Adventures in Islam Part 3

The next 60 pages deal not with what Muhammad did, but with who he was.  Muhammad the man was a good man - kind to his wives, generous with the poor, and always interested in helping those who needed help.  After his first wife died, he became a polygamist, but there is little evidence that he had sexual relationships with anyone else besides his second wife (many years his junior, and married after Kadijah had passed away).  Muhammad was illiterate, and only marginally familiar with Christian and Jewish thought.  He was geographically distant from the centers of Christian thought, and much of today's Christian Orthodoxy was decided during his lifetime, or shortly before.  

As a prophet, Muhammad relied on revelation to guide him.  In several instances, he was rebuked by the angel after committing errors.  These rebukes are preserved in the Qu'ran.  Muhammad never claimed to be able to work miracles.  Those who look for miracles in his life point to the creation of the Qu'ran, the spread of Islam, and Islam's enduring popularity.

The Qu'ran is a collection of revelations Muhammad received from the angel Gabriel.  The chapters (suurahs) were kept as oral tradition until several years after the prophet's death.  About 30 years after Muhammad's death, inter-tribal warfare made the need for a definitive version of the Qu'ran very clear.  A few years later 4 official volums were made.  1 was kept in Mecca, and the others were sent to Islamic centers in the region.  All other copies were ordered burned.   

The Qu'ran is organized by length of the suurah.  There was no fixed chronology (the oral tradition did not preserve the date of the revelation).  Further, the suurahs often deal with more than one topic.  Thus, the Qu'ran had to be organized in some arbitrary fashion.  Length is just as good as any, so that's what it is.  Once I finish my text, I'll dive into the Qu'ran, and leave favorite quotes in this blog thread.