historians says, “The pre-Islamic Arabs believed in the demon of poetry, and they thought that a great poet was directly inspired by demons…” 4
After the terrible experience, Muhammad returned home to his wife Khadija, still terribly disturbed by the encounter.
Then Allah’s Apostle returned with the Inspiration, his neck muscles twitching with terror till he entered upon Khadija and said, “Cover me! Cover me!” They covered him till his fear was over and then he said, “O Khadija, what is wrong with me?” Then he told her everything that had happened and said, “I fear that something may happen to me.” 5
But it was not only Muhammad who suspected a demonic source to his revelations; clearly many of Muhammad’s contemporaries also believed that his revelatory experiences were demonic and that he was demon possessed:
“Yet they turn away from him and say: “Tutored [by others], a man possessed!” (Sura 44:14; Yusuf Ali)
And say: “What! shall we give up our gods for the sake of a Poet possessed?” (Sura 37:36; Yusuf Ali)
Apparently it grew necessary that Allah come to Muhammad’s defense and respond to his critics within the Qur’an itself:
No, your compatriot [Muhammad] is not mad. He saw him [Gabriel] on the clear horizon. He does not grudge the secrets of the unseen, nor is this the utterance of an accursed devil. (Sura 81:22–25)
It [the Qur’an] is no poet’s speech: Scant is your faith! It is no soothsayer’s divination: How little you reflect! It is revelation from the Lord of the Universe. (Sura 69:41, 42)
Many scholars have become convinced that Muhammad was either epileptic or demon possessed or both. 6 After studying the nature of his revelatory experiences and reading the comments of his contemporaries, this is not surprising. In fact, after discussing some of the specific physical manifestations of Muhammad’s experiences, John Gilcrest, a South African Christian author and well known authority on Islam, finalized his analysis of the various physical phenomena that accompanied Muhammad’s revelatory experiences:
It should be pointed out that men can be subjected to a different type of seizure which very closely resembles epilepsy. During the life of Jesus a young boy was brought to him who was “an epileptic” (Matthew 17:15) and who suffered extreme forms of epilepsy (he would suddenly fall down, be convulsed, and be unable to speak). There is no doubt, however, that this epilepsy was not naturally but demonically induced as all three records of the incident (in Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9) state that Jesus exorcised the unclean spirit in the child and healed the boy. Without passing judgment on Muhammad, let it nevertheless be said that anyone subject to occultic influences could well find that seizures similar to epileptic fits would occur at appropriate times and, instead of causing a loss of memory, would have just the opposite effect and leave firmly induced impressions on the recipient’s mind. Throughout the world missionaries have related cases of precisely this nature. To this day such phenomena are not uncommon among Oriental ecstatics and mystics and they are widely reported. 7
So while the Apostle Peter describes the experience of the authors of biblical Scripture by referring to men who “spoke from God” as they were “moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21), Muhammad’s experience was much more direct, ecstatic, and dark. It is important to note that none of the biblical prophets ever questioned the source of their revelations. Muhammad’s experience was far more similar to the experience of a spiritist or someone who channels spirits than the experience of a biblical prophet.
OTHER STRANGE PHENOMENA
Muhammad’s frightening spiritual encounters did not end with these examples. On another occasion, Muhammad was “bewitched,” whereby he believed himself to be having sexual relations with his wives when he was actually doing no such thing. Guillaume
After the terrible experience, Muhammad returned home to his wife Khadija, still terribly disturbed by the encounter.
Then Allah’s Apostle returned with the Inspiration, his neck muscles twitching with terror till he entered upon Khadija and said, “Cover me! Cover me!” They covered him till his fear was over and then he said, “O Khadija, what is wrong with me?” Then he told her everything that had happened and said, “I fear that something may happen to me.” 5
But it was not only Muhammad who suspected a demonic source to his revelations; clearly many of Muhammad’s contemporaries also believed that his revelatory experiences were demonic and that he was demon possessed:
“Yet they turn away from him and say: “Tutored [by others], a man possessed!” (Sura 44:14; Yusuf Ali)
And say: “What! shall we give up our gods for the sake of a Poet possessed?” (Sura 37:36; Yusuf Ali)
Apparently it grew necessary that Allah come to Muhammad’s defense and respond to his critics within the Qur’an itself:
No, your compatriot [Muhammad] is not mad. He saw him [Gabriel] on the clear horizon. He does not grudge the secrets of the unseen, nor is this the utterance of an accursed devil. (Sura 81:22–25)
It [the Qur’an] is no poet’s speech: Scant is your faith! It is no soothsayer’s divination: How little you reflect! It is revelation from the Lord of the Universe. (Sura 69:41, 42)
Many scholars have become convinced that Muhammad was either epileptic or demon possessed or both. 6 After studying the nature of his revelatory experiences and reading the comments of his contemporaries, this is not surprising. In fact, after discussing some of the specific physical manifestations of Muhammad’s experiences, John Gilcrest, a South African Christian author and well known authority on Islam, finalized his analysis of the various physical phenomena that accompanied Muhammad’s revelatory experiences:
It should be pointed out that men can be subjected to a different type of seizure which very closely resembles epilepsy. During the life of Jesus a young boy was brought to him who was “an epileptic” (Matthew 17:15) and who suffered extreme forms of epilepsy (he would suddenly fall down, be convulsed, and be unable to speak). There is no doubt, however, that this epilepsy was not naturally but demonically induced as all three records of the incident (in Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9) state that Jesus exorcised the unclean spirit in the child and healed the boy. Without passing judgment on Muhammad, let it nevertheless be said that anyone subject to occultic influences could well find that seizures similar to epileptic fits would occur at appropriate times and, instead of causing a loss of memory, would have just the opposite effect and leave firmly induced impressions on the recipient’s mind. Throughout the world missionaries have related cases of precisely this nature. To this day such phenomena are not uncommon among Oriental ecstatics and mystics and they are widely reported. 7
So while the Apostle Peter describes the experience of the authors of biblical Scripture by referring to men who “spoke from God” as they were “moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21), Muhammad’s experience was much more direct, ecstatic, and dark. It is important to note that none of the biblical prophets ever questioned the source of their revelations. Muhammad’s experience was far more similar to the experience of a spiritist or someone who channels spirits than the experience of a biblical prophet.
OTHER STRANGE PHENOMENA
Muhammad’s frightening spiritual encounters did not end with these examples. On another occasion, Muhammad was “bewitched,” whereby he believed himself to be having sexual relations with his wives when he was actually doing no such thing. Guillaume
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