Muhammad-Era Quran Discovered Amid Birmingham Uni Manuscripts
Pages of a possibly Muhammad-era Quran lying in Birmingham University have turned out to be over 1,300 years old!
According to the BBC, the Muhammad-era Quran underwent radiocarbon dating tests. The results: With an accuracy of over 95%, the pages were found to be from any date between 568 and 645 AD, a range that encompasses Muhammad’s lifetime.
The Muhammed-era Quran has been in Birmingham University’s collection of Middle Eastern manuscripts “for almost a century,” according to the BBC, “without being identified as one of the oldest fragments” of the Muslim holy book ever found.
It was only when Alba Fedeli, a PhD research at the university, thought it was a good idea to run tests on the Muhammad-era Quran that the “startling” discovery was made.
According to Al Jazeera, Birmingham University Director of Special Collections Susan Worral said the Muhammad-era Quran finding will contribute “significantly to our understanding of the earliest written copies of the Quran.”
The text in the Muhammad-era Quran manuscript, written in an older style of Arabic script called Hijazi, matches exactly the Quran currently read and published throughout the Muslim world, further supporting Muslim beliefs that the Islamic holy book has been unaltered since it was first spoken.
Birnmingham University published the discovery on its website on Wednesday.
Researchers conclude that the Qur’an manuscript is among the earliest written textual evidence of the Islamic holy book known to survive. This gives the Qur’an manuscript in Birmingham global significance to Muslim heritage and the study of Islam.
Given that Muslim tradition suggests that the Quran was compiled into one book and then distributed during the caliphate of Uthamn, a companion and son-in-law of Muhammad, the Muhammad-era Quran would most likely have been prepared less than two decades after the death of Muhammad. Prior to Utman’s decree to have the Quran compiled into one piece, the Islamic holy book was written on different pieces of parchment and memorized thoroughly for daily prayers.
One of world's oldest copies of Holy #Quran found in UK. —Khaleej Times pic.twitter.com/Yhmg44VHhJ
— Darussalamstore.com (@DarussalamSNS) July 23, 2015
The British Library’s Lead Curator for Persian and Turkish Manuscripts, Dr. Muhammad Isa Waley, said that the Muhammad-era Quran might have possibly been compiled even before Uthman’s decree.
It seems to leave open the possibility that the Uthmanic redaction took place earlier than had been thought – or even, conceivably, that these folios predate that process.
To illustrate further the significance of the Muhammad-era Quran, Muhammad is believed to have lived between 570 and 632 AD. The radiocarbon dating places the manuscript at any date between 568 and 645 AD. Uthman’s reign began around 644. As Muslim tradition suggests that the Quran was not published into one book before Muhammad’s death. The Muhammad-era Quran may have been written during the period of the first three caliphs of Islam, all of whom were close companions of Muhammad.
World's oldest Qur'an discovered in @unibirmingham archives http://t.co/ZCfAmmo5rG
— Prof Alice Roberts? (@theAliceRoberts) July 23, 2015
If you want to see this Muhammed-era Quran, Birmingham University has announced it will be on public display at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in October.
[Photo via Wikimedia Commons]
