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THE EVOLUTION OF READING AIDS WITHIN THE MU$J:lAF III
2. Ayah Separators
'Uthman's Mushaf was also devoid of ayah separators, as we can see from
the two figures below; both are attributed to him, meaning that they are
either originals or duplicate copies thereof.
Figure 8.4: The MUJ~af of Tashkent. Source: al-Munaggid, Etudes, p. 51.
Figure 8.5: The MUJ~af of Samarqand. Source: M~ij~if $an'ij', p. 35.
Before long ayah separators trickled in. No fixed style was observed,
each scribe freely devising his own. The three examples I present are all
taken from Mushafs in the Hejazi script (first century A.H.). In the first
sample, the ayah separator consists of two columns of three dots each; in
the second, a row of four dots; in the third, a triangular arrangement.
