Birmingham Quran manuscript

Birmingham Quran manuscript
Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham
folio 1 verso (right) and folio 2 recto
Date	Between c. 568 and 645
Language(s)	Arabic
Scribe(s)	Unknown
Material	Parchment ink
Format	vertical
Script	Hijazi
Contents	Parts of Surahs 19 to 20
Accession	1572a

The Birmingham Quran manuscript is on sheets of parchment on which early Quranic manuscript or muṣḥaf have been written. In 2015, the manuscript, which is held by the University of Birmingham,^[1] was radiocarbon dated to between 568 and 645 CE (in the Islamic calendar, between 56 before Hijrah and 24 after Hijrah).^[2][3] It is part of the Mingana Collection of Middle Eastern manuscripts, held by the university's Cadbury Research Library.^[2]

The manuscript is written in ink on parchment, using an Arabic Hejazi script and is still clearly legible. There is major doubt around its authenticity, given the fact that Uthman, the third caliph, gathered all such manuscripts and had them destroyed, to avoid any future doubts about the legitimitacy of the Quran. ^[3] The leaves preserve parts of Surahs 19 (Maryam) to 20 (Taha).^[4] It was on display at the University of Birmingham in 2015 and then at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery until 5 August 2016.^[5] The Cadbury Research Library has carried out multispectral analysis of the manuscript and XRF analysis of the inks.^[6]