Oldest Recording of the Quran from 1885 | Recorded by Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje

From Makkah, 1885 by Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje. Dutchman Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje took rare 1885 photographs and sound recordings of Makkah. He was also a pioneering multimedia journalist. The annual Hajj pilgrimage of the Muslims was what drew him to the heart of Islam. Snouck captured crackling, quranic soundscapes using Thomas Edison's newly-invented wax cylinders. A pioneering traveller, he was a rare Western presence in Makkah, but embraced the culture and religion of his hosts with passion, converting to Islam.