The world’s oldest Koran fragments have been found by the University of Birmingham. 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 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.
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.
- The Quran literally meaning “the recitation” is the central religious text of Islam.
- Muslims believe the Quran was verbally revealed by God to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel, gradually over a period of approximately 23 years.
- Someone who has memorized the entire Quran is called a hafiz.
- Quran is supposed to be kept on the highest shelf in the house to represent its place above other books.
- One shouldn’t leave Quran open when putting it down, never wet the fingers with spit to turn the pages, and should not read with the Quran on lap.
- There are 114 chapters in the Qur’an, which is written in the old Arabic dialect.
- The longest chapter of the Qur’an is Surah Baqarah (The Cow) with 286 verses and the shortest is Surah Al-Kawther(abundance) which has 3 verses.
- In addition to the Qur’an, the other sacred sources are the Sunnah, the practise and examples of the Prophet Muhammad’s life, and the Hadith, reports of what the prophet Muhammad said or approved.
Test Your Knowledge
The first Muslim to receive Nobel Prize was ______?
