London’s University of Birmingham has found two folios of the Islamic holy text—kept since 1936 in its manuscript collection. Both appear to be from the same era as Islam’s founder, the Prophet Muhammad, who is generally thought to have lived between AD 570 and AD 632.
As the world’s historians deal with the excitement of this discovery, Quartz brings you a collection of photos of people reading the holy text in the most unusual places—from war zones and refugee camps to stock markets and beaches.
An Egyptian man recites versus from the Quran at an underground metro in Cairo, Egypt.Image: AP Photo/Amr Nabil
A woman reads the Quran on a beach as people in bikinis sunbathe and swim at sunset in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.Image: AP Photo/Hassan Ammar
A veiled Palestinian woman reads the Quran on the beach in Gaza City.Image: Reuters/Mohammed Salem
A member of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporter of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi reads the Quran behind a barrier he erected at the entrance of Raba El-Adwyia mosque square in Cairo.Image: Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Refugee pupils hold pieces of wood with Quranic verses written on them at a makeshift madrasa, or Islamic school, under a tree at the IFO2 east camp within the Dadaab refugee complex near the Kenya-Somalia border.Image: Reuters/Thomas Mukoya
A wounded Syrian refugee reads Islam’s holy book as he lies in his bed at a private hospital in Antakya, Turkey.Image: AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici
An Egyptian broker, centre, reads the Quran during a break as others work in the Egyptian stock market in Cairo.Image: AP Photo/Amr Nabil
An Indonesian youth reads the Quran from a digital player at a book shop in Jakarta.Image: Reuters/Crack Palinggi
A flood victim baby sleeps in a hammock as a man reads the Quran during Eid-al-Fitr celebrations while taking refuge in a relief camp for flood victims in Sukkur in Pakistan’s Sindh province.Image: Reuters/Akhtar Soomro
A protester shields himself with a bucket while reading the Quran as protesters and army soldiers clash in Cairo.Image: Reuters/Asmaa Waguih
Two soldiers from the central security forces sit on a military vehicle as they read the Quran near a checkpoint in Sanaa.Image: Reuters/Mohamed al-Sayaghi
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