When a PhD researcher, Alba Fedeli, looked more closely at the manuscript and noticed that two of its pages appeared misbound it was decided to carry out a radiocarbon dating test which found the manuscript to be at least 1,370 years old, making it among the earliest in existence.
The British Library’s expert on such manuscripts, Dr Muhammad Isa Waley, said this “exciting discovery” would make Muslims “rejoice”.
The manuscript had been kept with a collection of other Middle Eastern books and documents, without being identified as one of the oldest fragments of the Koran in the world.
Experts believe the dating of the Birmingham folios would mean it was quite possible that the person who had written them had been a contemporary of the Prophet Muhammad.
“The person who actually wrote it could well have known the Prophet Muhammad. He would have seen him probably; he would maybe have heard him preach. He may have known him personally – and that really is quite a thought to conjure with,” says Pr. Thomas of the Birmingham University.
The university says the Koran fragments will go on display in the Barber Institute in Birmingham in October.
