The prophet's scribe

Legend has it that an unconventional monk, Sergius, lover and champion of the people, helped shape the life of the only man to have ever founded both a religion and a state, the Prophet Mohammed. According to ancient and forgotten tales, it was Sergius, sometimes referred to as Bahira, who first hailed Mohammed a prophet and who scribed the suras that form the Koran. Drawing on a wealth of historical sources, some of them little known, Osman Kartal has written a dramatic, fictionalised account of the relationship between Sergius and Mohammed. His novel paints a compelling picture of the passionate and turbulent times in which the Islamic religion was founded, bringing order to the desert regions and beyond, and vividly changing the whole course of history. This is the love story of all time, between man and God, between man and woman, of total devotion and of ultimate betrayal.