That's a name I haven't heard in a long long time.Parchment necromancer!
Food for thought: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Hofmann
The snarky part of me wants to say "Isn't that how the Latter DAy Saint movement got started to begin with?" because I like and respect stienman and don't want to insult his religion or have him sic his baby army on me.The wikipedia link said:American counterfeiter, forger [. . .] Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished forgers in history, Hofmann is especially noted for his creation of documents related to the history of the Latter Day Saint movement.
What doesn't pass the smell test is a document that's this old, that survives UNCHANGED for more than 20 years (first written down in 653) from ORAL traditions. Even a small section as this is (remember the tested parchment is only a few sections of it, not a complete book) would get "morphed" by oral tradition over 20 years.This whole thing doesn't pass the smell test tbqh.
The point is that according to Islamic dogma, the Koran came directly from God, through the Prophet, and was then written down, in (at least) two parts, one in Mecca, and one later when he was living in Medina. What's controversial is how can there be any part of it that's older than him? That itself is the heresy. So as you said there's a few possibilities:The Quran held by the Birmingham Library is believed to be the oldest known copy in the world. It should be noted, however, that the documents held at the library are not a complete copy of the holy text, instead containing text only for suras (chapters) 18 to 20.
Perfectly reasonable explanation as well. Unless they can narrow the gap to before he was born and/or childhood. Then it goes other places.My guess, based on the information presented, is that this may actually have been a scrap of parchment used to preserve Muhammad's words during his actual life, which frankly is pretty damned cool.
Ed: Eriol Ninja'd me