Sanaa manuscript

Gerd R Puin photo of one of his Sana'a Qur'an parchments, showing layered revisions to the Qu'ran The Sana'a manuscripts , found in Yemen in 1972, are considered by some to be the oldest existent version of the Qur'an . Although the text has been dated to the first two decades of the eighth century, carbon-14 tests indicate that some of the parchments in this collection date back to the 7th and 8th centuries. Guardian News and Media Limited .

Recto side of the Stanford '07 folio. The upper text covers Qur’ān 2 (al-Baqarah).265-271. The lower text of the above folio, recovered through X-Ray Fluorescence Imaging at Stanford University. The lower text covers Qur’ān 2 (al-Baqarah).191-196. The Sana'a palimpsest , dubbed Ṣanʿā’ 1, is one of the oldest Qur'anic manuscripts in existence. It was found, along with many other Qur'anic and non-Qur'anic fragments, in Yemen in 1972 during restoration of the Great Mosque of Sana'a . The manuscript is written on parchment , and comprises two layers of text (see palimpsest ). The upper text conforms to the standard 'Uthmanic Qur'an , whereas the lower text contains many variants to the standard text. An edition of the lower text was published in 2012. A radiocarbon analysis has dated the parchment containing the lower text to before 671 AD with a 99% accuracy.

Recto side of the Stanford '07 folio. The upper text covers Quran 2 (al-Baqarah).265-271. The lower text of the above folio, recovered through X-Ray Fluorescence Imaging at Stanford University. The lower text covers Quran 2:191 -196. The Sanaa palimpsest (also Ṣanʽā’ 1 or DAM 01-27.1 ) is one of the oldest Quranic manuscripts in existence. Part of a sizable cache of Quranic and non-Quranic fragments discovered in Yemen during a 1972 restoration of the Great Mosque of Sanaa , the manuscript was identified as a palimpsest Quran in 1981; as it is written on parchment and comprises two layers of text. The upper text largely conforms to the standard 'Uthmanic' Quran in text and in the standard order of chapters ( suwar , singular sūrah ); whereas the lower text contains many variations from the standard text, and the sequence of its chapters corresponds to no known quranic order. A partial reconstruction of the lower text was published in 2012; and a reconstruction of the legible portions of both lower and upper texts of the 38 folios in the Sana'a House of Manuscripts was published in 2017 utilising post-processed digital images of the lower text. A radiocarbon analysis has dated the parchment of one of the detached leaves sold at auction, and hence its lower text, to between 578 CE (44 BH ) and 669 CE (49 AH ) with a 95% accuracy.

Early Quranic palimpsest Recto side of the Stanford '07 folio. The upper text covers Surah 2 ( al-Baqarah ), verses 265–271. The lower text of the above folio, recovered through X-Ray Fluorescence Imaging at Stanford University. The lower text covers Quran 2:191 –196. The Sanaa palimpsest (also Ṣanʽā’ 1 or DAM 01-27.1 ) or Sanaa Quran is one of the oldest Quranic manuscripts in existence. Part of a sizable cache of Quranic and non-Quranic fragments discovered in Yemen during a 1972 restoration of the Great Mosque of Sanaa , the manuscript was identified as a palimpsest Quran in 1981 as it is written on parchment and comprises two layers of text. The upper text entirely conforms to the standard Uthmanic Quran in text and in the standard order of surahs (chapters). The lower text, which was erased and written over by the upper text, but can still be read with the help of ultraviolet light and computer processing, contains many variations from the standard text. The sequence of its chapters corresponds to no known Quranic order. A partial reconstruction of the lower text was published in 2012, and a reconstruction of the legible portions of both lower and upper texts of the 38 folios in the Sana'a House of Manuscripts was published in 2017 utilising post-processed digital images of the lower text. A radiocarbon analysis has dated the parchment of one of the detached leaves sold at auction, and hence its lower text, to between 578 AD (44 BH ) and 669 AD (49 AH ) with a 95% accuracy. The earliest leaves have been tested at three laboratories and dated to 388–535 AD.