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Notes

Hassan bin Adojo, a man of West African descent, endows a magnificent Qur’an from Harar, copied on Italian paper, to his mother Fatima Shasho in Diu, the principal Portuguese port of Gujarat, at the close of the 17th century.This is a Qur’an which bears witness to family, devotion, and global trade, an artefact of the cultural exchanges of the Indian Ocean and their complex legacy. It was copied towards the end of the 17th century in the Muslim city-state of Harar in Ethiopia, its place of production identified from its script, decorative scheme, and distinctive palette of red, green, yellow, and black. It is undated and unsigned. The manuscript was copied on Italian export papers, whose marks correspond to papers used in Ottoman documents as early as 1678. It seems improbable that such paper would have reached Harar before Istanbul but perfectly plausible, given the former city’s extensive trading ties, that such paper would have reached the Horn not much later. The inscribed date, 1105 AH (1693/4 CE, at f.314r is clearly not in the same hand(s) as the manuscript. It is not a dated colophon. Neither, however, is it the work of some slapdash forger. Rather, the combination of inscribed prayer and date suggests a pious owner recording their acquisition of this manuscript or some other significant date. In any case, these two data points are mutually supporting and permit the manuscript’s production to be attributed to the period between 1678 and 1694. This manuscript is evidence of a free Black Muslim family in Portuguese Diu. It is substantial testament to the fact that Hassan was wealthy enough to purchase a large, elaborate manuscript on imported European paper copied on the far side of the Indian Ocean. His endowment inscription hints that he expected to predecease his mother - it may well have been written when he was severely ill or contemplating some particularly risky venture. But it suggests too that both Hassan and his mother Fatima were confident enough in their position in the city to expect his wishes to be respected and her place after his death to be a secure one. Arabic manuscript on several laid Italian papers, the majority marked with tre lune and V G. In an early 20th-century textile binding. -- dealer's description

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