Topic
Archaeology bears on Islam’s early history: the Dome of the Rock, early manuscripts, and the places named in the Quran.
What it means
The inscriptions in the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, completed in 691–692, are the oldest surviving dated passages from the Quran, and include verses on Jesus (4:171) and the oneness of God. Quran leaves in the University of Birmingham radiocarbon-date to 568–645 with 95.4 per cent probability. The rock tombs of Mada’in Salih (Hegra), the Nabataean city, are associated with Thamud, who are named in Assyrian records of the eighth century BC.
What the sources say
The evidence is partial, and scholars disagree about much of it. Muslims do not rest their faith on archaeology, and the Quran presents its sites as a lesson (“travel through the land and see…”, 30:42).