Overview:

The Birmingham Qur'an is known as the oldest Qur'an in the world.

Radiocarbon dating of the parchment on which the text is written places it between 568-645CE. The most captivating aspect of the manuscript is that it is from the first century of Islam, indicating that it was close to the time of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and the rule of the first three caliphs.

The remaining pages of the Qur'an contain parts of Surah Al-Kahf, Surah Maryam and Surah Ta'ha.

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The Birmingham Qur’an Manuscript, written in an early form of Arabic script known as Ḥijāzi, contains sections of surahs 18-20 of the Islamic holy book. In 2014, the parchment on which the text was written was radiocarbon dated by the University of Oxford, which revealed with 95.4% certainty that it was from the period between 568 and 645. This means that the manuscript likely dates back to the first century of Islam, during the time of the Prophet Muhammad and the first three Caliphs, who ruled from about 632 to 650. The Qur’an in its current form was established under the third Caliph, Uthman, around 650. The Birmingham manuscript is one of the earliest surviving fragments of the Qur’an and is part of the Mingana Collection of 3,000 Middle Eastern manuscripts at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham. The collection was assembled in the 1930s by Quaker philanthropist Edward Cadbury to promote Birmingham as a centre for religious studies. The radiocarbon result indicates a date range of 568-645 with 95.4% probability.