One of the World's Oldest Qur'ans Goes on Display at the British Museum in London

ISLAM TODAY: One of the oldest known manuscripts of the Qur'an in existence went on show at the British Museum Friday ahead of a new exhibition.

The Qur'an, lent by the British Library, will be part of the exhibition, "Hajj: Journey To The Heart Of Islam:, the first-ever major collection dedicated to the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca in what is today Saudi Arabia.

The copy of the Qur'an is thought to date from the 8th century AD, according to the British Library.

Known as the Ma'il Qur'an, it was probably copied in Mecca or Madinah. The script is known as Ma’il, meaning sloping, on account of the pronounced slant to the right, and it is one of a number of scripts developed in the early Islamic period for the copying of the Qur'an. » | Islam Today/Agencies | Saturday, January 14, 2012