"One important fact that seems now beyond
serious doubt is that the Qur’ān, in some form, is a text dating from
the earliest history of the Muslim community. The careful work of
scholars like Déroche, Sadeghi, Puin, Sinai, Neuwirth, and others on
early Qur’ān manuscripts (including the Ṣan‘ā’ manuscripts) has led to
the identification and approximate dating of several very ancient
copies, or partial copies. These make it quite certain that the
Qur’ān—in some form—dates to the seventh century, and is not a text that
slowly crystallized in the eighth or ninth century. These early copies,
moreover, and work on the Qur’ān’s literary style, also seem to show
that many of the different sūrahs into which the Qur’ān is divided are
original units, not assemblages of disparate materials as was once
thought. These findings are important positive ground gained in our
understanding of the Qur’ān’s origin and early development".
Fred Donner "Reflections on the History and Evolution of Western Study of the Qur’ān "
Reference
Fred Donner "Reflections on the History and Evolution of Western Study of the Qur’ān "
Reference
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