The Making Of A

~~ PROPHET ~~
www.MDickie.com
Mat@MDickie.com

As a work of entertainment, The Making Of A Prophet is inevitably more fiction than

fact. Any errors it has were deliberate creative decisions rather than the product
of ignorance or negligence. In the interests of full disclosure (and to pre-empt
any tiresome feedback), I should like to acknowledge the following inaccuracies:

The "Night Of Power" during which Muhammad receives his first revelation was
supposed to be an encounter with the angel Gabriel. This was neither possible to
display nor in keeping with the gaming metaphor. Instead, we find Muhammad shaken
after being granted a glimpse of the programming and 3D modelling that created his
world. He sees his own subtitles on the screen in English and marvels at not
knowing what any of it means! This is a riff on the idea that he was famously
instructed to "READ!" in real life despite being illiterate.

For the purposes of exposition, YOU are the first person to encounter Muhammad up
Mount Hira when it was in fact his wife Khadijah. His desire to preach straightaway
is also an invention to kick-start the game. In reality, he cowered from public
life for years on end before gradually sharing his experiences. Even then, he did
so with his family first and not the general public. The events featured in the
game panned out over a period of 22 years in real life, so a condensed timeline had
to be employed!

In reality, a man called Abu Bakr and Muhammad's son in law Ali were his "closest
companions". Your fictitious character must take their place in order to drive the
story along. There is a riff on the difference between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims
towards the end when people bicker about whether to revere you or a blood relative
of Muhammad.

Although Muhammad was devoted to Khadijah while she was alive, he went on to have
numerous other wives - most notably the young Aisha who survived him by a great
many years and was key to preserving his legacy. All of these subsequent wives are
omitted from the game entirely so that I could concentrate on his spiritual
transformation. However, there is one scene where he accepts a widow as his wife
out of mercy when many males die. This is to demonstrate the logic behind his
stance on multiple wives.

Muhammad had many children who are not acknowledged in the game. Again, this is
because I didn't want his domestic life to impinge on the game's spiritual message.
I also didn't relish dealing with the fact that most of them died.

There were no instances in which Muhammad gave others a glimpse of his insights the
way he does with the player up Mount Hira. This is a storytelling device to help
you understand what he is trying to convey to the public. This is the same effect
that occurs halfway through The You Testament as part of the "transfiguration".

In real life, the prostrated prayer is NOT used as a form of meditation and Muslims
do not do it for an extended period of time. The real process involves returning to
a standing position and repeatedly humbling oneself before a higher power.

In real life, Muslims originally prayed towards Jerusalem and not Mecca until much
later. I have them pray towards Mecca at the earliest possible opportunity because
of the condensed timeline (and also because Jerusalem doesn't exist on the map!).

The scene in which an abused child is transformed into an adult is fictitious. It

is a contrived way of introducing the power to change one's body shape. That said,
it does reflect the Islamic philosophy of worldly power being usurped by
spirituality.

The scene in which Muhammad becomes "invisible" to spy on the public is entirely
fictitious and is a contrived way of including that power from The You Testament.
However, it does do a neat job of setting up his rant about the "Day Of Judgment".
This is a riff on the Islamic idea that our deeds are etched onto a "scroll". As
far as the game is concerned, this is the data file that stores information about
each character!

The game shows Muhammad meeting the Christians of Abyssinia when it was in fact a
party of Muslims sent at his behest. I also place Abyssinia in walking distance
when it was in fact another country across the Red Sea in what is now Ethiopia.

During the meeting with the Christians, Muhammad's views on the crucifixion differ
from what is written in the Qur'an. He genuinely didn't believe Christ was
crucified at all, whereas I render it as a misunderstanding about the difference
between body and soul.

The famous "Satanic Verses" are alluded to when Muhammad is accused of saying what
the Jews and Christians want to hear. In fact, it was the pagans that Muhammad was
accused of pandering to by changing the wording of Surah 17.

The city of Medina was originally known as "Yathrib" and changed its name later.
The game's map obviously had to choose one name and stick to it.

Although it's true that people competed to house Muhammad, in real life he left his
camel to roam and vowed to make his home wherever it stopped. Unfortunately, this
charming episode was not possible in the game! He also built the world's first
mosque in Medina at this juncture, but in the game the whole city is just a
nondescript walled enclosure.

In reality, the freed slave Bilal was chosen to be the voice of the "call to
prayer". In the game, it was supposed to be the player but turned out to be no one
in particular.

In reality, it was Muhammad who wanted to go to war with the Quraysh and he didn't
need any persuasion from the leader of Medina. He also elected to take pot-shots at
their trade routes instead of confronting them face to face, and he did so during a
sacred month when violence was prohibited. I omitted these details to make his
leadership appear more virtuous.

The "Battle Of Badr" is reduced to a symbolic confrontation between 5 Quraysh and 5

Muslims. In reality, the Muslims were outnumbered by a huge Quraysh army - which
made their unlikely success all the more remarkable. It was obviously not possible
to portray extensive war scenes in a game not of that genre.

