of night and day there are indeed signs for men of understanding" and concludes that these verses do not have any specific scientific content, rather they encourage believers to observe natural phenomena and reflect on the complexity of the universe. According to Nidhal Guessoum some works on miracles in the Qur'an follow a set pattern; they generally begin with a verse from the Qur'an, for example, the verse "So verily I swear by the stars that run and hide . . ." (81:15-16) and quickly declare that it refers to black holes, or take the verse "I swear by the Moon in her fullness, that ye shall journey on from stage to stage" (84:18-19) and decide it refers to space travel, and so on. "What is meant to be allegorical and poetic is transformed into products of science". I'jaz has also been examined from the vantage point of its contribution to literary theory by Rebecca Ruth Gould, Lara Harb, and others. Muhammad's illiteracy In Islamic theology, Muhammad's illiteracy is a way of emphasizing that he was a transparent medium for divine revelation and a sign of the genuineness of his prophethood since the illiterate prophet could not have composed the eloquent poetry and prose of the Qur'an. According to Tabatabaei (d. 1981), a Muslim scholar, the force of this challenge becomes clear when we realize that it is issued for someone whose life should resemble that of Muhammad namely the life of an orphan, uneducated in any formal sense, not being able to read or write and grew up in the unenlightened age of the jahiliyah period (the age of ignorance) before Islam. The references to illiteracy are found in verses 7:158, 29:48, and 62:2. The verse 25:5 also implies that Muhammad was unable to read and write. The Arabic term "ummi" in 7:158 and 62:2 is translated to 'illiterate' and 'unlettered'. The medieval exegete Al Tabari (d. 923 CE) maintained that the term induced two meanings: firstly, the inability to read or write in general and secondly, the inexperience or ignorance of the previous books or scriptures. The early sources on the history of Islam provide that Muhammad especially in Medina used scribes to correspond with the tribes. Likewise, though infrequently rather than constantly, he had scribes write down, on separate pages not yet in one single book, parts of the Qur'an. Collections of prophetic tradition occasionally mention Muhammad