Ukraine Preserves Muslim Heritage: 1804 Ostroh Quran Now Available Online
A unique handwritten monument, the Ostroh Quran, created in 1804 by the Tatar scribe Ibn Adam Ali Mustafa, has been digitized in Ukraine. It is one of the most valuable examples of the cultural heritage of the Volhynian Tatars, combining Islamic tradition with Ukrainian linguistic elements.
The Gaze reports on it, referring to Suspilne and a statement made by the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Crimea on Facebook.
The manuscript, kept in the Museum of Books and Printing in Ostroh, consists of 19 bound notebooks on bluish fabric paper measuring 19×14 cm. The text is written in calligraphic naskh script with a slight slant, characteristic of Western Tatars. The main lines are written in black ink, and the punctuation is in red, creating a harmonious combination, complemented by red frames on the pages.
A distinctive feature of the Ostroh Quran is its linguistic mosaic. The margins of the manuscript contain Ukrainian-language notes written in Arabic script.
This manuscript is the only known example of the so-called “Western Tatars” — a community that lived in Ostroh and Southern Volhynia from the 16th to the mid-20th century.
The date of completion of the Quran is recorded three times: in Hijra (1219), in transliteration from Arabic script, and in Polish Latin script. As noted by Andriy Bryzhuk, acting director of the reserve, “this is undoubtedly a unique manuscript, as no other examples of this kind have survived among Muslim communities in Ukraine.”
With the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation's “Ostrog Tatars” exhibition project, the digitized Quran is now available online — you can browse it or download it from the Ostrog Castle website.
According to Bryzhuk, this is an important step towards preserving the spiritual heritage and restoring the memory of the Muslim community of Volhynia, which was once an integral part of Ukraine's multicultural history.
Interestingly, according to Radio Svoboda, citing the Office of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, there are about 2 million Muslims living in Ukraine, with over 300 mosques and prayer houses, 90 Muslim Sunday schools, and 7 higher education institutions.
The Gaze reported earlier that eight rare German-language books from the 19th–early 20th centuries, taken from Ukraine during the German occupation, have been returned by a German citizen to Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Communications.
These rare academic editions from 1830–1906 are valuable not only as historical artefacts but also as evidence of the advanced level of Ukrainian university education and scholarly work at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.