Nurse's Quran

Nurse's Quran — also known as Mushaf al-Hadina (مصحف الحاضنة) is a monumental Qur’anic manuscript commissioned around 1019 CE by a woman named Fatimah, the nurse of Zirid prince Ibn Badis in Kairouan, Tunisia. This lavish endowment (waqf) was intended for the Great Mosque of Kairouan. Written by the calligraphers Al-Warraq and Dorra Al-Katiba, it introduced the unique Kairouani script, a bold, angular style derived from Kufic. The manuscript is an extraordinary masterpiece of Islamic art, blending religious devotion with aesthetic brilliance.^[1][2][3]

A page from the Nurse's Quran, written in Kairouani style.

History

Around 1019 in Kairouan, Tunisia, a woman named Fatimah—nurse to the Zirid prince Ibn Badis—commissioned a remarkable Qur’anic manuscript as a charitable endowment (waqf) for the city’s Great Mosque. This manuscript, later known as Mushaf al-Hadina, was produced by two calligraphers, Al-Warraq and Dorra al-Katiba. Lavishly designed, the manuscript included nearly 3,000 large-format pages, requiring extensive materials such as sheepskin parchment, gold, and colored inks. The writing style, called Kairouani calligraphy, was created specifically for this project and was inspired by Kufic script. It was notable for omitting letter dots, using vibrantly colored diacritics, and decorating Surah headings with gold and Byzantine-style motifs.^[4]

This manuscript reflects the artistic richness and cultural vibrancy of the late Fatimid period in North Africa. Though some pages are now housed in international museums, the majority remains in the Raqqada Museum in Kairouan, where it has been preserved for over a thousand years. Fatimah’s original goal may have been a generous act or a show of influence, but she ultimately became a symbol of artistic patronage. Today, organizations like Mdinti and the Tunisian Association of Calligraphic Arts continue to teach and revive Kairouani calligraphy through workshops, classes, and artistic restoration efforts.^[5]