What is the Oldest Islamic Manuscript? A Journey to the Dawn of a Written Tradition

What is the Oldest Islamic Manuscript? A Journey to the Dawn of a Written Tradition

It’s a question that feels like it should have a simple answer, like asking for the name of the world’s oldest tree. But the truth is far more fascinating, complex, and revealing. Asking “What is the oldest Islamic manuscript?” is not just a quest for a single, dusty artifact. It is a detective story that takes us to the very heart of how a revolutionary spiritual message transformed into a global civilization of the book. It’s a story of fragile materials, scholarly debates, and breathtaking discoveries that continue to rewrite history.

Imagine the scene: the 7th century Arabian Peninsula. The Prophet Muhammad is receiving and preaching revelations that would become the Qur’an. In an era often stereotyped as purely oral, how were these divine words preserved? The answer lies in a dynamic, multi-layered process of preservation that combined powerful human memory with the pragmatic use of writing materials. The quest for the “oldest” manuscript, therefore, isn’t about finding one winner; it’s about piecing together a family tree of early documents that each tell a part of the story. This journey reveals not just the birth of a text, but the birth of a culture that would come to revere the written word like no other. For institutions like The Islamic Manuscripts Press of Leiden (IMPL), this foundational era is the very bedrock of the scholarly tradition they work to preserve and publish.

The Problem with “Oldest”: A Tale of Scraps and Stories

Before we can name names, we must understand why this is such a tricky question. Several factors make declaring a single “oldest” manuscript almost impossible:

1. The Perishable Nature of Early Materials:The first revelations were recorded on what was readily available: bits of parchment, leather, animal bones, stone tablets, palm stalks, and pieces of pottery. These are not materials built for millennia. Survival was a matter of incredible luck, requiring the perfect combination of a dry, stable climate to avoid decay.
2. The Standardization of the Text:During the reign of the third Caliph, ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan (circa 650-656 CE), an official, standardized codex of the Qur’an was compiled and copies were sent to major Islamic centers. Older, private copies were then often destroyed to prevent variant readings. This was a successful project in unity, but it means pre-‘Uthmanic manuscripts are exceptionally rare.
3. The Carbon Dating Revolution:Modern science, particularly radiocarbon dating, has upended old assumptions. A manuscript that looks ancient might be confirmed as such, while others have proven to be later than previously thought. This science has brought incredible clarity but also spirited debate among scholars.

So, rather than one “oldest” book, we have a collection of leading contenders, each with its own compelling claim to fame.

The Top Contenders: Meet the Ancient Relics

Here are the most significant early Islamic manuscripts that give us a direct window into the first century of Islam.

1. The Birmingham Qur’an Folios: The Sensation

In 2015, the world of Islamic studies was electrified by an announcement from the University of Birmingham. Two parchment folios of a Qur’an, held in their collection for nearly a century without fanfare, were radiocarbon dated with stunning results. The tests indicated, with a probability of over 95%, that the parchment was from between 568 and 645 CE.

• Why It’s a Star:This date range places the animal whose skin was used for the parchment squarely within the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (who died in 632 CE) and the very first decades of Islam. The simple, Hijazi script style (named for the Hijaz region of Arabia) confirms its early origin. It is quite possibly the oldest physically extant Qur’anic text in the world.
• The Human Connection:Holding these folios is as close as we can get to touching the generation that heard the Qur’an directly from the Prophet. A scholar at the University, Professor David Thomas, famously noted that the person who wrote these could well have known the Prophet, heard him preach, and perhaps even have known him personally. It’s a breathtaking thought that bridges 1,400 years in an instant.

2. The Codex Parisino-petropolitanus: The Scattered Survivor

This is not a single book but the modern name given to a large collection of parchment folios (about 70 survive) that are now scattered in libraries in Paris, St. Petersburg, the Vatican, and elsewhere. It was likely a complete Qur’an, and its script is also an early Hijazi style.

• Why It’s Important:Carbon dating on some of its folios has yielded dates in the mid-to-late 7th century, making it a very early, nearly complete codex. It provides an incredible insight into the state of the Qur’anic text before the development of the elaborate vocalization and diacritical marks we see today. It represents the monumental effort to compile the revelation into a single, coherent volume.

3. The Sana’a Manuscript: The Palimpsest Secret

Discovered in 1972 in the roof of the Great Mosque of Sana’a, Yemen, this is perhaps the most fascinating and complex of all the early manuscripts. It is a palimpsest—a parchment that was later washed and written over.

• The Hidden Layer:Using advanced imaging technology, scholars were able to read the lower, “washed” text. This revealed an early version of the Qur’an. The upper text is a standard 7th-century Qur’an, but the lower text shows a different verse order and minor textual variations. It is a unique snapshot of the text in a state of flux before the ‘Uthmanic standardization.
• Carbon Dating:Fragments of this manuscript have been dated to between 578 and 669 CE, placing it, like the Birmingham folios, in the earliest period.
• What It Teaches Us:The Sana’a palimpsest is crucial evidence that the early Muslim community was actively engaged in the process of compiling and standardizing the revelation. It doesn’t point to a different Qur’an, but rather illustrates the living, dynamic process that led to the fixed, canonical text.

