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The stone window ledge has two rows of seven shallow depressions cut into it, and I am sitting next to them, trying to remember where on earth I've seen this pattern before. Far away, beyond the massive fortifications and the moat, are the white-capped mountains of Lebanon. I had not expected to see so much snow around, but then Syria throws up surprises all the time. Even this 12th-century crusader castle, Krak des Chevaliers, a fabulous place long picked over by archaeologists and historians, is full of mysteries. Like the timeworn inscription I found tucked away in a corner: "Ceso:...

Fragments of the oldest Koran in existence, which were discovered at a British university library, could be from the original copy of the Muslim holy book. Leading academic Jamal bin Huwareib believes the pages found at Birmingham University earlier this year are from the first assembled Koran by the Prophet Muhammad's close friend Abu Bakr. The pages, thought to be between 1,448 and 1,371 years old, were discovered bound within the pages of another Koran from the late seventh century at the university's library. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3373020/Is-finished-Koran.html#ixzz3vJuIrw7F Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

'The desert city of Chinguetti, sinking ever-deeper under the sands of the Sahara, is the last place in the world you would expect to find a library. Yet this crumbling outpost in the west-African country of Mauritania is home to around 6,000 rare books and manuscripts, including some of the oldest Koranic texts in existence which date back to the 9th Century. It was once the prosperous and bustling trade centre of several 'trans-Sahara' trade routes. Traders from all over Europe, north-Africa and the Levant would stop in Chinguetti before moving on to sub-Saharan Africa. There, they would rub shoulders...

Explosive ramifications result from new evidence revealing the Muslim holy book has undergone a textual evolution Frontpage Interview’s guests today are Robert Spencer and Moorthy Muthuswamy. Moorthy Muthuswamy is an expert on terrorism in India. He grew up in India, where he had firsthand experience with political Islam and jihad. He moved to America in 1984 to pursue graduate studies. In 1992, he received a doctorate in nuclear physics from Stony Brook University, New York. Since 1999 he has extensively published ideas on neutralizing political Islam’s terror war as it is imposed on unbelievers. He is the author of the...

Folks, Sandro Magister, the world-renowned vaticanista, hosted in his website an exchange between Muslim theologian Aref Ali Nayed and the Catholic Islamologist Michel Cuypers which I think you should read. The subject of the exchange is one that I’ve covered repeatedly in these humble folios, having to do with the need for a higher criticism of the Koran in order to know, expose, and study its literary genres, its historical context, the oral traditions that converged in its formation, and the phases in its redaction that gave us the text as we read it today. Of course, such an...

Ok, let's get down to brass tacks. How long has the Islam religion been around and have they always been so hateful and violent (like so many of them are today)? I believe they claim to be direct descendants of Abraham but I also believe that Abraham was a favorite of our one true Judeo-Christian God, and was the father or grandfather of the Jewish and Christian religions. I have a hard time believing that our loving Judeo-Christian God is also the Islam God, Allah, whose Muslim followers seem to be so misplaced. Haven't the warlike Muslim tribes fanned out...

The 'Birmingham Koran' fragment that could shake Islam after carbon-dating suggests it is OLDER than the Prophet Muhammad Fragments of the oldest Koran were discovered last month in BirminghamCarbon dating found the pages were produced between 568AD and 654AD But several historians now say that the parchment may predate MuhammadThey believe that this discovery could rewrite the early history of Islam Fragments of the world's oldest Koran, found in Birmingham last month, may predate the Prophet Muhammad and could even rewrite the early history of Islam, according to scholars.The pages, thought to be between 1,448 and 1,371 years old, were...

The BBC announced enthusiastically Wednesday that “what may be the world’s oldest fragments of the Koran have been found by the University of Birmingham.” This news is not only of interest to scholars and Muslim intellectuals; it appears to buttress the Islamic claim that the Qur’an’s text has remained unchanged for 1,400 years – which is purported to be proof of its divine origin. There is only one problem with all this: the BBC article raises more questions than it answers, and reveals more about the wishful thinking of the academic and media establishments than it does about the...

What may be the world's oldest fragments of the Koran have been found by the University of Birmingham. Radiocarbon dating found the manuscript to be at least 1,370 years old, making it among the earliest in existence. The pages of the Muslim holy text had remained unrecognised in the university library for almost a century. The British Library's expert on such manuscripts, Dr Muhammad Isa Waley, said this "exciting discovery" would make Muslims "rejoice". The manuscript had been kept with a collection of other Middle Eastern books and documents, without being identified as one of the oldest fragments of the...

Science vs. scientism: a necessary distinction J. Daniel McDonald — December 1, 2015 We all have those TV shows that define our childhood - shows that captured our little minds and imaginations. For me, it was Sesame Street (don't laugh; some of you watched Barney), Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, and Dukes of Hazzard. While I have no interest in these shows now, I look upon them with a sense of nostalgia because they represent, in part, may days as a young tike whose greatest concerns were snack time and Hot Wheels.A show that many of our Boyce students (and Southern students?)...