In reality, the leader of the Quraysh, Abu Jahl, perished at the "Battle Of Badr"
and was not taken prisoner. He is spared in the game to demonstrate Muhammad's
stance on treating captives humanely. It also wasn't practical to replace the
leader of the Quraysh halfway through the game. In reality, Abu Jahl was succeeded
by Abu Sufyan.

The episode where time seems to speed up didn't really happen in the time of
Muhammad and alludes to a story from the Qur'an where some men fell asleep in a
cave and awoke to find themselves in a different century. The principle remains the
same though - which is that man is less qualified than Allah to judge the truth of
a matter. This sets up the forthcoming storylines about people questioning
Muhammad's leadership.
The "Battle Of Uhud" is symbolically reduced to Muhammad facing the Quraysh on his
own. In reality, it was a perfectly normal battle which ended badly when many
Muslims disobeyed orders through a combination of cowardice and negligence. It is
true that Muhammad suffered a blow and was presumed dead. He then made a remarkably
swift recovery - although it fell short of rising from the dead as he seems to do
here!

Muhammad did not witness a flood in his time - although he did feel there was much
to learn from the story of Noah. Here, the storyline is a device to introduce the
power of controlling water. In reality, his mastery of water amounted to
miraculously producing it for ablutions (which is also alluded to).

Although the Jews of Medina embraced Muhammad at first, the game omits their later
rejection of him and the bloodshed that followed. Many Jews were executed for being
traitors in what is known as the "Battle Of The Trench". I felt this was
inappropriate subject matter for a game, and it would also confuse the clear divide
between the Muslims and the Quraysh.

The pilgrimage to Mecca stalled at a place called "Hudaybiyyah" in real life. The
condensed map leaves out many tiny outposts between Mecca and Medina and places
them all in Badr. The Muslims were not a spent force at this juncture in real life
and actually came to the table with a lot of power. I portray them as weak because
the disaster of Uhud was the last war portrayed.

In real life, it was a bold Muslim called Uthman - and not Muhammad - who went
ahead into Mecca to begin negotiations. He was held captive and (falsely)
proclaimed dead. I omitted this convoluted distraction and had Muhammad discuss
terms straightaway on his own.

In real life, the Muslims were sent home to Medina and didn't get to complete their
pilgrimage until the following year. I have them do it straight away to save time.
The way Muhammad groomed converts is also slightly different. In real life, many
Muslim sympathizers in Mecca took it upon themselves to take pot-shots at the
Quraysh - but Muhammad had to pretend he didn't approve of their actions.
Technically, these scuffles broke the agreed 10-year ceasefire.

The real pilgrimage is a lengthy affair that involves circling the Ka'ba and then
heading out towards the hills of Safa and Marwa at the well of Zamzam. Mount Arafat
and Mina are also visited. All of these locations are included in the game so that
a real pilgrimage can be completed of your own volition.

The Ka'ba in Mecca wasn't black with a gold trim during the reign of the Quraysh. I
elected to portray it as it would be recognized by people today.

In real life, the Ka'ba would have contained lots of pagan statues instead of
random objects! I did not feel it was necessary to create extra items for that one
moment. It's also not true that Muhammad destroyed its contents entirely - he
spared a painting of Jesus and Mary.

Muhammad did not really suggest that another item be placed in the Ka'ba which then
disappears. This is a contrived way of shoehorning in the ability to manifest
items. It also alludes to an Islamic story about Moses where he carries a fish
which then disappears into the ocean to symbolize his enlightenment.

The real Ka'ba has a sacred black stone that I neglected to feature. It took 4
people to help relocate it after Muhammad purified the Ka'ba and I could not
portray that process in the game.
The tradition of stoning the pillar in Mina actually predates Muhammad and can be
traced back to the way Abraham responded to a vision of Satan. Since Satan is a
real character in the game, I factored his demise into it.

There were no instances in which Muhammad roamed around on top of the Ka'ba and he
could not fly. This skill (and the accompanying remark about it being "nothing more
than a fly can do") is a reference to an Islamic mystic called Rabi'ah. It was
included in the game as a means of accessing the ability to fly from The You
Testament.

After conquering Mecca and returning to Medina, Muhammad and the Muslims embarked
on many other campaigns to seize distant territories that are not featured in the
game.

Muhammad did not die randomly on the grounds of Medina. It was with his head
resting on the lap of his wife, Aisha. It's true that he suffered intense headaches
towards the end, which he valiantly fought through to continue guiding his people.

In real life, it was Abu Bakr that made people accept Muhammad was gone. In the
game, the player utters his immortal lines: "Whoever worshipped Muhammad, Muhammad
is dead. Whoever worships Allah, Allah is living and never dies."

All scriptural references refer to Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation of the Qur'an
and the Hadith of Bukhari. Other sources may differ. The subtitles displayed in the
game are not at all authentic and had to be paraphrased to work in a different
context.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------

For more information about this and other games,

please visit: http://www.MDickie.com
or contact: Mat@MDickie.com