World's Oldest Known Koran May Predate Muhammad and Rewrite the History of Islam (VIDEO)

An ancient copy of a religious text may actually rewrite the early history of Islam. Researchers have found an ancient copy of the Koran in a Birmingham library that may pre-date Muhammad.

The pages of the newly discovered text, which is written in ink in an early form of Arabic script on parchment made from animal skin, are thought to be between 1,448 and 1,371 years old. The pages were actually found bound within the pages of another Koran from the late seventh century at the library of the University of Birmingham.

While the pages are dated between the years 568 AD and 645 AD, though, Muhammad is generally believed to have lived between 570 AD and 632 AD. This means that that pages actually pre-date the man known as "The Prophet."

"It destabilizes, to put it mildly, the idea that we can know anything with certainty about how the Koran emerged," said Tom Holland, a historian, in an interview with Birmingham Mail. "That in turn has implications for the historicity of Muhammad and the Companions (his followers)."

With that said, the carbon dating was only done on the parchment in the fragments, and not the actual ink. However, if the date does apply to the parchment and the ink, then the Koran-or at least parts of it-actually predates Mohammad. This would move the years that an Arabic literary culture is in place well into the 500s.

Want to learn more? Check out the video below.

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