It should be a matter of intense interest to all Muslims that
Islam is the only religion whose origins were recorded
historically and thus are grounded not in legend but in fact.
The Koran was revealed at a time of great change in the Arab
world, the seventh-century shift from a matriarchal nomadic
culture to an urban patriarchal system. Muhammad, as an orphan,
personally suffered the difficulties of this transformation, and
it is possible to read the Koran as a plea for the old
matriarchal values in the new patriarchal world, a conservative
plea that became revolutionary because of its appeal to all
those whom the new system disenfranchised, the poor, the
powerless and, yes, the orphans. Muhammad was also a successful
merchant and heard, on his travels, the Nestorian Christians'
desert versions of Bible stories that the Koran mirrors closely
(Christ, in the Koran, is born in an oasis, under a palm tree).
It ought to be fascinating to Muslims everywhere to see how
deeply their beloved book is a product of its