Copying Islamic Manuscripts in Captivity: The Case of the Qur’an of Muḥammad al-Tāzī / Baldassarre Loyola Mandes (1631–1667)

The article deals with a seventeenth-century manuscript copy of the Qur’an from Malta held at the University of Pennsylvania (Ms. Codex 1904). The manuscript’s copyist can be identified with Muḥammad al-Tāzī, also known as Baldassare Loyola Mandes (1631–1667), an alleged Moroccan prince who converted to Christianity and gained considerable fame in Catholic countries for his missionary activity and anti-Islamic polemics. In spite of the large number of contemporary sources and modern studies on him, some aspects of his life still remain elusive. Several passages of the accounts of his Islamic past appear nebulous, and, in particular, his royal descent continues to raise doubts. On the one hand, the University of Pennsylvania Qur’an represents a unique document of his pre-conversion life. On the other hand, it bears witness to a peculiar but little-studied form of manuscript production in early modern Europe, represented by books copied by Muslim scribes under conditions of captivity.