Muhammad: His Callappears to have begun preaching to others (102:1f): that man should
recognize God's goodness (96:3; 106:3f); he should pray (108:2), sacrifice
(108:2) and give alms (74:6); those who are covetous and hoard wealth will
be punished (104:1f; 102:1f); God, who is mentioned in the first person
plural (108:1), has punished others in the past (105:1f).^58
Another distinguishing feature in many of the earliest suras of the Qur'an is
that they often begin with or contain the pagan oaths of soothsayers, and it^59
seems that Muhammad used these in the saj` form to increase th^60 e
credibility of his message.^61
Perhaps the earliest of the suras to begin with such oaths are Qur'an 92Qur'an 92Qur'an 92Qur'an 92 and
909090 90. Aside from the well-known discrepancy in the oath of 92:3 among pre-
`Uthmanic codices, this sura as a whole represents a further^62 development
of doctrines influenced by Christianity (92:5) and may contain an early
reference to Paradise (92:5,9). Sura 90 also begins with oaths, but alludes to
various Biblical illustrations. An early usage of the word f^63 or "believe" is
found in 90:17, and although belief in God's signs seems to be implied (cf.
90:19), the object of belief is not specifically defined. This borrowing was
probably from Christian sources; just as the heavy depende^64 nce of
90:18-20 on Mt. 25:33, 34, 41 was. Sura 90 contains perhaps the earliest
usage of the phrases "companions of the right" and "companions of the
left."
The suras 94 suras 94 suras 94 suras 94 and 93 9393 93 appear to have been addressed to Muhammad
personally. Islamic exegetes and traditionists generally interpret 94:1 as
having to do with Muhammad's heart being washed by angels,^65 but the
word for "breast" is also an idiom for "mind" Since the end of t^66 his sura
deals with Muhammad reciting the Qur'an, v. 1 may simply mean that
Muhammad's memory was being expanded to retain the suras which had
been revealed up until that point. In the sense of 94:2-4, however, the word
"breast" (v. 1) could have been meant physically, referring to Muhammad
having been freed from manual labor by virtue of his marriage to Khadija.
Sura 93 begins with two oaths and much of its contents have already been
elaborated upon above. As with Qur'an 108:1, sura 93 (cf. v. 8) mu^67 st have
also been revealed when Muhammad was still prosperous, and thus before
any of the hardships which later followed.