Quranic manuscripts. Gerd R. Puin, a renowned Islamicist scholar at Saarland University, was the head of the Sanaa manuscript restoration project commissioned by the Yemeni government. His findings led Dr. Puin to assert that the Quran had undergone a "textual evolution" with textual variations, unconventional ordering of the chapters (surahs), rare styles of orthography, and may include stories that were written before Muhammed began his ministry and which have subsequently been rewritten. The Yemeni government subsequently denied him any further access to the manuscripts. Non-Muslim people questioned the nature and modes of Muhammad's revelations. The Meccans interpreted the Quranic revelations based on their understanding of 'inspiration'. For them, poetry was closely connected to inspiration from a higher spiritual source. For this reason when Muhammad began preaching and reciting the Quran, the Meccans accused him of being a poet or a "poet possessed". There are disagreements among scholars as to when the Quran was first compiled. A hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari states that the caliph Abu Bakr commanded Zayd ibn Thabit to compile the written Quran, relying upon both textual fragments and the memories of those who had memorized it. Some Shia Muslims believe that Ali ibn Abi Talib was the first to compile the Quran into one written text, a task completed shortly after the death of Muhammad. Muhammad The Quran uses the term ummi to describe Muhammad. The majority of Muslim scholars interpret this word as a reference to an illiterate individual, though some modern scholars instead interpret it as a reference to those who belong to a community without a scripture. According to the famous Sunni collector of traditions of Muhammad, Muhammad al-Bukhari (who lived about 250 years after Muhammad), Muhammad's wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid described that the first Quranic revelation occurred when the angel Gabriel visited Muhammad and asked him to recite. Muhammad responded ma ana bīqāre'u, which could be translated into a number of ways: 'I do not read' or 'what am I to read/recite?' or 'I will not read/recite'. Gabriel pressed him "until all the strength went out of me; thereupon he released me and said: 'Read!'" This was repeated three times and upon the third, Gabriel released him and said, "Read in the name of the Sustainer who created humankind from a clot! Read! And your Sustainer is the most Beautiful." After this Muhammad continued to have revelations sporadically over a period of twenty-three