Birmingham Quran Manuscript May Have Come from Cairo
David Thomas, Professor of Christianity and Islam in the School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham, made the remark in an interview with IQNA about the ancient Quran found in Birmingham University.
Here is the interview in full:
Q: Do you acknowledge that the Birmingham Quran Manuscript is one of the oldest Qurans in the world?
A: According to radio carbon dating that we have been given, it would appear to be very old indeed. The dates that we have been given are 568 to 645 A.D. What that means is that according to the analysis the parchment that formed the base of the Quran comes from that period, anywhere in that period. So even if we accept year 645 as the latest, it must be among the oldest in the world.
Q: The Birmingham Quran Manuscript gained great media attention. How come this manuscript is so important?
A: Well, I suppose because of this dating, because of the very early date that we have, it was not known beforehand, it raises a number of questions about early Islamic history and according to some scholars, I do not necessarily support their view, it might require a revision of early Islamic history. This has caused a great deal of interests.
Q: Is there any information about the origins of this manuscript?
A: Strictly speaking, No. All we know is that it came to the university in the early decades of 20th century. The two leaves that we have appeared to be very similar to a number of leaves from an early Quran that are kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France and I believe that they are associated with Mosque of Amr ibn al-As in Cairo. So it is possible, we have not verified this, it is possible that our leaves come from the same Quran, come from Cairo.
Q: Some Scholars have recently raised the claim that the manuscript may predate Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). What do say to that?
A: As I just have said, according to radio carbon dating that we have received there is a theoretical possibility that it may come from early 6th century. But, of course this raises a huge number of issues because it would require a rewriting of Islamic history to think of the Quran coming from a date before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] or even during his early years goes against what has traditionally been believed. So in my own view, it would require great deal of more research before such statements could be verified.
Q: Are there any especial purposes behind these claims?
A: I would say that they are open discussions. From an academic point of view, origins of Islam have a number of questions connected with it. Quran is a fascinating document; it is also a document that has a great deal of mystery connected with it. And there is a great deal of academic interests in discovering more about the origins of the Quran and origins of Islam. I would say that these claims for the point they are being made are part of academic discussion. They are not intended for any particular political, religious purposes, as far as I can see.
