote in Nastaliq style of calligraphy, are kept in various museums around the world.

The holy book of Quran teaches about simple living and warns against extravagant ways. It is believed that the Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb, used to stitch caps and write Qurans. The Qurans made by him were decorated with lavish gold insets and were made of paper handcrafted from rice husk and natural materials. The script was written in ink made of valuable minerals, mixed with powdered ruby, gold, silver and garnet.

Today, with the onslaught of digital calligraphy, these old handwritten Qurans have become extremely valuable. Few years ago, the Kerala central crime branch (CCB) of police seized a stolen Quran, written by Aurangzeb 400 years ago. The book, which weighed 13 kg, contained 1,000 copper plate pages. Each page had a distinct smell. The accused was trying to sell the manuscript for over Rs 5 crore.

Handwritten Qurans have become an ancient art. Nizar is one of the few lucky ones to have such a Quran in his home. “I never planned to buy a handwritten Quran. I had heard about it, but never knew of anyone who had one. But three years ago, when I was in Dubai, one of my clients showed me this Quran. I had always been reading from digitally printed Quran,” remembers Nizar. The Quran was priced at Rs 8 lakh, “but after looking at the craftsmanship and the detailed calligraphy, I immediately decided to buy it,” he says. “You have to consider, more than half of that amount would have gone into the gold paint and mother of pearl box. More than the price, it is the time put into writing each verse, which holds more value,” he adds.

A few years ago, a rare Quran was sold to the Sultan of Brunei, who intended to give it as a gift to his wife. The 400-year-old Quran, which can fit into the palm of a hand, is valued at $10 million. Another 400-year-old handwritten copy of the Quran, belonging to a Yemeni Islamic scholar, fetched up to $4.3 million.

Sensing an opportunity, Ijaz Akhtar had started dealing in old handwritten Qurans two decades ago. Based in Gujrat, Pakistan, 65-year-old Akhtar scours the market constantly for old Qurans to meet the demand from western nations. “I source old handwritten Qurans from India, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey. And then I sell them online, mostly outside Pakistan,” explains Akhtar.

As there exists no real expertise in the restoration of old handwritten Qurans, maintaining them has proven to be a difficult task. Owners are thus forced to sell them to dealers such as Akhtar or museums across the world.

“I have a network of sellers who deliver these Qurans at my doorstep. There is a huge interest for Quran in countries such as the UAE, the US, the UK, Switzerland and Canada. These people who buy these Qurans, are a rare kind,” says Akhtar. The most expensive Quran that Akhtar ever sold was in the UAE, which fetched him $1,760,000.

Efforts are on to revive the art of handwritten Qurans. In Kabul, Afgha-nistan, recently, amidst fanfare, the world’s largest handwritten Quran was unveiled. The Quran has 218 pages made of cloth and paper, with pages measuring 2.28 metres by 1.55 metres. It weighs 500 kg.

On February 23, Delhi-based Iranian Cultural Centre will be displaying another large-format handwritten Quran — big enough to break the record of the Kabul Quran — at the National Archives in Delhi. Measuring three metres by two metres, the handwritten Quran took four years and 12 khatibs (calligraphers) to make. The book is still being given final touches.

Over the years, says Mehdi Khajeh Piri, second secretary of the Embassy of Islamic Republic of Iran, the Iran Cultural Centre has been trying to keep the age-old tradition of handwritten Qurans alive. Apparently, Piri himself has overseen many projects involving restoration of old Qurans ranging from one-inch to over 300 kg copper plated ones, set in languages such as Persian, Sanskrit, Malayalam, Arabic and Urdu. “The first style of calligraphy that came into being around 1,400 — 1,500 years ago was Khat kufi. It is the same style in which first Quran was written and is almost non-existent today. We are trying to revive this style,” says Piri.

Khatibs are the worst affected by the lack of demand for handwritten Qurans. Shafiqul Rahman, for instance, tells you that he is barely able to make ends meet being a khatib. From his room in Hazrat Nizamuddin basti, Rahman has been doing calligraphy for the past 14 years. Very rarely, like the time almost four years ago, does he get a full book commission, says Rahman. A gentleman who wished for a handwritten Quran had approached him. He was charged Rs 500 for one safa (one side of the page), and the completion of the Quran took two-and-half years and costed around Rs 4 lakh.

“No one commissions a whole Quran these days: It is time consuming and also costs a lot. People only ask one or two ayat (paragraph) or, at most, a chapter to write now. That’s about it,” laments Rahman.

It is indeed a paradox: On the one ha­nd, you have Qurans being auctioned for millions in the western world (recently in London, a Quran dated June 1203, was sold for $2.3 million). On the other, khatibs sitting opposite the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi have shifted to other occupati­ons, pushed out of their livelihood by digital calligraphy. Only a few like Rahman, hang on, waiting for the tide to turn.

abhinavkaul@mydigitalfc.com

We are unable to reproduce the calligraphic works with regard to the Quran-e-Shareef, mentioned in this article, in deference to the sanctity of those works and in respect of the religious sentiments involved.