# World's oldest copy of Koran found by researchers at University of Birmingham **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 1, 2015, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-copy-of-koran-found-by-researchers-at-university-of-birmingham/729578 "2015-09-01T04:42:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-copy-of-koran-found-by-researchers-at-university-of-birmingham/729578/1 "2015-09-01T04:42:37Z")
Quite an amazing story. I wonder if this Koran is even older than surviving copies of Mathew, Mark, Luke and the other New Testament texts? Amazing what can be found on dusty old shelves. Just imagine if conquerors hadn’t burned the Ancient Library of Alexandria. The books that were lost there. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/07/22/discovery-of-oldest-koran-stirs-new-passions-in-british-city/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/07/22/discovery-of-oldest-koran-stirs-new-passions-in-british-city/) > [@](#): > > The manuscript, which had been kept with a collection of other Middle Eastern books and documents, was tested using radiocarbon dating at a lab at the University of Oxford. The researchers found that, with a probability of more than 95 percent, it was from between 568 and 645, making it one of the oldest surviving texts of the Koran. > > David Thomas, professor of Christianity and Islam at the University of Birmingham, told the BBC that the author may have known the prophet: “The person who actually wrote it could well have known the prophet Muhammad. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-copy-of-koran-found-by-researchers-at-university-of-birmingham/729578/2 "2015-09-01T04:48:17Z")
Previous thread: [Oldest Koran found in Birmingham, UK](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=763026). ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-copy-of-koran-found-by-researchers-at-university-of-birmingham/729578/3 "2015-09-01T04:48:20Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Quite an amazing story. I wonder if this Koran is even older than surviving copies of Mathew, Mark, Luke and the other New Testament texts? > > Amazing what can be found on dusty old shelves. Just imagine if conquerors hadn’t burned the Ancient Library of Alexandria. The books that were lost there. > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/07/22/discovery-of-oldest-koran-stirs-new-passions-in-british-city/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/07/22/discovery-of-oldest-koran-stirs-new-passions-in-british-city/) Definitely not, since the [Codex Sinaiticus](http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/) was written in the fourth century, before Islam existed. But this is a remarkable find nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-copy-of-koran-found-by-researchers-at-university-of-birmingham/729578/4 "2015-09-01T05:35:12Z")
> [@](#): > > David Thomas, professor of Christianity and Islam at the University of Birmingham, told the BBC that the author may have known the prophet: “The person who actually wrote it could well have known the prophet Muhammad. I don’t know, just because the dates overlap doesn’t mean the guy was acquainted with Muhammed. Claims like this remind me of that [HSN bit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9QiazHHGW8) where the salesperson claims it is 50/50 that these 2000 year old broken pieces of glass were once possessions of Jesus. But, yeah, a Koran from those days is a different kettle of fish. How likely is it that the penman had any contact with Muhammed? Could this be the work of a scribe who basically made copies in an office? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-copy-of-koran-found-by-researchers-at-university-of-birmingham/729578/5 "2015-09-01T12:20:52Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Previous thread: [Oldest Koran found in Birmingham, UK](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=763026). I thought about merging the two threads then I remembered how badly that one went. I’ll just leave this here as is and hopefully no one will drag in any of the hijacks from the other thread. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-oldest-copy-of-koran-found-by-researchers-at-university-of-birmingham/729578/6 "2015-09-01T12:34:18Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I thought about merging the two threads then I remembered how badly that one went. I’ll just leave this here as is and hopefully no one will drag in any of the hijacks from the other thread. Hopefully I don’t have to post an ATMB thread to tell you that’s a good call.