The discovery of the world"s oldest #Quran might change everything we think we know about #Islam and the prophet #Muhammad. - http://clapway.com/2015/09/01/worlds-oldest-quran-muhammad123/

Last month, fragments from what is believed to be the world’s oldest Quran were found in a library at the University of Birmingham in England. According to BBC, the manuscript, comprised of two sheets, was discovered bound inside another Quran from the late seventh century. The discovery was “startling” on its own, but now British scholars are suggesting that the manuscript may actually predate Muhammad, the Muslim prophet, as well as the accepted founding date of Islam itself.

WHAT THE FRAGMENTS OF THE WORLD’S OLDEST QURAN REVEAL

The According to Fox News, experts at the University of Oxford used radiocarbon dating to date the manuscript. Based on the tests, the fragments are believed to be at least 1,370 years old, produced between 568 A.D. and 645 A.D. Muhammad, however, is believed to have lived from 570 A.D. and 632 A.D and appropriately, under this timeline, Islam had to be founded sometime during those years, around 610 A.D.

Debate Circulating About The World’s Oldest Quran

Upon learning about the news, Muslim scholars have debated the assertion that the manuscript predates Muhammad. According to the Times, Mustafa Shah, of the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies states, “If anything, the manuscript has consolidated traditional accounts of the Koran’s origins.”

Others, like Keith Small of the Bodleian Library at Oxford, argue the opposite. In speaking with the Times, he has stated that the discovery gives more ground to “peripheral views of the Koran’s genesis.” For example, Muhammad and his followers could have used an existing piece of text, which was later shaped to fit their own needs.

Although the first formal text was not assembled until around 653 A.D., fragments of the Quran have been circulated through word-of-mouth, or written down on leaves, stones, and bones, among other things. Small also notes that the carbon dating was carried out the only the parchment itself and not the ink. If, however, the dates coincide and the ink is found to be old as the manuscript, the history of the Arabic literary culture may possibly need to be reexamined.

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World"s Oldest Quran Could Predate Muhammad

%A #Muslim symposium in Istanbul encouraged interfaith dialogue about #climatechange: a lack of renewable resources and the need to find better alternatives.% - http://clapway.com/2015/08/21/muslim-leaders-against-climate-change-101/

At the International Islamic Climate Change Symposium in Istanbul earlier this week, audiences received a rich and passionate lesson on modern climate change. The two-day symposium was host to a variety of high-profile Islamic and non-practicing speakers; among them were professors, business-owners, religious leaders, UN representatives and others. The symposium encouraged interfaith dialogue about a worldwide problem: a lack of renewable resources and the urgency to find better alternatives.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS A QUESTION OF MORALS

“Faith communities increasingly recognize that the climate crisis is also a moral crisis,” reads the official Islamic Climate Declaration website. The group urges the Muslim public to acknowledge and fight the damages of climate change from a moral standpoint. Nearly 23% of the world’s population identifies as Muslim, and Islamic leaders assert that when united as a community this group has the ability to impact world-wide change through positive action. The Islamic Climate Declaration calls for renewable energy research and conscious, global efforts toward conservation and accountability — and asserts that it is a Muslim’s moral duty to work towards these ambitions.

IT’S “NOT MUSLIM” TO ALLOW ECOLOGICAL DISASTER

The group insists that those with Muslim faith know that humanity was born to serve Allah and to do well for other humans and creatures. The current gaining rate of climate change, they argue, is detrimental to our environment and goes against God’s will and his gifts — air, water, earth, the elements that allow us to live and continue on as a species. From the Islamic Climate Declaration’s viewpoint, it is crucial to honor the earth, as the earth was borne of God.

CATHOLICS ALSO CONCERNED FOR ENVIRONMENT’S FUTURE

Said Islamic leaders are not the only religious icons who have recently called for faith-inspired conservation efforts. Pope Francis, Catholicism’s oft controversial current pontiff, published his encyclical Laudato si’ (Praise Be to You, subtitled On care for our common home) in late May 2015. In it, he decries environmental decline and calls upon humanity to take immediate action in view of global warming. Both the Islamic Climate Change Declaration and Pope Francis call for the end of short-sightedness and suggest that what’s truly vital lies within the bigger picture: humanity’s long-term impact on the planet. “What will future generations say of us, who leave them a degraded planet as our legacy? How will we face our Lord and Creator?” the Islamic Climate Declaration asks. Religious leaders are changing the dialogue on global climate change, and appealing to the moral dilemma may prove rewarding in their case.

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Muslim Leaders Demand Immediate Force Against Climate Change

#CarbonDating reveals the #oldest #Quran ever discovered. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/22/biblical-archaeologists-muslims-rejoice-oldest-quran-may-have-been-found-133/

 

The Well Preserved Quran Sat Among the Mingana Collection for nearly 100 years

The ancient biblical text sat in a vast collection from the Middle East known as the Mingana Collection. The Mingana Collection was named in honor of Alphonse Mingana, a former priest and theologian who collected and preserved the collection of 3,000 manuscripts. When he decided to settle in England in the 1920s, Mingana brought the extensive collection with him.

Though the Mingana Collection contains manuscripts with over 20 different languages written throughout, the well preserved Quran tested had clear, legible text written in an early Arabic script known as Hijazi .

For nearly 100 years, archaeologists had never realized the fragment’s historical significance until performing radiocarbon testing when they realized it may be the oldest quran to date.

The Significance of Carbon Dating the Oldest Quran Fragments

According to researchers, the carbon dating results showed that somewhere between the years 568 and 645, the manuscript was created. These dates prove a great historical significance in Muslim beliefs as they are closely related to the founding of Islam as a religions says David Thomas, a professor at University of Birmingham.

According to Thomas, the Prophet Muhammad received the holy scripture of Islam through revelations between the years of 610 to 632. This means if the radiocarbon testing is correct, the writer of this particular Quran may have known the Prophet personally and even heard him preach.

The researchers did acknowledge the complications of radiocarbon dating as a technique that could not definitively claim the precise age of the parchment. However, as far as science can show, this discovery of what can possibly the oldest Quran is still monumental for Muslims worldwide and biblical archaeologists alike.

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Biblical Archaeologists, Muslims Rejoice! Oldest Quran May Have Been Found