Some scholars claimed that fragments of an ancient Koran may predate the accepted founding date of Islam by the Prophet Muhammad. Now, the ancient Koran is sparking intense debate among the experts with one saying that the manuscript’s writing belongs to a slightly later era.

Radiocarbon dating of the parchment leaves, which are held by the University of Birmingham in the UK, was performed in a University of Oxford lab in late 2014. The results of the dating stunned everyone when it was found that the leaves were dated to a period between 568 AD and 645 AD. Muhammad is generally believed to have lived between 570 AD and 632 AD, said experts.

The man known to Muslims as The Prophet is thought to have founded Islam sometime after 610 AD, with the first Muslim community established at Medina, in present-day Saudi Arabia, in 622 AD.

Mustafa Shah, senior lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), told FoxNews.com that the writing used in the ancient Koran is at odds with the radiocarbon dating.

Shah said that the ancient Koran has a distinctive style, with sporadic marks placed above letters, as well as the use of verse markers. This style of writing belongs to the Umayyad era, which began around 661 AD, he added.

“Once the style and orthography of the script in these folios are taken into account, they bear all the hallmarks of a late 7th century codex. Matching Qur’anic fragments from other collections have been placed within this sort of timeframe”, he explained in an email to FoxNews.com.