New Biblia Arabica Project

The Biblia Arabica group report that they have received funding for a large, 21-year project cataloguing, transcribing, studying, and editing the manuscripts and translations of the Bible into Arabic. They want to make around 8,200 manuscripts readily available to users, which will be a great resource for this oft-neglected corpus. Ronny Volandt and Nathan Gibson are to be heartily congratulated on procuring such substantial funding for a critical humanities project.

The Bible in Arabic

Juan Pedro Monferrer-Sala gives a nice illustrated survey of early Arabic Bible translations on the ASOR blog. While pre-Islamic Arabic translations probably existed, the manuscripts that have survived come from the Islamic period and reflect different dialects and base texts, depending on where they were translated.

The Damascus Psalm Fragment: Middle Arabic and the Legacy of Old Ḥigāzī

Ahmad Al-Jallad (with a contribution by Ronny Vollandt) has published an open access volume on a fascinating Arabic psalter written in Greek script: The Damascus Psalm Fragment: Middle Arabic and the Legacy of Old Ḥigāzī.

Vollandt on Christian Arabic Translations in the Cairo Genizah

Ronny Vollandt has a helpful survey of the Christian Arabic Bible translations from the Cairo Genizah.

HT Agade

Turnbull on the Date of the Arabic Gospels

Robert Turnbull discusses the date of the translation of the Arabic Gospels in an interesting post on Biblia Arabica.

HT Agade

Mugler's Review of Griffith's "The Bible in Arabic"

AJR has published Josh Mugler's review of Sidney Griffith's The Bible in Arabic: The Scriptures of the 'People of the Book' in the Language of Islam. It sounds like a very interesting overview of important issues that would be well worth further consideration.

HT Agade

A Hebrew Exodus Manuscript in Arabic Script (BM Or 2540)

Browsing the digitized manuscripts of the British Library today, I happened across a wonderful manuscript that I had never seen before, and I thought it might be worth highlighting. BM Or 2540 is the remnants of a Karaite codex containing the Hebrew text of Exodus 1:1-8:5 in Arabic script. The Karaites are well-known for their intense interest in the text, and it is possible that some--or even many--important Masoretes were Karaites. Dated roughly to around the 10th century, this manuscript is a rather early example of a Masoretic codex, probably earlier than the famous Leningrad Codex. The Hebrew text is written in Arabic letters in black ink (with differences in orthography), with Tiberian vowels added in red and accents in green. It is quite a beautiful and interesting example of the flexibility of Jewish scribes with unique combinations of scripts and languages. Not only were many different languages written in Jewish/Hebrew square scripts, but also Hebrew language text could be written in other types of scripts.

The Bible in Arabic

Jack Sasson has pointed out a new book by Sidney H. Griffith: The Bible in Arabic: The Scriptures of the 'People of the Book' in the Language of Islam. It looks like a very interesting read for both textual criticism of the Bible and Judeo-Christian-Islamic relationships in late antiquity and the early medieval period.

Online Book on Arabic Codicology

I recently found an interesting book on Arabic codicology online here. Adam Gacek, Arabic Manuscripts: a Vademecum for Readers (Handbook of Oriental Studies, Section 1, The Near and Middle East, volume 98). It looks quite helpful for those interested in Arabic manuscripts.