Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/150

 CHAPTER VI CHARLES MARTEL AND PIPPIN I. THE KORAN Mohammed apparently suffered from a certain nervous disorder which is often accompanied by hallucinations. When about forty years of age, as he was engaged in . _ .. meditation upon a solitary mountain near Mecca, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and uttered five verses, the first of the revelations from heaven which were to compose the Koran. Similat messages came to him from time to time during his periods of nervous excite- ment. These he revealed to his friends and converts, who committed them to memory and, in some cases, wrote them down. It is probable that the prophet him- self could neither read nor write. At the time of his death no collection had as yet been made of these inspired utterances ; they had only been recorded piecemeal on palm leaves, skins, shoulder blades of animals, and, above all, in the hearts of his followers. The early caliphs, realizing that the Book of God might otherwise be speedily lost, ordered that a man who had acted as Mohammed's amanuensis should collect and arrange the text. A second and more careful edition, made in 660, was sent to all the chief cities in the Mohammedan empire and has remained the authorita- tive text among all Mohammedans down to the present day. 114