Monuments of book culture: Fragment, perhaps, the oldest manuscript Koran is found in Birmingham

In the library of the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom) were found fragments, perhaps, the oldest manuscript Koran, which is at least 1370 years, said the press-release of the University.   

The manuscript contains sura of the 18th to 20th. Text was stored in the library among other books and documents for almost a century. Fragments of text are written on sheepskin or goatskin. University researcher Alba Fedeli decided to conduct radiocarbon analysis of parchment, as a result of unexpected results. According to the results of the test, the accuracy of which is 95%, the parchment was created between the years of 568 and 645. 

“The person who wrote the manuscript may well have known the Prophet Mohamed.  He, perhaps, saw him or heard about his sermons. He could know him – and it is really a miracle”, - said professor of the University David Thomas.

The manuscript is written in Hijazi script - one of the first used for writing Arabic. This is part of the manuscript collection of more than three thousand documents on the Middle East, collected in the 1920s by Chaldean priest Alphonse Mingan.

The title of the oldest manuscripts of the Koran claims several manuscripts. Since it is impossible to ascertain the date of the manuscript through radiocarbon analysis (given a spread of dates), it is impossible to find out which is the oldest of manuscripts.

The university intends to put the fragments of the manuscript on public display at the Institute of Fine Arts Barber of Birmingham in October.