QURAN MAINTAINS ITS ORIGINALITY

During Prophet Muhammad’s time, the Quran was memorised and recited orally but Caliph Abu Bakr, the first leader of the Muslim community after Muhammad, ordered the Quranic material to be collected into a book. The final written form was completed under the direction of the third leader, Caliph Uthman, in about 650 AD, which the Muslims today consider to be the standardized form. Professor Thomas said the pages found in the Birmingham University library suggest the parts of the Quran it covers have not changed much since those early days. He said: 'The parts of the Koran that are contained in those fragments are very similar indeed to the Koran as we have it today, and so this tends to support the view that the Koran that we now have is more or less very close indeed to the Koran as it was brought together in the early years of Islam.' Professor Nadir Dinshaw, who studies interreligious relations at the University of Birmingham, described the discovery as 'startling'. 'The tests carried out on the parchment of the Birmingham folios yield the strong probability that the animal from which it was taken was alive during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad or shortly afterwards. These portions must have been in a form that is very close to the form of the Koran read today, supporting the view that the text has undergone little or no alteration and that it can be dated to a point very close to the time it was believed to be revealed.' The pages formed part of the Mingana Collection, which was gathered by Alphonse Mingana, a Chaldean priest born near Mosul in modern day Iraq. Sponsored by Edward Cadbury, from the chocolate dynasty, he collected 3,000 Middle Eastern documents, which were placed into the care of the University of Birmingham by Cadbury. The manuscript will be on public display at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Brimingham. Susan Worrall, Director of Special Collections, said, "The radiocarbon dating has delivered an exciting result, which contributes significantly to our understanding of the earliest written copies of the Quran. We are thrilled that such an important historical document is here in Birmingham, the most culturally diverse city in UK". o From The Daily Mail (UK) 22 July 2015 and The Times of India 23 July 2015