Prophet Muhammad-era Koran fragments found in England

Probably the oldest fragments of the Koran have been found by the University of Birmingham in England.

"According to Muslim tradition, the Prophet Muhammad received the revelations that form the Koran, the scripture of Islam, between the years 610 and 632, the year of his death," BBC cited the university's professor of Christianity and Islam, David Thomas, as saying.

"The person who actually wrote it could well have known the Prophet Muhammad. He would have seen him probably, he would maybe have heard him preach. He may have known him personally," he said, adding that some of the passages of the Koran were written down on parchment, stone, palm leaves and the shoulder blades of camels, and a final version was completed in about 650.