Shocking Koran Discovery: Fragments of Religious Text 'May Be OLDER Than Prophet Muhammad'

Fragments of what is believed to be the oldest Koran in the
world were found last month

EXPRESS: THE roots of Islam could be shaken at the core after scholars suggested that fragments of an old Koran may PREDATE the Prophet Muhammad.

Pages of what is believed to be the oldest Koran in the world were discovered in Birmingham last month, sparking intense interest among academics and believers across the globe.

They were then carbon-dated by experts at the University of Oxford, who predicted that it was more than 1,350 years old.

But now several historians have suggested that the parchment appears to be so old, that it could have even existed BEFORE the Prophet Muhammad.

If the timings are correct, the Koran found in Birmingham was made between 568AD and 645AD, while the dates usually given for the life of Muhammad are between 570AD and 632AD.

Historian Tom Holland, told the Times: "It destabilises, to put it mildly, the idea that we can know anything with certainty about how the Koran emerged - and that in turn has implications for the history of Muhammad and the Companions."

Keith Small, from the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library, added: "This gives more ground to what have been peripheral views of the Koran's genesis, like that Muhammad and his early followers used a text that was already in existence and shaped it to fit their own political and theological agenda, rather than Muhammad receiving a revelation from heaven."

He went to suggest that if the dates are correct, "then the Koran, or at least portions of it, predates Muhammad". » | Levi Winchester | Monday, August 31, 2015