The oldest handwritten version of the Koran in China, kept in the Jiezi Mosque in the Xunhua Salar Autonomous County of northwest China's Qinghai Province, should be available for public viewing by the end of this year, according to Han Fuyi, a director of mosque management.

 

According to a Xinhua report on April 11, a museum across from the mosque is under construction. The handwritten Koran will be put on display at the museum, which is scheduled for completion at year-end. Other cultural relics belonging to the Salar ethnic group will also be exhibited at the museum.

 

The 30-volume, 867-page Koran is divided into two parts. Each part is wrapped in a silk cover and enveloped in intricately designed rhinoceros skin. The two parts are encased in two 0.6-m-long wooden boxes.

 

Han said that 700 years ago, the ancestors of the Salar ethnic group emigrated eastward from Central Asia to escape the clan wars. They brought with them on camelback their homeland’s water, soil and the ink-written Koran, and eventually settled down in what is known today as Jiezi Township in Xunhua County.

 

This copy of the Koran is said to be one of the three copies written under the supervision of the 3rd caliph, the 3rd successor of Muhammad, from the ancient Arabic Kingdom. It is also one of the most well preserved, and oldest handwritten versions in the world. It is regarded as the most sacred treasure of the Salar ethnic group.

 

This Arabic version was written some time between the 8th and 13th centuries and authenticated by experts in September 2004. It is older than the copy that is kept in Dongsi Mosque in Beijing.

 

Han believes that this version should be copied onto compact discs to ensure that it doesn't sustain any further damage. Replicas will also be made for display purposes.

 

The State Administration of Cultural Heritage plans to allocate a protection fund of 1.5 million yuan to the preservation of the handwritten Koran. Local people have also donated to the construction of the museum.

 

(China.org.cn by Guo Xiaohong, April 17, 2006)