A Fight for the Soul of Science String theory, the multiverse and other ideas of modern physics are potentially untestable. At a historic meeting in Munich, scientists and philosophers asked: should we trust them anyway? Laetitia Vancon for Quanta MagazinePhysicists George Ellis (center) and Joe Silk (right) at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich on Dec. 7. By: Natalie WolchoverDecember 16, 2015 Comments (17) Share this: facebooktwitterredditmail PDF Print Physicists typically think they “need philosophers and historians of science like birds need ornithologists,” the Nobel laureate David Gross told a roomful of philosophers, historians and physicists last week in Munich, Germany,...

The entrance to the Mary of Nazareth International Center in central Nazareth doesn't look like much. It's just a simple doorway off narrow Casa Nova Street, a few hundred yards from the Basilica of the Annunciation. Yet inside this recently built Catholic evangelism center lies an amazing discovery that has sent shockwaves through the world of Biblical archaeology: the remains of a first-century stone house reliably dated to the early Roman period in Palestine. The Nazareth excavations are the first concrete archaeological proof that Nazareth was settled in the time of Jesus - and, judging from the limestone cups found...

....The legend behind Santa Claus is Saint Nicholas, the fourth-century bishop of Myra. His hat was the bishop’s mitre. Nicholas was born in modern day Turkey to a rather wealthy family. Losing his parents at a young age, Nicholas dedicated both his fortune and his life to the Christian church. Very quickly he was appointed the bishop of Myra, on the southern coast of modern day Turkey.

The Arab Conquest of Egypt was largely complete by the summer of 642 AD, and on the 17 September the Romans of the Byzantine Empire evacuated Alexandria, the capital of the Egyptian Province, and handed it over to the invading Arabs and Muslims. The Arab occupation of Egypt had started a little more than three years earlier. The first time the invading Arabs touched with their feet the sacred Egyptian soil was in 639 AD. Arab chronology of the Arab Conquest of Egypt is generally not to be trusted as prominent historians have more than once observed; however, there is...

* The oval piece of clay bears the symbol of a winged sun and hieroglyphs * Archaeologists said it was the private seal of the biblical King Hezekiah * During his rule, the Kingdom of Judah saw its power rise dramatically * The seal has provided new clues about Hezekiah's life and politics ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A 2,700-year-old royal seal bearing the mark of the biblical King Hezekiah has been unearthed in Jerusalem. The tiny oval piece of clay bears the impression of a sun with two wings turned downward, flanked by two ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that symbolise 'life'. King Hezekiah's rule...

You could have bought an ancient religious text online for less than $100. That text was an ancient Greek papyrus fragment of the Gospel of John (likely John 1:50-51), and was listed on eBay with an opening bid of $99, according to The New York Times. The papyrus -- called the "Willoughby Papyrus" since it belonged to Harold Willoughby, a University of Chicago professor, according to the eBay listing -- didn’t stay there for long. Dr. Geoffrey Smith, who researches Christianity at the University of Texas, contacted the seller and asked if he could research the fragment, The Times reported....

BEIT SHEMESH, Israel — The carved stone block is about the size of an occasional table. It has held its secrets for two millenniums. Whoever engraved its enigmatic symbols was apparently depicting the ancient Jewish temples. But what makes the stone such a rare find in biblical archaeology, according to scholars, is that when it was carved, the Second Temple still stood in Jerusalem for the carver to see. The stone is a kind of ancient snapshot. And it is upending some long-held scholarly assumptions about ancient synagogues and their relationship with the Temple, a center of Jewish pilgrimage and...

Full title: Did a blind Bulgarian clairvoyant predict the rise of ISIS? ‘Nostradamus of the Balkans’ who died 20 years ago said there would be a ‘great Muslim war’ in 2016 A Bulgarian clairvoyant who died 20 years ago warned of the rise of ISIS by claiming there would be a 'great Muslim war' in 2016, it has been reported. Baba Vanga died in 1996 at the age of 85 and was known as the 'Nostradamus of the Balkans' because of her success rate which was supposedly as high as 85 per cent. The blind pensioner, who has previously been...

Did a blind Bulgarian clairvoyant predict the rise of ISIS? 'Nostradamus of the Balkans' who died 20 years ago said there would be a 'great Muslim war' in 2016 A Bulgarian clairvoyant who died 20 years ago warned of the rise of ISIS by claiming there would be a 'great Muslim war' in 2016, it has been reported.Baba Vanga died in 1996 at the age of 85 and was known as the 'Nostradamus of the Balkans' because of her success rate which was supposedly as high as 85 per cent.The blind pensioner, who has previously been credited with predicting the...

Hanukkah is the festival when Jews celebrate their victory in the fight for religious freedom more than 2,000 years ago. Tragically, that fight is no less important today, and not only for Jews, but for people of all faiths. The Jewish story is simple enough. In about 165 B.C., Antiochus IV, ruler of the Syrian branch of the Alexandrian empire, began to impose Greek culture on the Jews of the land of Israel. Funds were diverted from the Temple to public games and drama competitions. A statue of Zeus was erected in Jerusalem. Jewish religious rituals such as circumcision and...