SAUDI SCHOLARS - " BIRMINGHAM QUR'AN ISN'T THE OLDEST "By Arabian Business http://bit.ly/1OCdKs5MAKKAH – A British university's claim of discovering the world's oldest Qur'an has been refuted by Saudi scholars as publicity stunt, denying the assertion that the copy was written during the era of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
“It is not possible to ascertain that the parchments were written close to the time of the Prophet (pbuh),” Abdul Sattar Al Halouji, a Saudi scholar, was quoted as telling Makkah daily, Arabian Business reported on Monday, July 27.Fragments of what is thought to be the world's oldest Qur'an have been found in the University of Birmingham with experts saying the manuscripts date back to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) era some 1370 years ago.The announcement followed radiocarbon analysis which proved that they was written in the period between 568CE and 645CE, with 95.4% accuracy. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is believed to have lived between 570CE and 632CE, meaning the text found at the university was written during the Prophet's life.
The manuscripts consist of parts of Suras [chapters] 18 to 20 of the holy book, written in an early form of Arabic script known as Hijaz. Accusing the Birmingham university of seeking a public stunt, Al Halouji said that experts should have examined the ink used in writing the chapters of the holy book. He said the hide, or animal skin, on which the text was written could be as old as the researchers suggest, but that does not prove the text was written at that time.
“The university should have examined the ink not the hide on which it was written,” he said.The Qur’an is a revelation from God, the creator of the worlds, so He is the original author. There is only one Qur’an which is in Arabic, with many of its translations in several languages.There could be multiple translations by different authors in the same language such as English.The Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) through the archangel Gabriel who helped the Prophet memorize the Qur’an, as reported in several authentic Hadith narrations. Saudi archaeologists asserted that the red ink used to separate between chapters was not used during the era of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).Moreover, writing the words
‘Bismillah Al Rahman Al Raheem’ [in the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate] was not written either in
red ink.“The manuscript might possibly be from the time of Othman Bin Affan who became Caliph many years after the death of the Prophet (pbuh),” archaeologist Adnan Al Sharif, dean of libraries at Umm Al Qura University, told the newspaper.“During the time of the Prophet (pbuh), the Qur'an was not organized or put in its present day form. Also, there were no colors used.”He added there were several observations that cast doubt on the Birmingham University claims.
“One of these is the red-color separation between the Bismillah and the two Surahs of Mariam and Taha. It was not customary during the Prophet’s time to separate between the Surahs. This copy seems to be organized in [an] order which was not so during the time of the Prophet (pbuh),” he said.He added that the radiocarbon examination of a manuscript could only indicate the century in which it was made and not the year.
“There are copies of the Quran in Turkey, Egypt and Yemen dating back to the first Hijra century. This means that they are concurrent to the Birmingham manuscript,” Al Sharif was quoted as saying.Abbas Tashkandi, another manuscript expert, expressed a similar opinion. “The hide may be old but the writing may be new,” he said. 
