Within the last couple of days an amazing discovery has taken place in the University of Birmingham. Two pages of parchment from the Qur'an which date to the time of the Prophet Muhammad (c.570-632) have been discovered mistakenly bound with a manuscript from the 7th century. The discovery of this Arabic manuscript brought to mind the hugely significant medical tome written in the Islamic Golden Age (c780-1260) by Avicenna , one of the most important thinkers and writers of that time. Avicenna was born in the Bukhara region modern day Uzbekistan in 980 AD and died at the age of only 57 in Hamadan, Iran. It was under the patronage of Harun al-Rashid , the fifth Abbasid Caliph, that the Islamic Golden Age came about. He encouraged growth, study and discoveries in the sciences, culture, religion, Islamic art and music. He also established the legendary ' House of Wisdom ' or 'Bayt al-Hikma' library in Baghdad. Title page of The Canon of Medicine or Al-Qanu...