Throughout history, mankind has committed its
greatest thoughts to writing. The power of the
written word is vast: it allows ideas, emotions,
even passions, to transcend time, to pass
unaltered from one person to another, from one
generation to the next. Human society itself is
erected on a solid foundation of documents:
edicts, declarations, and holy books. This rare
manuscript dates from the early flowering of
Islam, a religion which, from its beginning, has
been guided by the written word. The reed
paper, papyrus, was made for thousands of
years in Egypt, a land incorporated early into the
Islamic empire. To hold this manuscript today, to
decipher its message, is to communicate directly
with a vanished world.
- (PF.0354)
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