The Blue Qur’an is a unique manuscript of the Quran that was created in North Africa during the 9th or 10th century. The manuscripts was first described in 693 H/1292-1293 in the inventory of the library of Sidi Uqba Mosque in Kairouan. The inventory refers to the Qur’an as follow: “in seven volumes of great writing in gold Kufic script on parchment blue-black format. The number of verses is written in silver, wrapped in embossed wood lined with silk”.

This manuscript is renowned for its unique blue pages adorned with golden lettering, as well as its intricate geometric and floral patterns. Each page of the manuscript features fifteen lines of gold Kufic script on blue vellum, devoid of vowels and diacritical marks which makes reading the text more challenging.

The Blue Qur’an is a unique Quranic manuscript which is thought to have contained 600 parchment folios. Its exact place of creation has been a topic of debate, with suggestions including Tunisia, Spain, or Sicily, all of which are in the western part of the Islamic world. The manuscript has been dismembered at some point in history and dispersed around the world. It is now kept in its great majority in Tunisia, except for the first four juz, which are scattered in museums and private collections around the world.

This website aims to gather all the folios identified to date. Do not hesitate to explore this collection and the history of this fascinating object.