The oldest handwritten Qur'an manuscript accessible to the public has five volumes, all of which will be tokenized and sold via a UK-based marketplace for digital non-fungible tokens.
Deepali Shukla, an art connoisseur and collector, established MetaDee to address a large vacuum in the NFT market, where not everyone may find the abstract to be alluring. Arab News was informed by Shukla, that the Qur'an NFTs “are limited, digitized versions of the very first manuscript, handwritten in ink by the personal scribe of the Prophet (and) owing to their immeasurable historic and cultural value, the manuscripts are being seen as a cherished treasure by the faithful and art collectors alike.”
According to the company, this rare Qur'an manuscript, which has been authenticated and certified by the University of Oxford's Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, the world's foremost expert in dating archaeological artifacts using radiocarbon dating technology, is thought to have been written in 632 AD.
She clarified that a custodial family owns the original manuscripts, kept in Geneva, Switzerland, that will be used to construct the NFTs. Over the years, the family has journeyed across Madinah, Makkah, and Syria while guarding and protecting the volumes. She believes rare artifacts and sacred texts can enhance educational opportunities, strengthen communities, and appeal to youth through tokenization.
Shukla said it is also a tremendous honor to transmit timeless knowledge from 1,400 years ago and to enhance its value in the digital world of today and tomorrow.
The Qur'an manuscript NFTs are distinctive because no other format gives proof of ownership that can be continuously verified and authenticated. They are conveniently stored on the blockchain, a system of recorded cryptocurrency transactions, readily accessible at any time and from any location and are transferrable to new owners.
Shukla claimed that as more nations, including Saudi Arabia, have begun to accept cryptocurrencies and NFTs and some have even set up cryptocurrency ATMs, the market for digital NFT collectibles is expected to grow at the fastest rate of any niche market and reach $700 billion in value in the next ten years. She also added, “As time progresses, actual, tangible and real assets almost always endure, hence the rationale of augmented value of such tokenized assets seems to appeal to people.”
