tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385137.post4244423512053673946..comments2023-11-02T04:21:10.340-04:00Comments on The way the Ball bounces: WBallBounceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08776039024486455199noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20385137.post-85022580051501916072010-08-08T03:18:26.809-04:002010-08-08T03:18:26.809-04:00I would point out that the oldest extant Koran fra...I would point out that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Qur%27an#Oldest_copy_known_today" rel="nofollow">oldest extant Koran fragments</a> date to 710-715 CE (written on parchment made from organic matter carbon-dated to 645-690 CE), only a century after Mohammad's revelation.<br /><br />The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samarkand_Qur%27an" rel="nofollow">Samarkand</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topkapi_manuscript" rel="nofollow">Topkapi</a> codices "can generally be dated from the late eight century" according to John Gilchrist in <i>Jam' Al-Qur'an</i>, meaning that we have full Koranic manuscripts considerably closer to its original revelation than we have non-fragmentary Biblical manuscripts (the earliest available being 4th century).<br /><br />I'm not sure how the Koran compares to the Bible in shear volume of early manuscripts -- but that would appear to be a comparison between the industriousness (and level of funding) of Christian versus Muslim scribes, not the claims to authenticity of the two revelations.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com