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Sunday 04 Oct 2015 - 14:21 Makkah mean time-21-12-1436
Pic: BBC News site
Birmingham (IINA) – Fragments of the Holy Qur'an believed to be one of the oldest ever found have gone on public display in Birmingham, BBC News reported.
The University of Birmingham announced its discovery in July and revealed that the manuscript is at least 1,370 years old. Susan Worrall, from the university, described the manuscript as being "a global treasure".
It is on display at the university until 25 October and tickets are free. The pages of the Muslim holy text had remained unrecognized in the university library for almost a century, the library said.
Birmingham's Muslim community leaders have expressed their delight at the discovery.
Muhammad Afzal, chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque, said: "When I saw these pages I was very moved".
About 2,000 tickets to see the scripts have been taken up and the university expects a lot more to be used before the exhibition ends.
It was discovered by PhD researcher, Alba Fedeli, who decided to carry out a radiocarbon dating test.
The tests provided a range of dates, showing that, with a probability of more than 95 percent, the manuscript was from between 568 and 645.
"They could well take us back to within a few years of the actual founding of Islam," said David Thomas, the university's professor of Christianity and Islam.
"According to Muslim tradition, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) received the revelations that form the Qur'an, the scripture of Islam, between the years 610 and 632, the year of his death," he said.
The manuscript, written in Hijazi script, an early form of written Arabic, has become one of the oldest known fragments of the Qur'an.
AB/IINA
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