Author Topic: Oldest Qur'an Fragments found in Birmingham University  (Read 9190 times)

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Offline Uzair Ahmed

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Oldest Qur'an Fragments found in Birmingham University
« on: July 22, 2015, 04:36:59 PM »
It is dated to the time of Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman over 1370 years ago! This is beyond incredible subhanAllah. Click the link for full news


OLDEST QURAN FOUND IN BIRMINGHAM
By BBC World News http://www.bbc.com/news/business-33436021

Radiocarbon dating found the manuscript to be at least 1,370 years old, making it among the earliest in existence.The pages of the Muslim holy text had remained unrecognised in the university library for almost a century.The British Library's expert on such manuscripts, Dr Muhammad Isa Waley, said this "exciting discovery" would make Muslims "rejoice".The manuscript had been kept with a collection of other Middle Eastern books and documents, without being identified as one of the oldest fragments of the Koran in the world.


When a PhD researcher, Alba Fedeli, looked more closely at these pages it was decided to carry out a radiocarbon dating test and the results were "startling". The university's director of special collections, Susan Worrall, said researchers had not expected "in our wildest dreams" that it would be so old. "Finding out we had one of the oldest fragments of the Koran in the whole world has been fantastically exciting." The tests, carried out by the Oxford University Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, showed that the fragments, written on sheep or goat skin, were among the very oldest surviving texts of the Koran. These tests provide a range of dates, showing that, with a probability of more than 95%, the parchment was from between 568 and 645.

"They could well take us back to within a few years of the actual founding of Islam," said David Thomas, the university's professor of Christianity and Islam. According to Muslim tradition, the Prophet Muhammad received the revelations that form the Koran, the scripture of Islam, between the years 610 and 632, the year of his death. Prof Thomas says the dating of the Birmingham folios would mean it was quite possible that the person who had written them would have been alive at the time of the Prophet Muhammad.

"The person who actually wrote it could well have known the Prophet Muhammad. He would have seen him probably, he would maybe have heard him preach. He may have known him personally - and that really is quite a thought to conjure with," he says.

"These portions must have been in a form that is very close to the form of the Koran read today, supporting the view that the text has undergone little or no alteration and that it can be dated to a point very close to the time it was believed to be revealed."
- Professor David Thomas from Birmingham University.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2015, 04:50:55 PM by Uzair Ahmed »

Offline Tahmeed

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Re: Oldest Qur'an Fragments found in Birmingham University
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2015, 04:41:34 PM »
Incredible akhi!! When did you get this?

Is it older than the Sana manuscript??
« Last Edit: July 22, 2015, 05:09:31 PM by Tahmeed »

Offline Uzair Ahmed

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Re: Oldest Qur'an Fragments found in Birmingham University
« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2015, 04:49:08 PM »
Now let them come and talk about their sana manuscript!
I don't get his ???

Offline Tahmeed

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Re: Oldest Qur'an Fragments found in Birmingham University
« Reply #3 on: July 22, 2015, 04:58:39 PM »
Now let them come and talk about their sana manuscript!
I don't get his ???

I meant is it older than the Sana manuscript?? You said oldest. However I am editing my post, I got too rejoiced, haha :P
« Last Edit: July 22, 2015, 05:08:59 PM by Tahmeed »

Offline Idris

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Re: Oldest Qur'an Fragments found in Birmingham University
« Reply #4 on: July 24, 2015, 12:52:16 PM »
Salam Aleykom,

Al'hamdu li'llah, masha'Allah, and insha'Allah they will confirm that this manuscript is preserved without any alteration (insha'Allah will be the same copy as we have now). Allah promised that He will protect Quran so I believe it is a living miracle!

Offline Abu Abdullah

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Re: Oldest Qur'an Fragments found in Birmingham University
« Reply #5 on: July 24, 2015, 01:24:29 PM »
Assalamu alaikum, brothers.
I suggest you sadat to read some newspapers. This news is everywhere now.

Offline Uzair Ahmed

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Re: Oldest Qur'an Fragments found in Birmingham University
« Reply #6 on: July 24, 2015, 03:36:28 PM »
Salam Aleykom,

Al'hamdu li'llah, masha'Allah, and insha'Allah they will confirm that this manuscript is preserved without any alteration (insha'Allah will be the same copy as we have now). Allah promised that He will protect Quran so I believe it is a living miracle!

