Quranic writing board, ink on wooden panel with handle [probably Somalia, early twentieth century]

A large Qur'anic writing board, for either ritual or academic use, in Arabic, ink on carved wooden panel with handle [probably Somalia, early twentieth century] single large wooden board, with 9 lines maghribi script (reverse blank), remains of secondary handle at base, handle at the top with string hole, scuffed and darkened, text a little faded (as often), c. 540 by 155 mm. Writing tablets of this nature were commonly used in North African territories as a way of teaching the Qur'an, whereby the verses were written on the boards and then memorised by the students. Another use for these objects was the extraction of their magical properties by means of ritual washing, whereby water containing residual traces of ink from the holy text might be used as a form of medicine.