Muhammad: Meccan Opposition(20:130f; 17:92f), questioned why no angel had been sent to Muhammad
(15:7; 25:8), and wanted to know when the Judgment should come (36:48).
Both the internal evidence of the Qur'an (25:6) and the^323 Sira traditions^324
show that the written composition of the Qur'an began no later than the
second Meccan period. However, as will be shown later, Muham^325 mad was
manifestly adverse to the idea that God's Word could be written down with
human hands (cf. 2:73f), and thus the earliest copies of the Qur'an must
have been simply used as memory aids.^326
Notes:
[1] Blachère considered Qur'an 51 to be the first sura of this period; see
Appendix B.
[2] Cf. Gen. 18:8.
[3] Geiger, WMJA, p. 127 references Bava Metzia 86,2.
[4] Although Jewish legends also present Pharaoh as thinking Moses was a
"magician" (cf. Ginzberg, Legends of the Bible, p. 325), they say nothing of
his claim that Moses was possessed. However, the accusation of possession
was leveled at Muhammad by some of his countrymen; cf. Qur'an 68:2;
81:22; 51:52; 52:29; etc.
[5] Cf. Sahih Bukhari, vol. 6, pp. 365 f; Sahih Muslim, vol. 4, pp. 1467 f.
[6] Nöldeke and Schwally, GQ, vol. 1 , pp. 121 f; Rudolph, Koran,
pp. 481 f, n. 2. Bell, in Commentary, vol. 2, p. 323, references the
Ascension of Moses and also says that this Qur'an passage was meant
eschatologically.
[7] ECMD, pp. 438 f, 556, 724.
[8] The Biblical account (Gen. 6:9f) shows that it was God who had
determined to send the flood because of the wickedness of mankind, and