What is the Earliest Quran?

Earliest Quran Manuscripts

List of earliest Quran manuscripts, parchments, and codexes.

Type	Year / %
Birmingham Quran Manuscript Mingana 1572a Location: Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham, UK Features: Written in Hijazi script on parchment; contains parts of Surahs 18–20; matches the standard text very closely.	568-645 CE (95.4% radiocarbon probability) ~455 words ~0.59%
Sana'a Manuscript Codex Ṣan‘ā’ I / DAM 01-27.1 Location: Dar al-Kutub al-Wataniyya, Sana'a, Yemen Features: A palimpsest (reused parchment); the lower erased text features non-standard surah order and variant readings divergent from the Uthmanic tradition.	Pre-671 CE (Lower text) (radiocarbon range ~578–669 CE) ~35,000 – 39,000 words ~50%
Tübingen Fragment (Ms M a VI 165) • or (Codex Ma VI 165) Location: University of Tübingen, Germany Features: Written in an early Hijazi script on parchment, dating back to the early decades of Islam.	649-675 CE ~20,300 words 26.2%
Codex Mashhad Location: Astan-i Quds Library, Mashhad, Iran Features: Retains over 90% of the text and preserves an arrangement historically associated with the companion Ibn Mas'ud.	c. 660-772 CE ~70,000 words ~90.4%
Codex Parisino-Petropolitanus Location: Dispersed between the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, and the National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg Features: Comprises early Hijazi leaves covering roughly 45% to 46% of the text of the Qur'an.	Late 7th to Early 8th century ~35,000 words ~45% – 46%
Topkapı Manuscript Location: Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, Turkey Features: One of the most complete early copies (roughly 99% complete), written in an early Abbasid/Hijazi-transition script.	c. 775–995 CE (8th–9th century) ~77,150 words 99.2% – 99.4%
Samarkand Kufic Quran Samarkand / Tashkent Qur'an Location: Hast Imam Library, Tashkent, Uzbekistan Features: Written in early Kufic script on large parchment sheets; traditionally (though anachronistically) linked to Caliph Uthman.	c. 775–995 CE (8th–9th century) (radiocarbon estimates range widely, some folios earlier) ~25,800 words ~33.3%

17-early-quran-manuscripts

Author: Guest • Updated: 05 Oct 2026 • 19 views | 1 hr ago

Say, We believe in God and what was sent down to us, and what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, and what was given to Moses, Jesus and all the Prophets by their Lord
Quran 2:136

Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me
John 14:6

Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I
John 14:28

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord
Deuteronomy 6:4

The Creator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you mates from yourselves, and for the cattle (also) mates. By this means He creates you (in the wombs)
Quran 42:11

O people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians): Come to a word that is just between us and you, that we worship none but Allah, and that we associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as lords besides Allah
Quran 3:64

I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me
John 5:30

Indeed, We have revealed to you, (O Muhammad), as We revealed to Noah and the prophets after him. And we revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the Descendants, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon, and to David We gave the book (of Psalms)
Quran 4:163

Blessed be He Who has placed in the heaven big stars, and has placed therein a great lamp (sun), and a moon giving light. And He it is Who has put the night and the day in succession
Quran 25:61

He (Jesus) Himself stood in their midst and said to them, Peace be to you
Luke 24:36

O My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of God. Indeed, God forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful
Quran 39: 53

Indeed, man is in loss, except those who have faith and do righteous deeds, and advise one another to truth and patience
Quran 103:1-3

The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord
Mark 12:29

Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God
John 20:17

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Matthew 27:46

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
John 13:16

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind
Matthew 22:37

By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
John 5:30

Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
John 5:19

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 7:21

Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me
Isaiah 49:9

SCRIPTURE | 580

	Torah 5 BOOKS
	Psalms 1 BOOK
	Old Testament 32 BOOKS
	New Testament 27 BOOKS
	Apocrypha 1885 14 BOOKS
	Gospels/Texts 367 BOOKS
	Codex 120 BOOKS
	Quran 1 BOOK
	Hadith 10 BOOKS

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What is the Earliest Quran?

Earliest Quran Manuscripts

Type

Year / %

Birmingham Quran Manuscript

Sana'a Manuscript

Tübingen Fragment

Codex Mashhad

Codex Parisino-Petropolitanus

Topkapı Manuscript

Samarkand Kufic Quran

NEWS | 1,760

ARTICLES | 164

SCRIPTURE | 580