Birmingham Quran manuscript

The Birmingham Quran manuscript is a single sheet of parchment on which two leaves of an early Quranic manuscript or muṣḥaf have been written. In 2015, the manuscript, which is held by the University of Birmingham, was radiocarbon dated to between 568 and 645 CE (in the Islamic calendar, between 56 before Hijrah and 24 after Hijrah). It is part of the Mingana Collection of Middle Eastern manuscripts, held by the university's Cadbury Research Library.

Comparison of a 1924 Cairo Edition of the Quran (left) and the Birmingham Quran manuscript (right)

Quotes

• That fragment was “among the earliest written textual evidence of the Islamic holy book known to survive.”
  • “Birmingham Qur’an Manuscript Dated among the Oldest in the World,” University of Birmingham, July 22, 2015, quoted in Did muhammad exist? : an inquiry into islam’s obscure origins. (2012). . ISI Books. March 1 2024

• We have now in our collection what must be one of the oldest Qurans in the world. It might not be the oldest. But if the dating we’ve been given is at all reliable then we’ve got fragments from a Quran that will have been copied by somebody who either knew the Prophet Mohammed himself, or knew somebody who had known him.
  • Jonathan Gornall, “The Oldest Surviving Fragment of the Quran: ‘All Muslims Would Love to See It,’” The National, July 22, 2015., quoted in Did muhammad exist? : an inquiry into islam’s obscure origins. (2012). . ISI Books. March 1 2024

• These portions must have been in a form that is very close to the form of the Qur’an 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.
  • “Birmingham Qur’an Manuscript Dated among the Oldest in the World,” University of Birmingham, July 22, 2015,, quoted in Did muhammad exist? : an inquiry into islam’s obscure origins. (2012). . ISI Books. March 1 2024

• It provided tantalizing clues to help settle a scholarly dispute about whether the holy text was actually written down at the time of the prophet, or compiled years later after being passed down by word of mouth. The discovery also offered a joyful moment for a faith that has struggled with internal divisions and external pressures.
  • Dan Bilefsky, “A Find in Britain: Quran Fragments Perhaps as Old as Islam,” New York Times, July 22, 2015., quoted in Did muhammad exist? : an inquiry into islam’s obscure origins. (2012). . ISI Books. March 1 2024

• We know now that these two folios, in a beautiful and surprisingly legible Hijazi hand, almost certainly date from the time of the first three caliphs.
  • Muhammad Isa Waley, in Dan Bilefsky, “A Find in Britain: Quran Fragments Perhaps as Old as Islam,” New York Times, July 22, 2015., quoted in Did muhammad exist? : an inquiry into islam’s obscure origins. (2012). . ISI Books. March 1 2024

• He doubted that the manuscript found in Birmingham was as old as the researchers claimed, noting that its Arabic script included dots and separated chapters—features that were introduced later. He also said that dating the skin on which the text was written did not prove when it was written. Manuscript skins were sometimes washed clean and reused later.
  • Saud al-Sarhan, in : Dan Bilefsky, “A Find in Britain: Quran Fragments Perhaps as Old as Islam,” New York Times, July 22, 2015., quoted in Did muhammad exist? : an inquiry into islam’s obscure origins. (2012). . ISI Books. March 1 2024

• You’re dating the parchment. You’re not dating the ink. You’re making the assumption that the parchment or vellum was used within years of it being made, which is probably a reasonable assumption, but it’s not watertight.
  • Graham Bench in “Saudi Scholars Discredit UK’s Claim of ‘Oldest Quran,’” Saudi Gazette, July 27, 2015., quoted in Did muhammad exist? : an inquiry into islam’s obscure origins. (2012). . ISI Books. March 1 2024

• It is not possible to ascertain that the parchments were written close to the time of the Prophet….The university should have examined the ink not the hide on which it was written.
  • Abdul Sattar Al Halouji, in “Saudi Scholars Discredit UK’s Claim of ‘Oldest Quran,’” Saudi Gazette, July 27, 2015., quoted in Did muhammad exist? : an inquiry into islam’s obscure origins. (2012). . ISI Books. March 1 2024

• The manuscript might possibly be from the time of Othman Bin Affan who became Caliph many years after the death of the Prophet”... “During the time of the Prophet (pbuh), the Quran was not organised or put in its present day form. Also, there were no colours used.” But there are colors in the Birmingham fragments. Al Sharif explains: “One of these is the red-colour 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 organised in [an] order which was not so during the time of the Prophet.
  • “Adnan Al Sharif in Saudi Scholars Discredit UK’s Claim of ‘Oldest Quran,’” Saudi Gazette, July 27, 2015., quoted in Did muhammad exist? : an inquiry into islam’s obscure origins. (2012). . ISI Books. March 1 2024

• Radiocarbon analysis has dated the parchment on which the text is written to the period between AD 568 and 645 with 95.4 percent accuracy.
  • “Birmingham Qur’an Manuscript Dated among the Oldest in the World,” University of Birmingham, July 22, 2015, , quoted in Did muhammad exist? : an inquiry into islam’s obscure origins. (2012). . ISI Books. March 1 2024

• As the Prophet Mohammed lived from AD 570 to 632, this means that at the very latest the fragment was produced no more than 13 years after his death.
  • The National, in Gornall, “The Oldest Surviving Fragment of the Quran.” Jonathan Gornall, “The Oldest Surviving Fragment of the Quran: ‘All Muslims Would Love to See It,’” The National, July 22, 2015., quoted in Did muhammad exist? : an inquiry into islam’s obscure origins. (2012). . ISI Books. March 1 2024

• The early dating “gives more ground to what have been peripheral views of the Quran’s genesis, like that Muhammad and his early followers used a text that was already in existence and shaped it to fit their own political and theological agenda, rather than Muhammad receiving a revelation from heaven.
  • Keith Small in Jennifer Newton, “The ‘Birmingham Koran’ Fragment That Could Shake Islam after Carbon-Dating Suggests It Is OLDER than the Prophet Muhammad,” MailOnline, August 31, 2015., quoted in Did muhammad exist? : an inquiry into islam’s obscure origins. (2012). . ISI Books. March 1 2024