Birmingham's ancient Koran history revealed

When it was revealed this summer that the University of Birmingham had fragments from one of the world's oldest Korans, it made front-page news around the world.

In terms of discoveries, it seemed as unlikely as it was remarkable.


But it raised even bigger questions about the origins of this ancient manuscript, reports BBC News.


And there are now suggestions from the Gulf that the discovery could be even more spectacularly significant than had been initially realised.


This is a global jigsaw puzzle.


But some of the pieces have fallen into place.


It seems likely the fragments in Birmingham, at least 1,370 years old, were once held in Egypt's oldest mosque, the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As in Fustat.


This is because academics are increasingly confident the Birmingham manuscript has an exact match in the National Library of France, the Bibliotheque Nationale de France.


The library points to the expertise of Francois Deroche, historian of the Koran and academic at the College de France, and he confirms the pages in Paris are part of the same Koran as Birmingham's.


Alba Fedeli, the researcher who first identified the manuscript in Birmingham, is also sure it is the same as the fragments in Paris.


The significance is that the origin of the manuscript in Paris is known to have been the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As in Fustat.