From Merchant to Messenger

The Koran is very much the story of one man's struggle to get his Meccan kin, the Quraysh, and neighbours to abandon their smorgasbord of gods and goddesses and to worship only Allah after being informed by the archangel Gabriel that this is how Allah wanted it! Gabriel also informed the forty-something Muhammad that he had been personally chosen by God to be His last and greatest Messenger to mankind making him, in effect, absolute ruler of humanity, beginning with the Arabs. The verses pertaining to this period comprise what is called the 84 Meccan surahs (out of 114)or chapters of the Koran. The Prophet's appeals for absolute power were almost always laced with threats of a horrible punishment from His Mentor if they did not do as they were told. These threats would lead to possibly the first linking of Islam with terrorism. 50:45 We know better what they say and you are not a tyrant terrorizing them. So, remind, by the Qur'an, him who fears My Warning.