What does c14 dating tell us about the Qur'an?

Let's focus on the oldest carbon-dated exemplars, using the most rigorous c14 data. Certain outliers were noticed and discarded (Sanaa Unified Kiel is too early, Sanaa fol11 too late).

The remaining samples are treated as if they are all elements of one archeological phase, and modelled in Oxford's Oxcal 4.4 model software.

Is the Lower Sana'a Palimpsest evidence of an unknown companion mus'af?

Or are the accounts of companion Qur'ans an Abbasid effort to rationally integrate different scribal traditions into a single overall narrative?

Let's briefly summarize the latest scholarly research. Today, there is overall academic consensus that the differences between lower and upper Sana'a are not simply attributable to oral transmission error.

The palimpsest represents two reasonably refined scribal traditions, with only minor scribal transmission mistakes.

What is the origin of the word Kaaba ٱلْكَعْبَة?

A “cube” etymology is often suggested, but there is reason to doubt this traditional explanation. An indication about its meaning might be found in a text from Epihanus (II.22.11) (3-4th C).

He mentions the mother of the deity Dusares, CHAMOU or CHABOU (both reading variations are attested).

Who is al-Samiri, the deceiver of Israel in Qur'an 20:95?

Let's look at the helpful work of David Halperin, who shows us some of the Biblical interpretive content behind this cryptic figure in his book, "The Faces of the Chariot: Early Jewish Responses to Ezekiel's Vision." Siyyoni (ca 1400 CE) claims to have seen a now-lost midrash on the Song of Songs 6:12 which asserted that "it was Micah who raised up this [calf] form. While they [the Israelites] were crossing the Red Sea, he contemplated the Merkabah [God's throne-chariot, Ezekiel 1:4–26]."

Nehemiah ben Hushiel was a central figure in the Jewish revolt against Heraclius, (614-617 to 625 CE).

He is best known as a savior figure who appears in many medieval Jewish apocalyptic writings as the Messiah ben Joseph. Nehemiah's background is speculative.

Loewenberg suggests that The Sassanian Emperor Khosrow II, anxious to court Jewish support in advance of his invasion of the Byzantine Levant, appointed Hushiel as Exilarch, with Nehemiah placed as the spiritual leader of the Jewish forces.

Jewish and Christian angelology literature flourished throughout Late Antiquity.

But were female angels ever a part of the discussion?

Let's look at one such female angel - Laila (לַיְלָה). Genesis 14:14 "And he [Abraham] fought against them, he and his servants, "by night" [Hebrew 'lailah'] and smote them."

In the Babylonian Talmud: Sanhedrin 96a, this is interpreted by Rabbi Johanan as "The angel who was appointed to Abraham was named Lailah [Night]."

*UPDATE*
Offset for Mediterranean areas in Carbondating

We've had some helpful reviews (particularly by one expert) of this original thread.

We have one correction, as well as some added information from two recent papers provided by Dr Sidky, which we will go into presently...

https://twitter.com/NaqadStudies/status/1242651994789154819

At the outset, we should say that we used imprecise language when paraphrasing Youssef-Grob.

Thank you Dr Sidky for point this out.

https://twitter.com/therealsidky/status/1242792226595508224?s=20

What can radiocarbon (C14) dating tell us about early Islamic documents?

Lets look at an academic paper by Eva Mira Youssef-Grob, who gives us a sense of the background, reliability and prospects of this crucial field of research - still in its opening stages! Many scholars see C14 dating as too technical or unreliable, bearing results that are too hard to evaluate or too open to speculative interpretation.

Does radiocarbon dating provide useful results for studying Islamic history? This is currently an open question in the field.

How do we interpret the left word(s) on the 6th c Mt Nebo Saōla mosaic?

Let's discuss some interpretive options and two scripts from the experts, supplied by Hoyland (2010), then a third script option supplied just today. 1. Puech (1984a) argues that this is an Aramaic rendering of the Greek Saōla. This would be satisfying in that the text would then be as simple bilingual one, conforming to to the evident symmetry of the mosaic as a whole (two animals either side of a central large tree, etc).

The Zebed Inscription was discovered in N. Syria by Wetzstein. The Christian trilingual (Greek, Syriac and Arabic) text covers a lintel over the door to the martyrion of St. Serge. It is dated to 512 CE. One noteworthy feature is the use of الاله, phonetically spelling Allāh with an alif for the ā.

Arab Christians gradually contracted الإله al-Ilāh ('the god') to ﷲ without the alif, although this underwent transitional stages, like in this الاله Zebed example.

The Christological text in the inner octagonal arcade of the Dome of the Rock contains an important passage.

