Scientists have discovered a hidden text under a layer of gold on a page of the Blue Quran. Photo

Scientists have discovered a text hidden under a complex decorative layer of gold leaf on a page of the Blue Quran. During the study, researchers from the National Museum of Zayed used multispectral imaging techniques.

The team of experts found verses from Surah Al-Nisa under a layer of gold ornamentation on a page of one of the world's most famous Quranic manuscripts. According to experts, this sura focuses on women's rights, inheritance law, care for orphans, legal and illegal women who marry, and upholding justice, Arkeonews reports.

The Blue Quran is a copy of the Quran dating back to 800-900 AD. The manuscript is known for its bright blue or indigo pages, silver trim, and golden kufic calligraphy, scholars describe. It is believed that its palette refers to purple-painted gilded manuscripts produced in the neighboring Byzantine Empire.

According to experts, the text there is written in Kufic script. As in other early Qurans, the content here is difficult to read because the letters have been altered to make each line the same length and the markings necessary to distinguish between letters have been omitted.

In the new study, the Quranic page was examined using multispectral imaging, a technique that can detect text and images that have faded over time and are no longer visible to the human eye, experts say.

Scientists emphasize that the advanced technologies used to shed new light on this page of the manuscript help to open up additional perspectives on the creation of this rare copy of the Qur'an.

It is known that the Blue Quran originally consisted of 600 sheets, each of which was made of sheepskin, experts say. Scrolls from the manuscript have been known to scholars since the beginning of the 20th century, but it first attracted widespread attention in the 1970s, after several sheets were published at international exhibitions.

According to researchers, the Blue Qur'an was attributed to Iran or Tunisia, where the bulk of the manuscript is supposedly kept.

Today, only about 100 pages can be found in private and museum collections around the world, five of which will be exhibited at the National Museum of Zaid.

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