It's confirmed Brother please read the first post or go to link :)

"These portions must have been in a form that is very close to the form of the Koran read today, supporting the view that the text has undergone little or no alteration and that it can be dated to a point very close to the time it was believed to be revealed."

- Professor David Thomas from Birmingham University.

Offline Tahmeed

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Re: Oldest Qur'an Fragments found in Birmingham University
« Reply #7 on: July 24, 2015, 06:07:07 PM »
Assalamu alaikum, brothers.
I suggest you sadat to read some newspapers. This news is everywhere now.

I am not being able to read any newspaper for a couple of days Abdullah :( The paperman is on a vacation I guess  :P Bring the newspaper to college :) I will see you there  >:(

And peace to the other brothers ;D

Tahmeed
« Last Edit: July 24, 2015, 07:42:05 PM by Tahmeed »

Offline Uzair Ahmed

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Re: Oldest Qur'an Fragments found in Birmingham University
« Reply #8 on: July 29, 2015, 01:05:17 PM »
SAUDI SCHOLARS - " BIRMINGHAM QUR'AN ISN'T THE OLDEST "
By Arabian Business http://bit.ly/1OCdKs5


MAKKAH – A British university's claim of discovering the world's oldest Qur'an has been refuted by Saudi scholars as publicity stunt, denying the assertion that the copy was written during the era of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

“It is not possible to ascertain that the parchments were written close to the time of the Prophet (pbuh),” Abdul Sattar Al Halouji, a Saudi scholar, was quoted as telling Makkah daily, Arabian Business reported on Monday, July 27.

Fragments of what is thought to be the world's oldest Qur'an have been found in the University of Birmingham with experts saying the manuscripts date back to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) era some 1370 years ago.The announcement followed radiocarbon analysis which proved that they was written in the period between 568CE and 645CE, with 95.4% accuracy. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is believed to have lived between 570CE and 632CE, meaning the text found at the university was written during the Prophet's life.
The manuscripts consist of parts of Suras [chapters] 18 to 20 of the holy book, written in an early form of Arabic script known as Hijaz. Accusing the Birmingham university of seeking a public stunt, Al Halouji said that experts should have examined the ink used in writing the chapters of the holy book. He said the hide, or animal skin, on which the text was written could be as old as the researchers suggest, but that does not prove the text was written at that time.

“The university should have examined the ink not the hide on which it was written,” he said.

The Qur’an is a revelation from God, the creator of the worlds, so He is the original author. There is only one Qur’an which is in Arabic, with many of its translations in several languages.There could be multiple translations by different authors in the same language such as English.The Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) through the archangel Gabriel who helped the Prophet memorize the Qur’an, as reported in several authentic Hadith narrations. Saudi archaeologists asserted that the red ink used to separate between chapters was not used during the era of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).Moreover, writing the words ‘Bismillah Al Rahman Al Raheem’ [in the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate] was not written either in red ink.

“The manuscript might possibly be from the time of Othman Bin Affan who became Caliph many years after the death of the Prophet (pbuh),” archaeologist Adnan Al Sharif, dean of libraries at Umm Al Qura University, told the newspaper.

“During the time of the Prophet (pbuh), the Qur'an was not organized or put in its present day form. Also, there were no colors used.”

He added there were several observations that cast doubt on the Birmingham University claims.

“One of these is the red-color separation between the Bismillah and the two Surahs of Mariam and Taha. It was not customary during the Prophet’s time to separate between the Surahs. This copy seems to be organized in [an] order which was not so during the time of the Prophet (pbuh),” he said.

He added that the radiocarbon examination of a manuscript could only indicate the century in which it was made and not the year.

“There are copies of the Quran in Turkey, Egypt and Yemen dating back to the first Hijra century. This means that they are concurrent to the Birmingham manuscript,” Al Sharif was quoted as saying.

Abbas Tashkandi, another manuscript expert, expressed a similar opinion. “The hide may be old but the writing may be new,” he said.
« Last Edit: July 29, 2015, 01:07:51 PM by Uzair Ahmed »

 

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