B17-18 (Q3:18) declares God's singularity; B19-22 (Q3.19) contains two terms, dīn and ˀIslām, and a commentary on those who do not follow Allāh's wishes regarding them. Translated:
"Lo! dīn with Allāh is ˀIslām. Those who received the Book differed only after knowledge came to them, through envy'their own willfulness. Whoever denies the signs of Allāh, behold, Allāh is swift at reckoning."

What evidence do we have for Pre-Islamic and Islamic burials in Ayla and the Jordan region?

Let's look at two case examples, from two locations. Case 1:  Pre-Islamic Burial in Aila

Info from:
A Nabataean and Roman Domestic Area at the Red Sea Port of Aila
Alexandra Retzleff
Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research No. 331 (Aug., 2003),pp. 45-65

jstor.org/stable/1357759…

Who was Uzair عُزَيْر of Surah At-Tawba 9:30? Though Uzair is absent in the hadith, tafsir concludes that this Uzair was the Israelite prophet Ezra.

But what does the cultural landscape of Late Antique Arabia have to say about a 'son of God' named Uzair? Let's have a look. One problem in equating Uzair with Ezra (by interpreting the name as a diminutive and derogative form of ‘Azr) is that no Jewish literature or tradition exists that attests to Ezra’s divination.

Aqaba is a coastal Jordanian city with a storied Islamic and pre-Islamic history.

The archaeology of the port town is worth considering. Let's look at D Witcomb's field research, undertaken in 1994 for the University of Chicago. In the Roman period, the city was known as Aila.

It was a Nabatean port, start of the Via Nova road to Bosra (116 CE). Tthe Xth Legion Fretensis was also stationed in Ayla.

There are several 7th c non-Muslim accounts that are thought to describe contemporary assessments of Muhammad during his lifetime. One of these is the "Doctrina Jacobi nuper baptizati." 

Let's look at a well-known theory by Crone and Cook, and a counter-theory by Yehûdā Nevô. Doctrina Jacobi (D. Jacobi) is set in the year 634 CE, and probably written within a few years of this date. The relevant passage purports to be a letter from a Palestinian Jew named Abraham: 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teaching_…

Copper Coins minted in Damascus in the First-and Second Century AH

Damascus was the largest city in Bilad al-Sham and the capital of the Umayyad Empire for approximately 90 years. Damascus coins issued their sanctioned archetype, which was then followed by all other minting cities of the empire.

Copper coins went through same stages (below) as silver and gold. But the value was less, so less time was taken to mint them.

The Karbalah Inscription (DKI 163) is dated to 64 AH / 683 CE, and is indicative of a transition period in proto-Islamic expression.

In it, we see the solidification of older prayer formulas, while others were still very much in development. The inscription begins with the Basmala, in the form we know it today.

In the middle of line five, we see a long rectangle, indicating the end of a set prayer (lines 1-5), probably copied from a known source.

Lines 2-5 lack a verb, indicating the lines are describing Allāh.

Who were the people that the Qur'an refers to as the Nasara النَّصٰرَى in such passages as Q 9:30?

And who were the Anṣār أنصار of Q 9:117 et al?

And what can we make of the term "Year of the mu-hāǧir-ūn" in 622 CE?

Let's take a brief look at a compelling theory. The traditional interpretation is that the word Muhajirūn comes from the root hajara, "to emigrate, to go into exile." These were the émigrés who left Mecca with Mohammad. 

The Anṣār (root naṣara, "to help, to aid") were the helpers who welcomed these exiles at Medina.

The shrine of Allat-Athena at Palmyra in the Provincia Arabia was ritually destroyed during the campaign of Maternus Cynegius, the Praetorian Prefect of Oriens, against pagan temples of the East between 25 May 385 and 19 March 388. The temple, dedicated between 123-164 CE by a certain Taimarsū, a citizen of Palmyra, has the shape of a rectangle with a colonnaded porch, facing a main street of the city's center. This temple of Allat-Athena has two striking features.

Only a few bilingual Arabic documents from the 7th century survive. Each of them are invaluable portals into history.

PERF 558 is from 25 April, 643 CE, or Jumādā I, 22 AH. The document mentions ʿAbdullāh b. Jābir, who was commanding the Caliphate expeditionary force into Egypt. 
PERF 558 is interesting in part because of the use of the Greek term Magarites μαγαριταις for the Mujahirūn مهاجرون, or "Emigrants."

Allat is represented with helmet, seated between two lions, grasping a lance with her right hand and holding a shield with the left. This martial aspect makes her appear to be an Athena in spite of being seated between the two lions. The donor burns incense at her right. Another relief of hard limestone, found in the temple of Bel at Palmyra, bears an inscription that mentions Raḥim in the company of a devotee and two deities: the Gad of the Gardens and Ars̩u. Raḥim would have been to the left of these three figures, and is regrettably lost.