14 COMMENTARY

Variant readings
The Birmingham Qur’an in the context of debate on Islamic origins

GABRIEL SAID REYNOLDS scholars have discovered is remarkable: the

O
earlier text of the Qur’an contains numerous
n July 22 the BBC published an variants to the standard consonantal text of the
article on its website entitled Qur’an.
“‘Oldest’ Koran Fragments found Now here it is important to explain that
in Birmingham University” that ancient manuscripts of the Qur’an tend not to
sparked great excitement among academics represent all of the vowels, but only a skeletal
and Muslim believers alike. At the heart of the form of Arabic consonants. Later manuscripts
article is the news – mentioned in last week’s vary in terms of the marks they add to the con-
issue of the TLS – that two leaves of a Qur’an sonantal “skeleton” of the Qur’an to indicate
manuscript studied by Alba Fedeli and held at vowels and consonants. Indeed, throughout
Birmingham’s university library had been most of Islamic history there were open dis-
carbon dated to somewhere between AD cussions about variant readings of the Qur’an.
568–645 (carbon dating allows only for a Things changed only in the early twentieth
range of years, and not a precise date). Several century. In 1924 a committee organized by the
academics and Muslim leaders are quoted in Egyptian ministry of education produced a
the article, and they agree that this finding text of the Qur’an for use within the country
reveals something of immense importance (and had competing editions sunk in the Nile
about the origins of Islam. Muhammad Isa River). This Egyptian text (slightly revised
Waley, a manuscript expert from the British later in 1924, and again in 1936, the first year
Library, declares that the news will have Mus- of King Farouk’s reign, for which reason it
lims “rejoicing”. David Thomas, Professor of became known as the King Farouk Qur’an)
Christianity and Islam at Birmingham Uni- has now become the standard Qur’an text.
versity, explains that whoever composed this Today this text is so widespread it might lead
manuscript might “have heard the Prophet one to conclude that the Qur’an has never had
Muhammad preach”, and insists that the dat- any variants. Yet this reflects the success of
ing of the manuscript shows that the Qur’an the Egyptian project, and not the history of the
“has undergone little or no alteration”. Qur’anic text.
However, the BBC article – like a subse- Nevertheless, while the history of Qur’anic
quent New York Times article (also July 22) – variants has long been a topic of academic dis-
misses the most significant point about the cussion, it has also long been thought that at
dating of this Qur’an manuscript (which con- least the Qur’an’s consonantal skeleton was
tains only a small section of the text: parts of unchanging. Before the Sanaa palimpsest, no
chapters 18, 19, and 20). Islamic tradition early manuscript was known to vary signifi-
reports that Muhammad received revelations cantly in terms of that skeleton. The basic
from the angel Gabriel between the year 610, form of the Qur’anic text, in other words, was
when he was forty years old, and his death in thought to have been more or less perfectly
632. But according to Islamic tradition, he did preserved. Yet the Sanaa manuscript, which
not write down these revelations. Instead, his is almost certainly the most ancient Qur’an
proclamations were preserved only on various manuscript known to us, contains a surprising
scraps (one tradition speaks of palm leaves, number of variants, including completely
parchment and the shoulder blades of camels), different words, and presents the chapters
or in versions which some of his companions (known as suras) of the Qur’an in a different
composed. An official text of the Qur’an was order.
