What is the Birmingham Qur’an?
The history of Islam and the teachings of the Qur’an are one of the areas that I’m interested in. Fairly recently, what seems to be the earliest copy of the Qur’an was discovered. It is known by its informal name, “The Birmingham Qur’an.” What is it and what is its significance? I found this episode of the 15 Minute History podcast on the Qur’an to be very interesting. It is well worth listening to. Here is the description of the episode from the podcast page:
In the summer of 2015, an obscure Qur’ān manuscript hidden in the far reaches of the Cadbury Research Library at the University of Birmingham grabbed attention worldwide when carbon dating revealed that the book was one of the oldest Qur’āns known to exist. In fact, it might have been written during the lifetime of the Prophet Muḥammad … or might it even have been written before Muḥammad’s lifetime?
Guest Christopher Rose (yes, our regular co-host) has been following the headlines and puts the discovery of the Birmingham Qur’ān within the larger field of Islamic and Qur’ānic Studies, and explains how the text might raise as many questions as it answers.