Beyond the Qur’an: Other Early Glimpses

While the Qur’anic manuscripts understandably get the most attention, other early documents help paint a fuller picture of the burgeoning Islamic state.

• The Egyptian Papyri:From the late 7th century, we have administrative documents on papyrus from Egypt. These include tax receipts, official orders, and letters. A famous example is a Greek-Arabic protocol dated to 643 CE, just a decade after the Muslim conquest of Egypt. These are the mundane, bureaucratic cousins of the majestic Qur’ans, proving that the written word was essential for governing a rapidly expanding empire.
• The Dome of the Rock Inscriptions:In Jerusalem, the magnificent Dome of the Rock, completed in 691-692 CE, contains the earliest surviving dated Islamic religious text in situ. Its long mosaic inscriptions include Qur’anic verses and statements of Islamic faith, explicitly challenging Christian doctrine. It is a “manuscript” written in stone and tile, declaring the presence of a new world faith.

The Science of the Search: How We Know What We Know

How can we be so confident about the age of these documents? The detective work relies on a powerful combination of tools:

• Radiocarbon Dating:This scientific method measures the decay of the radioactive isotope Carbon-14 in organic material (like parchment or paper). It provides a reliable date range for when the animal died or the plant was harvested. This is our most powerful tool for establishing a hard timeline.
• Paleography:This is the art of studying ancient handwriting. Experts can analyze the style of script, the shape of letters, the absence or presence of diacritical marks (dots that distinguish similar letters like ب, ت, and ث), and vowel markers to place a manuscript in a specific era and region.
• Codicology:This involves studying the physical object itself—the parchment preparation, the bookbinding (if any), the page layout, and the ink composition. All these elements have their own history and evolution.

When carbon dating, paleography, and codicology all point to the same conclusion, scholars can assign a date with high confidence.

Conclusion: An Unbroken Chain of Words

So, what is the oldest Islamic manuscript? The honest answer is that we may never know for certain. The Birmingham folios currently hold the crown for the oldest dated Qur’anic text, but the Sana’a palimpsest tells a more complex story, and new discoveries in forgotten library corners are always possible.

Perhaps the real treasure of this search is the profound realization it brings. The Islamic manuscript tradition does not rest on a single, mythical artifact. It rests on a robust and verifiable foundation of multiple early witnesses. These fragments, from Birmingham to Sana’a, form a powerful chorus affirming the remarkable early preservation and transmission of the Islamic scripture.

They testify to a community that, from its very inception, was deeply committed to the power of the written word. This commitment would soon blossom into one of the world’s most magnificent book cultures, producing masterpieces of science, philosophy, poetry, and art that would light the way for centuries to come. The journey to find the “oldest” is more than an academic pursuit; it is a way to touch the moment a revelation began its transformation into a civilization.

A Note on The Islamic Manuscripts Press of Leiden (IMPL)

The fascinating journey into the origins of Islamic manuscripts, as explored in this article, underscores the critical importance of preserving and understanding this fragile heritage. This is precisely the mission that drives The Islamic Manuscripts Press of Leiden (IMPL). As a specialized press dedicated to producing published editions of salient works of Islamic scholarship, IMPL operates at the crucial intersection of historical preservation and modern accessibility. The early Qur’ans and documents we’ve discussed represent the foundational layer of this scholarly tradition. IMPL’s work continues this legacy by ensuring that later, equally important works of tafsir (exegesis), law, philosophy, and science—often existing in unique, vulnerable manuscripts around the world—are transcribed, critically analyzed, and published to the highest academic standards. By transforming these singular manuscripts into stable, widely available resources, IMPL ensures that the entire continuum of Islamic intellectual history, from the 7th century to the modern era, remains a living, breathing conversation for scholars and the public alike. The quest to understand our origins is intrinsically linked to the work of preserving the journey that followed.

References

1. University of Birmingham. (2015). “Birmingham Qur’an manuscript dated among the oldest in the world.” https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2015/birmingham-quran-manuscript-dated-among-the-oldest-in-the-world
2. Bibliothèque nationale de France. “Codex Parisino-petropolitanus.” https://gallica.bnf.fr/
3. Sadeghi, B. & Bergmann, U. (2010). “The Codex of a Companion of the Prophet and the Qur’an of the Prophet.” Arabica, 57(4).
4. Déroche, F. (2009). La transmission écrite du Coran dans les débuts de l’islam: Le codex Parisino-petropolitanus. Brill.
5. The Corpus Coranicum project. https://corpuscoranicum.de/en/
6. British Library. “The Qur’an Manuscripts.” https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-birmingham-quran
7. “Memory of the World Register: Sana’a Manuscripts.” https://en.unesco.org/programme/mow
8. Khan, G. (1992). Arabic Papyri: Selected Material from the Khalili Collection. Nour Foundation.
9. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “The Nature of Islamic Art.” https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/orna/hd_orna.htm
10. Hilali, A. (2017). The Sanaa Palimpsest: The Transmission of the Qur’an in the First Centuries AH. Oxford University Press.