only recorded around 650, during the reign What made this discovery all the more
(644–656) of Uthman (the third Caliph, or exciting was the dating of this manuscript.
successor, of the Prophet Muhammad). When Sadeghi sent out a sample of parchment
According to a well-known Islamic tradition of the palimpsest for radiocarbon dating (per-
Uthman had his “official” text of the Qur’an formed at a laboratory in Arizona) the result
prepared by a committee, and all variant ver- A section of a Qur’anic manuscript in the Hijazi script held by the University of came in that it had a 75.1 per cent chance of
sions destroyed by fire: “Uthman sent to every Birmingham. Experts in radiocarbon analysis at the University of Oxford have dated dating before 646. Now carbon dating esti-
Muslim province one copy of what they had the parchment to between the years 568 and 645 mates when the animal was slaughtered to
copied, and ordered that all the other Qur’anic make the parchment, not when the text itself
materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscript (568–645) – almost certainly the early dating of other manuscripts. Among was written, but it is thought that not much
manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt”. before the reign of Uthman – casts doubt on the manuscripts that were discovered in 1972 time would pass between the two (in theory it
Most traditional Muslim scholars believe the traditional story. The Birmingham manu- when repair work was being done on the ceil- is possible to date the ink on a manuscript, but
that Uthman’s version of the Qur’an was relia- script does not appear to be a scrap, or a variant ing of the Great Mosque of Sanaa in Yemen it is difficult to get enough ink, and to avoid
ble, although there are interesting traditions version kept by some companion, which was a rare Qur’anic palimpsest – that is, a contamination from the parchment, to do
according to which certain companions of somehow escaped the Caliph’s burning manuscript preserving an original Qur’an text so). Sadeghi’s colleague at Stanford, Uwe
Muhammad resisted the Caliph’s orders, decree. It appears to be the standard Qur’an that had been erased and written over with a Bergmann, announced elsewhere that this
notably one Ibn Masud (a companion who is which Muslims attribute to Uthman. In other new Qur’an text. This palimpsest has been manuscript likely dates to the lifetime of
said to have been commended by the Prophet words, the dates of the Birmingham manu- analysed by a German husband and wife team, Muhammad himself.
for his knowledge of the Qur’an) in the city of script are not simply early. They’re too early. Gerd and Elisabeth Puin, by Asma Hilali of Meanwhile, two fragments of this same
Kufa. Moreover, many early Shiite scholars Instead of rejoicing, the news about this man- the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, and manuscript were sent out for dating by a
doubted the reliability of the Qur’anic version uscript should lead to head-scratching. later by Behnam Sadeghi of Stanford Univers- French scholar of early Arabic, Christian
of Uthman (someone who, from a Shiite per- Moreover, the extremely early date range ity. Sadeghi benefited from the use of X-Ray Robin, to a laboratory in Lyon. Results came
spective, usurped the rightful place of Ali at of the Birmingham text (most of which is fluorescence imaging to render certain leaves back which indicated that the manuscript is
the head of the Islamic community). before even the date when Muhammad is said of the lower (that is, original) text of the older still: one fragment was dated to 543–643
Yet the very early dating of the Birmingham to have begun his preaching) seems to confirm Qur’anic palimpsest visible. What all of these and the other to 433–599. There has been a lot

