The "Khelous" (Desert Retirement), was the main source of Mohammad's education. It cleansed his heart of all worldly thoughts. That is why tradition has named it "Safat as Safa,"--The Purity of Purity. Little by little, the soul of the boundless Desert penetrated his soul, bringing him the intuition of the unlimited grandeur of the Lord of All the Worlds. The most imperceptible secrets of Nature communed in the uttermost hidden depths of his being, impregnating his mind so violently that these eternal truths were on the point of escaping from his lips. Carlyle, the great thinker, cannot restrain his admiration in this connection. "The word of such a man is a Voice direct from Nature's own heart. Men do and must listen to that as to nothing else;--all else is wind in comparison." (_The Hero as Prophet_, London, 1840.) How is it that some Orientalists of the West have put forward the theory that Mohammad profited by this retirement to arrange and elaborate his future task in its most minute details? Some of these scholars have even gone so far as to insinuate that, during his seclusion, he composed the Qur'an in its entirety. Have they not noticed that, in this Divine Book, there is no preconceived plan according to human methods; and that each of the Surahs, taken alone, is applicable to events that happened later, extending over a period of more than two decades and which it was impossible for Mohammad to foresee? That they could find no other explanation of his long meditation is due to their ignorance of the Arab mind. If these learned men had lived among the Bedouins long enough to understand that the contemplation in which the denizens of the desert are often seen engrossed, squatting on a hill-top, staring into vacancy, is not that state of empty-headed idiocy described by a few travellers, possessed of more humour than observation. If, above all, they themselves had the opportunity of revelling in the unutterable charm of the ecstasy, which can only arise from viewing the immensity of the desert, they would have acknowledged that thereby surprising advantage accrues to the intuitive faculties of the intellect, and therefore they could never have been so clumsily mistaken. This contemplation is as a crucible in which melt nascent emotive feelings and thoughts, issuing therefrom in a state of extraordinary purity. It may be also be compared to an accumulator storing up supernatural force, although hidden and unknowing, such as the latent power of fire lurking in the core of a tree-trunk. The forces accumulated by contemplation remain unsuspected by all, even by those in whom they reside. But let the tiniest spark fly out and a flashing flame will immediately rise heavenwards to dazzle the universe.