The Qurʾān Palimpsest from Sinai – Interpretations, Models, and Evaluation of Manuscript Cambridge

Jahresvorlesung Corpus Coranicum 2022

07. Dezember 2022

Raum 07W04, Staatsbibliothek, Unter den Linden 8, Akademieflügel

During the last decades, many ancient manuscripts of the Qurʾān have caught the attention of scholars and the larger public. Among them are a few palimpsests, manuscripts whose original text had been deleted to reuse the writing surface and produce new artefacts.

The palimpsest presented by Alba Fedeli is the Sinai palimpsest preserved at Cambridge University Library. It was acquired in Egypt in 1895 and brought to England by Agnes Smith Lewis, who in 1902 published the first presentation of this witness. In 1914, she co-authored a preliminary edition of the Qurʾānic leaves with her twin sister Margaret, and Syriac scholar Alphonse Mingana. Since 2010 Alba Fedeli has analysed all palimpsest folios of the Cambridge palimpsest and has presented a hypothetical reconstruction of the initial manuscript text. In her talk Dr Fedeli will present the importance of this unique witness not only for the Qurʾān’s history but also for the history of Qurʾānic Studies.

Alba Fedeli, researcher at Hamburg university, explores the transmission of early Qurʾanic manuscripts. She received her PhD from the University of Birmingham (UK), at the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing, after her studies in Italy with Sergio Noja Noseda, a pioneer scholar in Qurʾanic manuscripts studies. In order to explore the textual history of the Qurʾān, Dr Fedeli has studied manuscripts around the globe. Among her works is an edition of the Lewis Qurʾanic palimpsest. Currently, she is co-PI of InterSaME Project (“The intertwined world of the oral and written transmission of sacred traditions in the Middle East”), a DFG-AHRC joint project together with Geoffrey Khan (Cambridge).

Eine Veranstaltung des Akademienvorhabens „Corpus Coranicum“ der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akdemie der Wissenschaften (BBAW).


Anmeldung für eine Teilnahme vor Ort unter: corpuscoranicum@bbaw.de 

Zugang zum Online-Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88486477274?pwd=SnBjQzFGai9tQW9IdDlOcmQ1amtBQT09 


 

PROGRAMM

Begrüßung

  • Tonio Sebastian Richter (Akademiemitglied)

Grußwort

  • Angelika Neuwirth (FU Berlin)

Einführung

  • Michael Marx  (BBAW)

Vortrag

  • Alba Fedeli  (Research Associate at Asien-Afrika-Institut and Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Universität Hamburg)
Michael Marx
Arbeitsstellenleiter
Corpus Coranicum
Tel.: +49 (0)331 2796 129
marx@bbaw.de 
Am Neuen Markt 8
14467 Potsdam
© 2024 Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften