only one who taught and inspired
Muhammad. Another was a Persian,
Salman Al Farsi. Echoes of his
influence can be found in the Koran and
Mohammad’s tradition: ‘‘(It is) a
Qur’an in Arabic, without any
crookedness (therein): in order that they
may guard against Evil’’ (Sura 39:28).
In Sura 16:103, Muhammad brushes
aside accusations that he was taught by
someone who is Persian: ‘‘we know
indeed that they say, ‘It is a man that
teaches him.’ The tongue of him they
wickedly point to is notably foreign
while this is Arabic, pure and clear.’’
The Arabic word translated here as
‘‘foreign’’ is A’game, which means
Persian or Iranian. The Koran’s
repeated insistence that it is in Arabic