# The Symptoms of Prophecy

URL: https://islamsproblems.com/symptoms-of-prophecy/
Part: Core Arguments

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### 9. The Symptoms of Prophecy

Symptoms of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) include **muscle twitching/rigidity, facial flushing, lip smacking, confusion/fear, profuse sweating, depression/suicidal ideation and visual/auditory hallucinations**.

Geschwind syndrome is a manifestation of TLE characterized by **extreme verbal output, hyperreligiosity, altered sexuality and intensified mental life**.

**Authentic hadiths describing Muhammad’s revelations:**

#### Sahih Bukhari 6982 (First revelation)

- “The angel **caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it anymore**” (×3)

- “**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?**’”

- “the Prophet (ﷺ) **became so sad as we have heard that he intended several times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains**”

[Sahih Bukhari 6982](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6982)

#### Sahih Bukhari 3215

- “The Angel sometimes comes to me with a voice
which resembles the **sound of a ringing bell**, and when **this state abandons me**, I remember
what the Angel has said, and **this type of Divine Inspiration is the hardest on me**”

[Sahih Bukhari 3215](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3215)

Authentic Hadith: Bell Is the Instrument of Satan

> “The bell is the musical instrument of the Satan.”
> [Sahih Muslim 2114](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2114)

#### Sahih Bukhari 4750

- “So there **overtook him the same hard condition which used to overtake him** (when he was Divinely Inspired) so that the **drops of his sweat were running down, like pearls, though it was a (cold) winter day**, and that was because of the
heaviness of the Statement which was revealed to him.”

[Sahih Bukhari 4750](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4750)

#### Sahih Bukhari 5

- “Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) used to **bear the revelation with great trouble and used to move his lips (quickly) with the Inspiration**”

[Sahih Bukhari 5](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5)

#### Sahih Muslim 1690c

- “Whenever Allah’s Apostle (ﷺ) received revelation,
he felt its rigour and the **complexion of his face changed**. One day revelation descended upon
him, he felt the same rigour. **When it was over and he felt relief**, he said: Take from me.”

[Sahih Muslim 1690c](https://sunnah.com/muslim:1690c)

#### Sahih Bukhari 4985

- “The Prophet’s **face was red and he kept on breathing heavily for a while** and then he was relieved.”

[Sahih Bukhari 4985](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4985)

Face Red and Snoring Like a Camel (Parallel Narrations)

> “Ya’la put his head in and saw that the **face of Allah’s Messenger was red and he was snoring**.”
> [Sahih Bukhari 1536](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1536)

> “`Umar lifted one corner of the cloth and I looked at the Prophet (ﷺ) who was snoring. (The
> sub-narrator thought that he said: The **snoring was like that of a camel**).”
> [Sahih Bukhari 1789](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1789)

#### Sahih Bukhari 4592

- “Allah revealed to his Apostle while his thigh was
on my thigh, and **his thigh became so heavy that I was afraid it might fracture my thigh.**”

[Sahih Bukhari 4592](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4592)

Less likely than a 7th century man in a cave getting revelation from the creator of the
universe?

Neurologist’s Diagnostic Study of Muhammad

> “Although an unequivocal decision is not possible from existing knowledge, **psychomotor or complex partial seizures of temporal lobe epilepsy would be the most tenable diagnosis**.”
> [Dr. Freemon, Neurologist, “A Differential Diagnosis of the Inspirational Spells of Muhammad the Prophet of Islam,” Epilepsia (1976)](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1528-1157.1976.tb04454.x#:~:text=psychomotor%20or%20complex%20partial%20seizures%20of%20temporal%20lobe%20epilepsy%20would%20be%20the%20most%20tenable%20diagnosis)

### Sources
- Sahih Bukhari 6982: https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6982
- Sahih Bukhari 3215: https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3215
- Sahih Muslim 1690c: https://sunnah.com/muslim:1690c
- Sahih Bukhari 4750: https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4750
- Sahih Bukhari 1536: https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1536
- Sahih Bukhari 1789: https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1789
- Sahih Muslim 2114: https://sunnah.com/muslim:2114
- Sahih Bukhari 5: https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5
- Sahih Bukhari 4985: https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4985
- Sahih Bukhari 4592: https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4592

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