Arabic Encrypted Texts

This paper provides an overview of the practice and use of codes in the Arabic-Islamic context while reintroducing a Qurʾān manuscript housed in the Kitābkhāna-yi markazī Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī (Mashhad, Iran), known for being written in the socalled Bāburī-khaṭṭ (Bābur’s script). The manuscript, attributed to the hand of Ẓahīr al-Dīn Moḥammad Bābur Shāh (886–937/1438–1530), is discussed in connection with the tradition of Arabic encrypted texts and treatises, as well as with Bābur’s autobiography ( Bābur-nāma ), which mentions the use of a specific coded script. Moreover, the link between plain/coded texts and literacy is considered, as well as the connection between Arabic medieval chancery habits and modern oral/slang practices (Fr. verlan ). Finally, the phenomenon of the encrypted Qur’anic texts is viewed in the context of the Ahl al-kitāb manuscript production of sacred scriptures.