Following my brief visit to Gujarat in January 2014 when I had visited a number of madaris in Mahuva and Bhavnagar, it was felt that a follow-up visit for a longer period was required.
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19 March 2026 / 30. Ramadhan 1447
Manuscript of Qur’an Dated Just After the Demise of the Prophet (pbuh)
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The new scientific dating of the oldest manuscript of Qur’an in the University of Tubingen Library in Germany reveals that it could be of a time just 20-40 years after the demise of the holy prophet (pbuh). In 1996, Prof Deroche in his Hijazi manuscript of Qur’an did mention about this manuscript which was not dated scientifically at that time. Now, when it is carbon dated, the result of C14 analysis suggests that it is possible that the dates are of Imam Ali’s time. |
However, radiocarbon is used for exploring animal’s death. In academic world, this methodology is not accepted to date a manuscript. Therefore wide ranging conclusions cannot be based on such methodology. However the results shown by this experiment is indeed fascinating.
Shaykh Kumail Rajani , the Head of Islamic Education commented “It is really a great contribution to Qur’anic manuscripts and this could be a precedent that the San’a manuscript which was been assumed to be the oldest. We commend the great efforts of Coranica project of German and French researchers. However a more accurate method of dating a text based on script analysis is yet to be explored”.
The Qur’an fragments could be traced in the link below:
http://idb.ub.uni-tuebingen.de/digitue/tue/Ma_Orientalische_Handschriften?liste=1
For more information, please email [email protected]
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