Jazūlī, Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān (d. 1465)
Dalāʼil al-khayrāt
West Africa, nineteenth century

A copy, written on paper, of the well-known Islamic prayer-book the Dalāʼil al-khayrāt. It is written in maghribi script, which first developed in North Africa and Spain and subsequently spread southwards to West Africa. The script uses consonants only, the vowels indicated by points in red. This is a prayer-book meant for travelling, probably across desert regions. The unbound leaves are wrapped in animal skin covers and housed in a leather satchel to prevent the sacred word from coming into contact with the ground or other unclean surfaces.

MS Add.3500