So far, an impartial researcher would fail to find any ground to doubt Muhammad's truthfulness. Ironically, some orientalists and missionaries agree with this result. Yet, through "diplomacy", romanticism, and possible deception, they continue to search for new ways of denying the divine origin of Islam and of attributing the Qur'an to Muhammad's own thinking. Some claim that under the influence of repeated "visions", and with his disenchantment with idol-worship, Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), because of his pure and upright nature, gradually convinced himself that he was the reformer or savior of his people! What is overlooked in this type of theories is that Muhammad's claim of prophethood was continuously and consistently made throughout the full twenty-three years of his mission, and that it was not something that gradually developed or felt. It was rather a claim that came up unexpectedly at the age of forty.
What kind of a person is he who "convinces himself" for twenty-three years that his fabricated claim of receiving revelation from God is only an outcome of his sincere desire to help his people? A person like this would have to be notoriously dishonest or notoriously sick mentally. As it became too difficult to show objectively any proof of dishonesty, fishing in the troubled waters continued by seeking explanation in epilepsy.
EPILEPSY?:
It was contended, and still is, perhaps to a lesser extent, that Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was a sincere but epileptic person who, during his epileptic seizures recited what became later on, the Qur'an.
What is overlooked in this argument is that during the epileptic seizure, the functioning of the brain is disturbed. As such, sensible speech is not possible since the patient usually mumbles confusing words which he forgets after he is recovered. From all available accounts on Muhammad 's life, we consistently find a man with excellent physical and mental health throughout his life, a man who never had epileptic seizures, or the "falling-down" disease that was known to his contemporaries, and a man who faced many critical moments in his life without collapsing, even once, under tension or strain, no matter how great.
Are these the characteristics of an epileptic man? How could his followers including the most wise and intelligent[18], believe in him rather than seek a cure for him? Did the believers in this "epilepsy" school of thought bother to open the Qur'an, read it, and see if it looks like a product of epileptic convulsive seizures?
The Logical Conclusion:
If no reasonable argument can be made to support the imputation of dishonesty and fabrication on Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and if the implicit assumption of fabrication, while seeking psychological explanations for his claim, is only self-contradictory, what other reasons may justify the denial of divine origin of his message, or to doubt his truthfulness?[19].
[18] FOR EXAMPLE, ABU-BAKR, OMAR, OSMAN, ALI, TALHA, AL-ZUBAIR, IBN-AL-AWWAM, SAAD IBN Abi-Waqqas, and Abul-Rahman Ibn Auf.
[19] Unless one rejects all religions based on diving revelations, which is not the typical attitudes of Muhammad's critics, some of whom are missionaries!
