The hermit's imagery
The hermit's life is explored through imagery in the stories about the prophets, because Mohammad, Moses, Jesus, and Abraham all have to go into the wilderness to encounter the divine. They are asked to spend a lot of time alone. Mohammad lives in a cave like Elijah the prophet, and when these faithful men endure the hardships of nature, they encounter Allah. The whole book is predicated on the mystical voyage of Mohammad into the chaos of Allah's creation.
The desert imagery
The desert is such a sacred imagery in the text that a loyal follower of the teachings of the Koran literally must go on a pilgrimage to Mecca through the desert. Mohammad travels the desert in several stories, and Moses encounters Allah in the desert. Jesus the prophet accepts the desert as the domain of his sacred, transformative fast—all instances where the imagery of the desert represents something painful about life. Instead of plenty, the imagery suggests famine, heat, and death.
Night and the covert
The imagery of night is surprisingly frequent in the text. The book seems to connect the fear of the dark with a divine curiosity, and therefore, much of the narrative occurs at night. Mohammad's "hero journey" from Mecca to Jerusalem happens at night, for instance. The covert nature of darkness is an imagery that suggests investigation, fearful reverence, and trust, because one's ability to defend their self is severely limited in the dark. Nighttime is a repeated motif through the text.
Horror and suffering
The book pulls no punches. As a religious scripture, the Koran encourages its faithful readers to accept the burden of suffering wholesale, without resorting to any analgesis measures (things that reduce pain). The horror and suffering is leading toward a unique experience of divinity, according to the Koran, but only if one allows the pain of existence to point their soul toward the creator of reality, God, or in Arabic, Allah. The pain of reality is offered throughout the text as the premise for a kind of "trust-fall" where a religious participant experiments in loving Allah, even when life is brutal and painful.
