Since Muhammad claimed to be a prophet of the God of the Hebrews and Christians, then his career as a prophet should be examined to see if his claims were true. As one will plainly observe, the career of Muhammad has a number of indicators that show that he could not have been a true prophet of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Problem of Epilepsy
The way that Muhammad received his revelation is interesting because it is unlike all the prophets before him. However, it is clearly recognizable to the medical mind! From what we know about him in the Koran and the Hadiths, many scholars believe that it was highly likely that Muhammad suffered from epilepsy. The Dictionary of Islam notes:
“According to unimpeachably authentic hadiths found in Bukhari, Muhammad would hear ringing in his ears; his heart would beat rapidly; his face would turn red; his breathing labored; he would fall to the ground or lie down; he would shake; his eyes would open wide; his lips tremble; spit drool from the corners of his mouth; he would sweat profusely; he saw and heard things no one else ever saw or heard; he would sometimes make a snoring noise like that of a camel; and he would be covered with a sheet. [vol. I, nos. 1, 2, 3, 4; vol. II, nos. chap. 16 (pg. 354), 544; vol. III, nos. 17, 829; vol. IV, nos. 95, 438, 458, 461; vol. V, nos. 170, 462, 618, 659; vol. VI, nos. 447, 448, 468, 478, 481, 508.]”
- The Dictionary of Islam, p.393
McClintock and Strong’s Encyclopedia has stated:
“Muhammad, as we gather from the oldest and most trust-worthy narratives, was an epileptic, and as such, was considered to be possessed of evil spirits. At first, he believed the sayings, but gradually he came to the conclusion, confirmed by his friends, that demons had no power over so pure and pious a man as he was, and he conceived the idea that he was not controlled by evil spirits, but that he was visited by angels whom he, disposed to hallucinations, a vision, an audition, afflicted with the morbid state of the body and mind, saw in dreams. Or even while awake, he conceived he saw. What seemed to him good and true after such epileptic attacks, he esteemed revelation in which he, at least in the first stage of his pathetic course, firmly believed and which imparted to his pensive, variable character, the necessary courage and endurance to brave all mortifications and perils.”
-John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical
Literature (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981 reprint), VI:406.
There is even a tradition that seeks to explain Sura 94:1 where Muhammad fell down and claimed that he saw two men clothed in white raiment. They then opened his chest, and cleansed his insides of impurities! Robert Morey notes the importance of this event:
“While all the early Muslim writers, including the relatives of Muhammad, place this event in Muhammad’s youth, later Muslim apologists, out of embarrassment, have tried to move it to a period after his call to be a prophet. But the historical evidence is entirely against this move.”
- Robert Morey, The Islamic Invasion (Las Vegas, NV: Christian Scholars Press, 1992), p.70.
From the evidence, Robert Morey concludes:
“That epileptic seizures were viewed as visitations of the gods or the possession of a person by evil spirits is part of pre-Islamic Arabian superstition and religious life.
This reality, coupled with the fact that these two options were the only ones that Muhammad himself considered as possible explanations for his trances, leads one to the conclusion that he either had epilepsy or something like it.”
- Robert Morey, The Islamic Invasion (Las Vegas, NV: Christian Scholars Press, 1992), p.74.
Thus, unlike the Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles that came before him, Muhammad’s visions can easily be explained in terms of a medical diagnosis.
The Arabian Sign of Prophethood: The Mole
In
“Narrated As-Sa’ib bin Yazid:
I stood behind him [i.e. Muhammad] and saw the seal of Prophethood between his shoulders, and it was like the “Zir-al-Hijla” (meaning the button of a small tent, but some say “egg of a partridge”).”
-Sahih Bukhari 1:189, 4:741, 7:754
“Abdullah b. Sarjis reported:
I saw Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) and ate with him bread and meat, or he said Tharid (bread soaked in soup). I said to him: Did Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) seek forgiveness for you? Yes, and for you, and he then recited this verse. “Ask forgiveness for thy sin and for the believing men and believing women” (xlvii.19). I then went after him and saw the seal of Prophethood between his shoulders on the left side of his shoulder having spots on it like moles.”
-Sahih Muslim 4:5793
According to the Hadiths and Muslim theologians, the “seal of prophethood”, the thing that proved that Muhammad was a prophet, was an unusually large mole! Robert Morey explains:
“The pagan Arabs looked for certain physical defects on the body as a sign of prophethood. They believed that a “seal” of prophethood would be found on the body of a shaman or prophet. This “seal” was a large hairy mole on the back of the shaman just below the neck.
Just like a lump of wax seals a letter, the gods would place a lump of flesh on the back of someone called to be a shaman. What the pagan Arabs wanted to know was whether or not Muhammad had a large hairy mole on his back.”
