Qur'an of Ibn al-Bawwab, Headings for Al-Fatiha, and for Chapter 2, Al-Baqara, Baghdad, c. 1000. Chester Beatty Library Ibn al-Bawwāb (Arabic: إِبْن ٱلْبَوَّاب), also known as ʿAlī ibn Hilāl, Abū al-Ḥasan, or Ibn al-Siṭrī, was a distinguished Arabic calligrapher and manuscript illuminator active in Baghdad. He is best known for popularizing the use of round scripts in the transcription of the Qurʾān. He likely died in Baghdad around 1022 CE.
The Chester Beatty Library, of which a folio is depicted here, preserves the only surviving Qurʾān copied by Ibn al-Bawwāb, and the earliest known Qurʾānic manuscript written on paper. Marking a transition from parchment Kufic Qurʾāns to paper manuscripts, it is executed entirely in rounded cursive scripts, reflecting advances in fine paper production in Baghdad. The manuscript consists of 286 vertically oriented folios, is fully vocalized, and features refined illumination likely executed by Ibn al-Bawwāb himself. It introduced major innovations in Qurʾānic calligraphy, including the use of Naskh and Thuluth instead of Kufic, expanded statistical folios, and new approaches to spacing and verse marking that shaped Qurʾān production for centuries.
