THE SERVICES OF THE FAMOUS PASHTO POET HAFIZ ALPURI IN THE FIELD OF WRITING THE HOLY QUR’AN, (SPECIAL STUDY OF HIS HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPT OF THE QUR’AN)

Abstract

The Holy Qur’an is the word of Allah Almighty which is safe from all kinds of changes.  Reciting it, is worship and understanding its commandments is obligatory.  The process of preparing copies of the Holy Qur’an started from the time of the Companions of Prophet Muhammad   (Peace    be    upon  him  and  his  family  and  companions)  and  Muslims  have  been  writing  copies  of  the  Holy  Qur’an  for  their  religious  needs.  In ancient times, manuscripts of the Holy Qur’an were written by hand, some of these manuscripts are still preserved in various libraries, mosques  and  other  places  which  are  the  historical  heritage  of  Muslims.  One of them is a manuscript of the  Holy  Qur’an  written  by  Abdul  Samad  known  as  Hafiz  Alpuri,  which  was  written  by  hand  almost  two  centuries  ago  and  is  still  preserved.

The  aims  of  this  study  is  to  achieve  the  following:  1)  introduction  to  Hafiz  Alpuri,  2)  to  know  the  characteristics  of  Hafiz  Alpuri’s  manuscript  Mushaf  in  terms  of  letters,  sizes  and  type  of  paper,  3)  to find  out  what  the  manuscript  Qur’an  has  been  given  in  terms  of  gilding  and  decoration.  The  main  method  used  by  the  researcher  in  this  study  is  analytical  and  descriptive. 

This  study  consists  of  two  parts.  In  first  part,  the  introduction  of  Hafiz  Alpuri  is  presented,  while  in  second  part,  his  manuscript  of  the  Qur’an  is  analyzed.  The  research  findings,  suggestions  and  recommendations  are  given  at  the  end  of  the  paper.