HARFOVI

  This piece is more of an idea—a reflection of my long-standing thoughts on the theme of variation across different natural and social disciplines. Working with early Qur’anic manuscripts has led me to a central realization: life is essentially a human quest for a controlled level of variation, both in our individual daily lives and within society at large. I debated whether to write this in Bosnian or English, but I settled on English. This morning, I listened to a conversation with Dr. Hythem Sidky on the Near East by Midwest podcast. He discussed how the study of early Qur’anic manuscripts serves as a bridge where natural and social sciences—specifically mathematics and history—can collaborate. My intention is not to review his interview, but rather to reflect on a specific part of his research: how quantitative models of different writing styles in early mus’hafs (manuscripts) allow for historical contextualization and the tracking of controlled variation. We must not forget...