The oldest Koran text found in UK?

Radiocarbon emissions performed at Birmingham University have found possibly the world’s oldest Koran text to date.  The procedure dated the pages to be aged as old as 1,370 years.  If so, this text would certainly be the oldest text to date, but given the potential inaccuracy of radiocarbon emissions it is inclusive to state it truly is the oldest.  The date this text was projected to have been written, 645 AD, would mean that it was written a mere twenty years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.  It could be concluded that the scribe for this specific Koran could have seen or heard the Prophet speak because the dates are so close together.

The holy text found itself moved to England by Alphonse Mingana, a Mosul born Chaldean Priest who was commissioned by Edward Cadbury to collect items from the Middle East in 1920 and brought over 3,000 documents.  The text and graphics of the Koran are incredibly legible and in outstanding condition.  The text hid in plain sight in the University library for almost a century until this discovery. PhD researcher Alba Fedeli decided to see how old the unnoticed script was, and was not the only person who was surprised to see how many years it dated back to.

The delight by Birmingham University and the Muslim community is beyond enthusiastic. The University will hold the holy text fragments on display in the Barber Institute starting in October. The handling and preservation process of this ancient text is a commendable effort for the UK, and the text should suffice as a great display for Muslims and non-Muslims alike to celebrate. 

Alexandra Fox