Muhammad: His CallSchwally, GQ, vol. 2, pp. 7 f, where the knowledge of the Qur'an among
Muslim soldiers is discussed, and the following statement of Amr b. Madikarib is given: "I converted to Islam in Yemen, but I was always in
battle later and therefore did not have time to memorize the Qur'an." (trans.)
[192] See pp. 35 f, nn. 57 and 58; pp. 39 f; the nn. 13, 15, 17 and 18,
above for examples. Muhammad probably did not consider himself to be a
"prophet" until the second Meccan period, since this term does not appear
in any of the earliest suras. Muhammad is generally described as having
been a "messenger" or "apostle" (−~y) in the oldest suras of the Qur'an.
Bell, rather unjustifiably, seems to have considered all verses containing the
word for "prophet" (¾_³) as having been Medinan, simply because he
thought Muhammad must have gotten the term from the Jews, and the Jews
were in Medina (Watt and Bell, Introduction, p. 28). Similarly, Bell
assumed that if the word "mathani" (Qur'an 15:87) came from "mishnah" as
Geiger maintained, the word must have come from the Jews, and thus the
passage must have been Medinan; Bell, Commentary, vol. 1, pp. 428 f.
[193] E.g. Qur'an 73:8f. See also nn. 158 and 159, above together with the
references in n. 194, below.
[194] Cf. Qur'an 79:10-14; 75:3-4.