QURAN MANUSCRIPT FROM KERINCI: THE PROOF THAT THERE IS A CONNECTION BETWEEN HARAMAIN (MEKKAH AND MADINAH AT THAT TIME) AND KERINCI BACK IN THE EIGHTEENTH TO NINETEENTH CENTURY

摘要

Qur'an manuscript dated back in 18 to 19th century often written and copied by hand and part of an important cultural heritage in Indonesia and often found in various cities in Indonesia, including Kerinci. There had been lots of attention lately on the old Qur'an manuscript from Indonesia, but most of them are concentrated in big cities in Indonesia, not Kerinci. This old manuscript found in Kerinci belong to Syekh Ahmad Khatib, a very well-known Islamic scholar, who was educated in Makkah and Madinah in the late 19th to early 20th century. According to the watermark found in the paper used in this old manuscript, the manuscript was dated back in the 18th century and written on an old Europen paper. It finds that this old Quran manuscript is written beautifully using nasakh calligraphy that was often used at that time but with no illuminations. Even without illumination, this Qur'an manuscript is written beautifully and was written differently then other Quran manuscript found in the archipelago, making it a very rare finding among other manuscript found in Jambi. It was brought back by Syekh Muhammad Khatib from Mekkah after he had finished his study back in the early 20th century. The existence of this manuscript belonging to one of the prominent family in Kerinci back in late 19th century had proven that there is a connection between Haramain (the two holy city in the Saudi Arabia, Mekkah and Madinah) with Kerinci and other Islamic scholars in Indonesia back in the 18th - 19th century AD.