A Comparative Review of the Characteristics of Qur'anic Manuscripts of the Herat Method in the Timurid and Safavid Periods

Objective: In this research, by comparing the features of the Qur'anic manuscripts of the Herat method in the Timurid and Safavid periods, it was seeking to identify the prescription pillars of these Qurans, and based on that, it identified other Qurans whose authorship and artistic style were unknown.Methodology: This research has been carried out in terms of developmental goal and descriptive and analytical method with purposive sampling from among 21000 Quranic manuscripts available in the manuscripts’ treasure of Astan Quds Razavi Library, which is the statistical population of this research. Due to the lack of access to the original sources, the information gathering tool is the library catalogs and the information checklist obtained from the objective Qurans, which is based on the analysis of the bibliographic information of the reference and precious the Qurans of this course.Findings: Based on the characteristics of the scribe's promotion and the bibliographic information of the library catalog from the Timurid period, Quranic booklet 416 and Mushaf No. 153 and from the Safavid period Mushaf No. 281, 206 and 210 from the Herat method were identified as reference and Musahafs. Their bibliographic information was analyzed in a comparative manner and finally it was determined that among all the features and pillars of bibliographic science, four features of the decorations of the Fatiha al-Kitab tablet, the script of the surahs, the decorations accompanying the text of the Quran and the composition of motifs from are the most important features that can be used to identify the Qur'anic manuscripts of this method of art in the researched periods.Conclusion: By studying the findings of the research, it was found that it is possible to identify the Masahifs of the Herat method based on the elements of epistemology. The results of this research determined that: 1) the design of the Fatih al-Kitab surah, these decorations took up more space on the page in the Safavid period, and the margin of the tablet is two-part wide with an azure background and narrow with a black background, and a half-orange is drawn on the margin and the beginning of the surah is in Rafa's script. In the Timurid period, an azure part and a nim- toranj motif are not drawn on the border, and the head of the surah is decorated with Kufic script. 2) The decorations accompanying the Qur'an text, khoms va ‘ashar in the Timurid period are in the form of an almond and a circle, respectively, while in the Safavid period it is in the form of a circle. 3) The composition of motifs, in the Timurid period, is dominated by Islamic motifs and Roman motifs, but in the Safavid period, alvan Khatai motifs were drawn.