© Copyright, Princeton University Press. No part of this book may be distributed, posted, or reproduced in any form by digital or mechanical means without prior written permission of the publisher. Muhammad and Revelation Chapter 1 The Essentials Any narrative about the Arabic Quran must begin in the seventh century, with the life of Muhammad ibn Abdul- lah, the Arab Prophet.1 The Quran was revealed to this Arab merchant/trader through a celestial intermediary, the Archangel Gabriel, in his own language, Arabic. It was in Arabic, and solely in Arabic, that each of the Quran’s 6,236 verses and 114 chapters was announced to Muham- mad.2 Biography and revelation are intertwined, so even to recount in English the story of the last prophet requires use of Koran translations; several are provided below.3 The sparsest outline of the life of Muhammad would include five dates: Born in 570 CE, he married in 595 CE, was called to prophesy in Mecca in 610 CE, then left Mecca for Yathrib/Medina in 622 CE, and after sub- duing his enemies, died in Medina in 632 CE at the age of sixty- two. But the impress of the Quran in Muhammad’s life de- mands more. It requires beginning with his early life. For the first forty years Muhammad was an orphan, raised by For general queries, contact
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