- Robert Morey, Winning the War Against
Radical Islam (
Some Muslims actually try to find prophecies in the Bible
that say that the sign of prophethood would be a physical defect! They try to use Isaiah 9:6 and John 6:27. However, Isaiah
9:6 is referring to the Messiah who is also called “Mighty God” and “Eternal Father”, and thus, in order for the Muslim to use this
passage, he would have to commit shirk (i.e. the sin of adding gods to Allah). As to John
Muhammad met the qualifications for a pagan Arab shaman or soothsayer, and this is why so many pagan Arabs followed him. However, this meant nothing to the Jews and Christians because the true sign of prophethood was not a physical defect (see Deuteronomy
Superstitious
Muhammad’s mother, Aminah, believed that she received visions and spirit visitations. She was also heavily into the “occult”, and it is believed that she passed her beliefs on to her son. From the traditions, we know that Muhammad believed in and taught a number of pagan superstitions that point to the fact that Islam is not the Abrahamic faith.
The Evil Eye
From many Hadith passages, we learn that Muhammad believed in the “Evil Eye”, a pagan superstition that had been around in many cultures:
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, “The effect of an evil eye is a fact.” And he prohibited tattooing.
-Sahih al-Bukhari 7.636
Narrated Aisha:
When Allah’s Messenger (peace_be_upon_him) fell ill, Gabriel used to recite these verses: “In the name of Allah, He may cure you from all kinds of illness and safeguard you from the evil of a jealous one when he feels jealous and from the evil influence of eye.”
-Sahih Muslim 25.5424
Narrated AbuSa’id al-Khudri:
Gabriel came to Allah’s Messenger (peace_be_upon_him) and said: Muhammad, have you fallen ill? Thereupon he said: Yes. He (Gabriel) said: “In the name of Allah I exorcise you from everything and safeguard you from every evil that may harm you and from the eye of a jealous one. Allah would cure you and I invoke the name of Allah for you.”
-Sahih Muslim 25.5425
Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:
Allah’s Messenger (peace_be_upon_him) said: The influence of an evil eyes is a fact; if anything would precede the destiny it would be the influence of an evil eye, and when you are asked to take bath (as a cure) from the influence of an evil eye, you should take bath.
-Sahih Muslim 25.5427
Narrated Anas ibn Malik:
In connection with incantation Anas reported that he had been granted sanction (to use incantation as a remedy) for the sting of the scorpion and for curing small pustules and dispelling the influence of an evil eye.
-Sahih Muslim 25.5448
If you go to Muslim countries, sometimes you will see Muslims wearing amulets around their necks. They wear these around their necks to avoid the influence of the “evil eye”!
Eclipses as Omens
Muhammad taught that eclipses were used by Allah to frighten believers into praying, and one time, Muhammad got frightened during an eclipse because he thought that it might be the “Hour of Judgment” (Sahih Bukhari 2.167):
Narrated Abu Masud:
Allah’s Apostle said, “The sun and
the moon do not eclipse because of someone’s death or life but they are two signs amongst the signs of Allah, so pray whenever you
see them.”
-Sahih Bukhari 2.165, also 2.161, 2.303
Narrated
Abu Bakr:
Allah’s Apostle said: “The sun and the moon are two signs amongst the signs of Allah and they do not eclipse because of
the death of someone but Allah frightens His devotees with them.”
-Sahih Bukhari 2.158
Back when the pagan astral religion was believed in, it would only follow that an eclipse of the two most prominent bodies in the heavens (and the two most powerful deities of that religion) would frighten worshippers. However, we now know that eclipses happen with predictable regularity. Only a superstitious mind would think that they occur because God (or the gods in the case of astral religions) just wanted to frighten devotees into piety.
Dreaming of Black Women
Throughout the Hadiths, Muhammad is recorded as saying and believing in extremely racist things against black people. For instance, Muhammad calls black people “raisin heads” (Sahih Bukhari 1.662, 9.256)! In other places, he is recorded to have interpreted a dream he had of a black women as an omen that an epidemic disease would spread:
Narrated ‘Abdullah:
The Prophet said, “I saw (in a dream) a black woman with unkempt hair going out of
-Sahih Bukhari 9.161, 9.162, 9.163
Islamic Genetics
When Muhammad came to
Narrated Anas:
When ‘Abdullah bin Salam heard the arrival of the Prophet at
-Sahih Bukhari 4.546
Of course, the belief that the child will look like whoever has a sexual climax first is absolutely false. The genetics of a child is random and in no way based on what happens in bed. Muhammad, who said that he was under the inspiration of the angel Gabriel (the angel that supposedly also handed down the Koran to Muhammad), gave a false answer, and thus, he must be a false prophet.
The Prophetic
Career of
Muhammad:
An Examination
(Part 1)