"...He had the strength to pursue his original ambition, the re-arrangement of the Quran in accurately chronological order.
He once told me : When Muhammed prophesied, people wrote down what he said on palm leaves, which were kept any old how in a box.
After he died, Abubakr and the others tried to remember the correct sequence; but the didn't have very good memories..." (p.107).
"PORTUGAL DISCOVERED A NEW WAY TO INDIA"
"...But then, the Portuguese named the place Bom Bahia for its harbour, and not fot the goddess of the pomfret folk...the Portuguese were the first invaders, using the harbour to shelter their merchant ships and their men-of-war; but then, one day in 1633, and East India Company Officer named
Wethwold saw a vision. This vision -a dream of a British Bombay,fortified, defending India's West against all comers- was a notion of such force that it set time in motion.
History churned ahead; Methwold died; and in 1660, Charles II of England was betrothed to Catherine of the Portuguese House of Braganza- that same Catherine who would, all her life, play second fiddle to Orange-selling Nell. But she has this consolation - that it was her marriage dowry which brought Bombay int British hands..." (p.121, 122).