TLS AUGUST 7 2015

of discussion of these early dates over social around Qumran. And indeed, the date ranges is all the more startling because the Birming- unlike what we have imagined.
media. Some scholars have held that they are for the Scrolls vary widely. For example, the ham manuscript has the appearance of a more Nevertheless, the extremely early dating of
so early that the job had been botched. How- famous Isaiah scroll of Qumran has been developed text. Both the lower text of the these manuscripts is helpful for the way it
ever, still further tests (not yet published) on dated (with a 95 per cent probability) vari- Sanaa palimpsest and the text of the Birming- helps clarify something which has troubled
additional fragments of this manuscript have ously either to 351–295 BC, or 230–53 BC ham manuscript include certain features – scholars of early Islam. Many elements of the
been done which have also yielded early (or, according to another laboratory, 351–296 such as dividers between suras, and certain Qur’an are difficult to understand. For exam-
results. In any case, the Birmingham results BC, or 203–48 BC). dashes to distinguish consonants – which may ple, twenty-nine of its suras begin with a series
suggest that Lyon might not have botched the Thus the Dead Sea Scrolls dating allows for represent a later stage of writing (which of disconnected letters, yet the origin and
job after all. Intriguingly, the first date range a range of several hundred years (and even means it is possible that we will still find even meaning of those letters remains a mystery
from Lyon (543–643) corresponds rather then many scholars argue that the palaeo- earlier, and more primitive, Qur’an manu- (for which reason they have been dubbed the
closely to the date range given (from a labora- graphic dating – that is, dating based on the scripts). However, the Birmingham manu- “mysterious letters”). To give another exam-
tory in Oxford) for the Birmingham manu- script – of the Scrolls is more reliable than script largely conforms to the standard text of ple: in two passages (2:62 and 5:69) the
script (568–645). carbon dating). What is more, the dating of the the Qur’an. It seems, in other words, to repre- Qur’an speaks of a group called the Sabi’un
Now the Sanaa manuscript has so many var- Dead Sea Scrolls might be considered more sent a distinctly later stage in the history of the who seem to be promised entry into heaven
iants that one might imagine it is a vestige of accurate than the dating of the Qur’an manu- Qur’anic text. Now one might assign the Bir- (along with “the believers”, Jews and Chris-
an ancient version that somehow survived scripts, since fragments from many different mingham manuscript to the very end of the tians). Yet no one is sure exactly who these
Uthman’s burning of all versions of the samples of the scrolls – and even samples date range given for it (568–645) because of Sabi’un are. Indeed, we find that Muslim
Qur’an except his own. The problem with this from other materials found at Qumran what we think we “know” about the traditional scholars, even the earliest Muslim scholars,
idea is that the variants of that manuscript do (including a piece of leather and a scrap of story of the Qur’an’s origins, in an attempt to do not understand the “mysterious letters” and
not match the variants reported in medieval linen) have been tested. This allows scientists make it fit in to the reign of Uthman cannot identify the Sabi’un. In other words,
literature for those codices kept by compan- to calibrate their measurements more pre- (644–656). Alternatively, it might be time to somehow the meaning of these things had
ions of the Prophet. Sadeghi argues that this cisely. Such calibration has not yet been poss- consider again what we think we know. been lost by the time the text reached them.
must have been the codex of some unknown ible for Qur’an manuscripts. We are not even The upshot of all of these early dates is that The early dating of these Qur’an manuscripts
companion. This is an interesting, although sure of the precise original location of the the Qur’an may very well date earlier than helps us make sense of this (even if it won’t tell
speculative, idea. For now all we know is that manuscripts (the Birmingham manuscript Uthman, possibly much earlier. It may be time us the meaning of the “mysterious letters” or the
our most ancient manuscript of the Qur’an may have been located in Fustat, Egypt at to rethink the story of the Qur’an’s origins, identity of the Sabi’un). It seems that by the time
does not agree with the standard text read some point, but this does not mean it was writ- including the traditional dates of Muham- the Qur’an reached these scholars (whose work
around the world today. ten there). mad’s career. In other words, what observers begins to be written in the second half of the
It is also important to remember that the Nevertheless, the early dating of the Sanaa have celebrated as something like evidence eighth century) it was already a very old text
carbon dating of parchment is an imprecise manuscript is telling in light of the extremely of the traditional story of Islam’s origins (the which was no longer understood well. This is a
science (something indicated by the large early dating of the Birmingham manuscript. New York Times article argued that the manu- hypothesis raised by Michael Cook at the end of
range of possible dates given for the various Almost all of the date range (568–645) given script “offered a moment of unity, and insight, his work The Koran: A very short introduction
fragments). Scholars have long debated, for for that manuscript is before the reign of Uth- for the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims”) may (2000). Now that the Qur’an appears to be older
example, the carbon 14 tests that have been man and most of it is even before the tradi- actually be, when considered carefully, evi- than imagined, the hypothesis seems more
carried out on the Dead Sea scrolls found tional dates of Muhammad’s preaching. This dence that the story of Islam’s origins is quite likely than ever.

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TLS AUGUST 7 2015