LONDON - The
ancient manuscript sat for nearly a century at a university library, with
scholars unaware of its significance.
That is,
until Alba Fedeli, a researcher studying for her doctorate became captivated by
its calligraphy, and noticed that two of its pages appeared misbound alongside
pages of a similar Quranic manuscript from a later date.
The scripts
did not match. Prodded by her observations, the university sent the pages out
for radiocarbon testing.
On
Wednesday, researchers at the University of Birmingham revealed the startling
finding, that the fragments appear to be part of what could be the world's
oldest copy of the Quran and may have been transcribed by a contemporary of the
Prophet Muhammad.
"We
were bowled over, startled indeed," said David Thomas, a professor of
Christianity and Islam at the University of Birmingham.
The ancient
pieces of manuscript are estimated to be at least 1,370 years old. Thomas said
it also provided 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.
Muslims
believe Muhammad received the revelations that form the Quran between 610 and
632, the year of his death. Tests by the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit
indicated with a probability of more than 94 percent that the parchment dated
from 568 to 645.
Source | http://www.houstonchronicle.com/
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