Fragments of 8th century Qur'an containing hidden passages from Bible up for auction
Fragments from an eighth century Qur'an that contains hidden passages from the Bible is up for auction, the Daily Mail reported.
The 1,200-year-old manuscript is the only palimpsest "in which the Qur'an has been written over a Christian text", the report revealed.
#WordOfTheDay Palimpsest! A manuscript from which the 1st writing has been effaced so that the paper vellum could be reused. The unrecorded palimpsest of a Qur’an copied onto a Christian text will be offered in our Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds Auction tomorrow in #London. pic.twitter.com/DJSUSdmSqq
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) April 25, 2018
The original Bible, is believed to have been inscribed by the Coptic community in Egypt. This was before the Islamic holy text was written over it in the eighth century AD during the time of the Arab conquest.
French scholar Dr Eléonore Cellard from the Collège de France in Paris made the discovery. "This is a very important discovery for the history of the Qur'an and early Islam," she is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
Adding, "We have here a witness of cultural interactions between different religious communities."
The auction, held in London, is expected to fetch $110,000-$170,000.
