Jay & Hatun critique the Birmingham & Husseini MSS!

So what is wrong with the Birmingham Folios (M1572a)? Is this really the world’s oldest Qur’an as Muslims claim? The claim is that it was dated using Radio-Carbon dating to between 568-645 AD, so covering the life of Muhammad. But the problem with RC14 dating is that the deterioration of the Carbon in an animal only begins when the animal was slaughtered, after which it begins to slowly decay into a Nitrogen-14. The half life of Carbon 14 is 5,730 years. When one compares it to a fresh sample we can then get the approximate date of the parchment. What's more the contents of the 2 Folios only include 33 verses, out of a total of 6,236 verses in the Qur’an, so only 0.005% of the Qur’an. So this is not a complete Qur’an at all!  Sura 18:17-31 is about the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, which comes from a Greek story by Symeon Metaphrastes in his "Lives of the saints". Gregory of Tours translated it into Latin. There is a Syriac version by James of Sarug (d. 521), and from the Syriac the story was put into other Eastern languages. So, it’s over 100 years before the Qur’an. Sura 19:91-98 is a Syriac work borrowed from the Proto-Evangelium of James (145 AD) and the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (600 AD), so long before the Qur'an. Sura 20:1-39 is the story of Moses, similar to that found in the Bible, thus thousands of years before the Qur’an. There are further problems with the early Radio Carbon Dates for these folios: 1) The scholars don’t agree with the early dates: Efin Rezvan (Russian Scholar, Birmingham University, 2015) says, “Birmingham Fragments show several textual variants as well as verse numbering differences…The very early dating of all these fragments — before the reign of ‘Uthmān — casts doubt on both the Islamic tradition…The fact that the folios were kept for centuries in an iron box, underground can partly explain the early radiocarbon dating…Parchment was an expensive material. Monastic and state scriptoria, located on the territory of Greater Syria (al-Shām), Antiochia, al-Hīra and Alexandria areas, could store this valuable material (including the donations of the pious laity). These stocks became part of the loot captured by the Arabs in the first years of the conquest. Captured leaves were used for writing the Qur’ān”. Emilio Platti (Translation): “The Mingana 1572a corresponds perfectly to the text of the ‘Uthmanic vulgate’…pointing out differences with the Ṣan’ā codex – unquestionably the oldest manuscript, which therefore means that this Birmingham fragment is subsequent to the oldest manuscript". Dr Alba Fedeli states that ‘paleography gives a hypothesis’ – it is not exact, and carbon-dating informs us only about the date of the death of the animal Assistant Professor Süleyman Berk (faculty member of Yalova University’s Islamic Studies Faculty Turkish Islamic Art History Department), and collector Mehmet Çebi challenge Birmingham University’s suggestion that it has found the world’s oldest Quran: “This finding did not cause any excitement in me. It is clear that the Quran pages they have belong to the end of the seventh century and the beginning of the eighth century. We have seen many copies of the Quran written with that script in that era. The Turkish Islamic Arts Museum even has the largest collection of such transcripts… it is clear that the Quranic pages at Birmingham University and the ones that we have belong to the same era” 2) Radio Carbon dates from other labs in Europe: LYON, KIEL, ZURICH, OXFORD. The four Sana’a A findings date between 390 – 550 AD. Note: the Life of Muhammad’s dates (570-632 AD), thus these are 80-220 yrs too early. If you take the Birmingham Folio RC14 dates, you have to take these as well. You can't have it both ways. Conclusion: -The Ink has not been dated! 568-645 AD only tell us when the animal died -If the dates are correct, then the classical account is wrong! -It may simply suggest that the 3 stories in the folios were borrowed from outside, usually simple stories. These folios could be examples of those earlier sources, written in Arabic. -Scholars like Rezvan, Platti, Fedelli, Berk, and Cebi do not agree with the early dates. -The 4 laboratory reports on the Sana’a MS are dated between 390-550 AD, so 80 – 220 year too early! -Thus, pre-Islamic, pre-Muhammad, pre Uthmanic, & pre Qur’anic! What about the HUSSEINI MANUSCRIPT? -Dr. Tayyar Altıkulaç says, “This is not Uthmanic’ ’It is dated from early to mid 8th century’ (Altıkulaç, ‘Al-Mushaf al-Sharif’ 2007:36-footnote 14a) -Dr Francois Deroche dates it to the 9th century, since “Monumental MS are later…so, the bigger the later”. -It is replete with many later coverings, proving that it has been changed over time. Conclusion: It is just too late to be considered as Uthmanic, or even from the 7th century, and with all the later changes it is not important for our needs. © Pfander Centre for Apologetics - US, 2020 (30,870)