Early German Efforts in Printing Holy Qur’an Marked by Interest and Controversy

Early German Efforts in Printing Holy Qur’an Marked by Interest and Controversy
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The 17th century witnessed the first German attempts to print the Holy Qur’an, reflecting both scholarly interest and contentious attitudes among early European orientalists. In 1694, Protestant cleric and university professor Abraham Hinckelmann published the first complete printed Arabic edition of the Holy Qur’an in Hamburg.

The 560-page volume included English marginal notes but contained several inaccuracies, such as errors in surah titles and missing verses. The edition also described the Prophet Muhammad as a “false prophet” on its title page, underscoring a hostile perspective.

Surviving copies are preserved in research institutions, including the King Faisal Center in Riyadh. Further contributions came in the 19th century when German orientalist Gustav Flügel published another edition in Leipzig in 1834. He later reissued it multiple times until 1869 and compiled an index titled Stars of the Qur’an in 1842.

While widely used in academic circles, Flügel’s edition deviated from the Ottoman script tradition, mixed Qur’anic readings, and included errors in verse counts. Researchers note that these early printings reveal the complex interplay of scholarship and distortion in Europe’s engagement with Islam.