Carbon dating suggests 'world's oldest' Koran predates Prophet Muhammad
Carbon dating of an ancient copy of the "world's oldest" Koran kept in England suggests that the manuscript predates the Prophet Muhammad.
Scholars believe that the fragments of the ancient Koran may be older than Prophet Muhammad. The new findings could rewrite the history and known beginnings of Islam, according to Raw Story.
University of Oxford scientists said based on the carbon dating, the world's oldest Koran was produced between A.D. 568 and A.D. 645. Islamic scholars, on the other hand, say Prophet Muhammad lived between A.D. 570 and A.D. 632.
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The University of Birmingham discovered the ancient fragments of the Koran in July and radiocarbon dating gave it an estimated age of at least 1,370 years. But Oxford University researchers who used carbon dating found out that the pages could go as far as 1,448 years back, the Christian Science Monitor reports.
Should the findings be proven true, then the ancient Koran was made when Muhammad was still a child, or even before he was born, the report adds.
"According to Muslim tradition, the Prophet Muhammad received the revelations that form the Qur'an, the scripture of Islam, between the years A.D. 610 and 632, the year of his death," Raw Story quotes Christianity and Islam professor David Thomas from the University of Birmingham. "At this time, the divine message was not compiled into the book form in which it appears today. Instead, the revelations were preserved in 'the memories of men.'"
Professor Thomas further explained that the other parts of the scripture were written on parchment, palm leaves, stones, and even shoulder blades of camels. The fragments were all gathered together under the order of Caliph Abu Bakr, Muhammad's successor. The next leader, Caliph Uthman, ordered the final version of the Koran to be written down in A.D. 650, the professor said.
Meanwhile, Muslim scholars disagree with the carbon dating results that go against the general account of Prophet Muhammad's life. However, historians say there is a growing body of evidence pointing to the inaccuracy of the history of Islam, the report relays.
There are other ancient Korans suggesting that the written form of the book was produced before the prophet died.
