analysis and commentary. The content is produced solely by The Conversation.
Controversial carbon dating of Quranic manuscript sparks debate
Discovery indicates the fragments are probably from the time of the Prophet
Birmingham welcomes historic lost text breakthrough
For the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, the idea that the Quran is a seventh century text disseminated by Islam’s founder, the Prophet Mohammed, is neither news, nor particularly controversial.
But in academia the history of this holy text is much more opaque.
For researchers in Islamic studies, historical evidence dating the Quran back to Islam’s foundational era has proved elusive. This has led to hotly contested [...]