The place of the written word in the Qur’anic text’s history is presented as a paradox. While its oral aspect has seemed to hold precedence, a detailed analysis of the sources invites us to downplay that perspective. The many manuscripts from the early centuries of Islam which have survived –usually just as fragments– often provide information which, though precise, has been ignored for a long time about the conditions in which the text’s initial transmission began (in the 7th-10th centuries). Recently, the discovery of a palimpsest containing different Qur’anic text in the Great Mosque of Sanaa has added an important piece to this complex puzzle. What exactly can be said today about the text of the Qur’an, its history and its canonization?

The event will be presented by François Déroche, a tenured professor holding the “History of the Qur’an” chair at the Collège de France, with the participation of Luz Gómez, a professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. The event will be moderated by Nicolas Kassianides, director of the French Institute of Spain, and will be presented by Pedro Villena, the General Director of Casa Árabe.

François Déroche teaches history of the Qur’an at the Collège de France. He was formerly a professor of history and codicology of Arab manuscripts at the Practical School of High Studies in Paris. He has performed research on various aspects of handwritten books in the Islamic world, with a special interest in the initial period. Amongst the books he has had published are The Abbasid Tradition (1992), Le livre manuscrit arabe, Préludes à une histoire (2004), Manuel de codicologie des manuscrits en écriture arabe (2000), La transmission écrite du Coran dans les debuts de l’Islam. Le codex Parisino-Petropolitanus (2009) and Qur’ans of the Umayyads (2014).