Other Psychological Disorders of Muhammad

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Clinically, the sufferer of TLE is often diagnosed as having a variety of psychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder due to the wide variety of symptoms including irritability. However, there is enough indication to suspect that Muhammad also suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder.

According to Canadian Mental Health Association, obsessive-compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder – one of a group of medical disorders which affects the thoughts, behavior, emotions and sensations.

Collectively, these disorders are among the most common of mental health problems. It is estimated that 1 in 10 people suffers from an anxiety disorder sometime in their life. For people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, obsession creates a maze of persistent thoughts. Those thoughts lead them to act out rituals (compulsions), sometimes for hours a day. Worries and doubts, superstitions and rituals are common to almost everyone. OCD occurs when worries become obsessions and the compulsive rituals so excessive that they dominate a person’s life. It is as if the brain is a scratched vinyl record, forever skipping at the same groove and repeating one fragment of song.

Obsessions are persistent ideas, thoughts, impulses or images; they are intrusive and illogical. Common OCD obsessions revolve around contamination, doubts and disturbing sexual or religious thoughts… Often, a person’s obsessions are accompanied by feelings of fear, disgust and doubt, or the belief that certain activities have to be done just so. People with OCD try to relieve their obsessions by performing compulsive rituals, over and over again, and often according to certain “rules.”

Children with OCD appear to be more likely to have additional psychiatric problems. They may suffer from conditions such as panic disorder or social phobia, depression, learning disorders, tic disorders, disruptive behavior disorders and body dysmorphic disorder (imagined ugliness). ^[1] 

Based on the above definition it is likely that Muhammad suffered from this anxiety disorder as well. He was obsessed with rituals, such as how to perform ablution; how many times to pray and how it should be performed. He explained in minute details how to wash one’s face, nose, ears hands, etc, and in which order. All these rituals are meaningless, but to him they were significant. The only way one can understand this is that he suffered from OCD. OCD sufferers are obsessed with patterns and numbers. They may prefer odd numbers or even numbers. Mohammad was obsessed with the number three. There are many rituals that Muslims are required to do three times. There is no logical explanation for that except for the fact that it is a ‘sunna’ of Muhammad.

The following are the rituals that one must perform before praying:

• Declare the intention that the act is for the purpose of worship.
• Rinse out the mouth with water three times
• Cleanse the nostrils by sniffing water in to them three times.
• Wash the whole face three times.
• Wash the right arm three times up to the far end of the elbow and then do the same with the left arm.
• Wipe the whole head or any part of it with a wet hand once.
• Wipe the inner sides of the ears with the forefingers and their outer sides with the thumbs. This should be done with wet fingers.
• Wipe around the neck with wet hands.
• Wash the two feet up to the ankles three times beginning with the right foot.

What is the meaning of washing three times? What is the point of wiping one’s head, neck or feet with wet hand? Why wash the right hand first? These are pointless rituals that have nothing to do with cleanliness or spirituality.

Muhammad’s obsession with rituals becomes further evident through what is known as tayammum. When water is not available, or for any reason it cannot be used he prescribed tayammum. This is performed as follows:

• Strike both hands slightly on earth or sand or stone.
• Shake the hands off and wipe the face with them once in the same way as done in the ablution.
• Strike the hands again and wipe the right arm to the elbow with the left hand and the left arm with the right hand.

These rules are absurd. The same can be said about positions for performing prayer, such as qiyaam (standing), sujud (prostrating), ruku’ (bowing) and jalsa (sitting). Islam is full of rules that reveal Muhammad’s obsession with patterns and numbers and portray his OCD.

The following are few of the rituals considered to be the ‘sunnah’ of Muhammad that Muslims follow meticulously. They have no meaning whatsoever but as far as Muhammad was concerned, disregarding them will bring punishment upon the offender while their observance can bring rewards.

• To sit and eat on the floor.
• To eat with the right hand.
• To eat from the side that is in front of you.
• To remove your shoes before eating.
• When eating, to sit with either both knees on the ground or one knee raised or both knees raised.
• Whilst eating one should not remain completely silent.
• To eat with three fingers.
• One should not eat very hot food.
• Do not blow on the food.
• After eating one should lick his fingers.
• A Muslim should drink with the right hand. Satan Drinks with the left hand.
• To sit and drink.
• To drink in 3 breaths removing the utensil from the mouth after each sip.
• To make the bed yourself.
• To dust the bed thrice before retiring to bed.
• To sleep on the right hand side.
• To sleep with the right palm under the right cheek.
• To keep the knees slightly bent when sleeping.
• To face Qiblah.
• To recite Surah Ikhlaas, Surah Falaq and Surah Naas before sleeping 3 times and thereafter blow over the entire body thrice.
• On awakening to rub the face and the eyes with the palms of the hands.
• When putting on any garment Rasulallah (the messenger of Allah) always began with the right limb.
• When removing any garment Rasullallah always removed the left limb first.
• Males must wear the pants above the ankles. Females should ensure that their lower garment covers their ankles.
• Males should wear a ‘topee’ or turban. Females must wear scarves at all times.
• When wearing shoes, first wear the right shoe then the left.
• When removing them first remove the left and then the right.
• To enter the toilet with your head covered.
• To recite the dua (prayer) before entering the toilet.
• To enter the toilet with the left foot.
• To sit and urinate. One should never urinate whilst standing.
• To leave the toilet with the right foot.
• To recite the dua after coming out of the toilet.
• One should not face Qiblah or show his back towards the Qiblah.
• Do not speak in the toilet.
• Be very careful of the splashes of urine (being unmindful in this regard causes one to be punished in the grave).
• Using a miswaak is a great sunnah of Rasulullah. One who makes miswaak when making wuzu and thereafter performs salaah will receive 70 times more reward. It will also enable one to easily recite the kalima at the time of death.
• To take a Ghusl bath on a Friday.
• To keep a beard that is one fist in length.
• To carry ones shoes in the left hand.
• To enter the masjid (mosque) with the right foot.
• To leave the masjid with the left foot. ^[2] 

Aisha narrated a story about Muhammad getting up in the middle of the night and going to the cemetery to perform prayer.

When it was my turn for Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) to spend the night with me, he turned his side, put on his mantle and took off his shoes and placed them near his feet, and spread the corner of his shawl on his bed and then lay down till he thought that I had gone to sleep. He took hold of his mantle slowly and put on the shoes slowly, and opened the door and went out and then closed it lightly. I covered my head, put on my veil and tightened my waist wrapper, and then went out following his steps till he reached Baqi’ (cemetery). He stood there and he stood for a long time. He then lifted his hands three times, and then returned and I also returned. He hastened his steps and I also hastened my steps. He ran and I too ran. He came (to the house) and I also came (to the house). I, however, preceded him and I entered (the house), and as I lay down in the bed, he (the Holy Prophet) entered the (house), and said: Why is it, O ‘A’isha, that you are out of breath? I said: There is nothing. He said: Tell me or the Subtle and the Aware would inform me. I said: Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be ransom for you, and then I told him (the whole story). He said: Was it the darkness (of your shadow) that I saw in front of me? I said: Yes. He struck me on the chest which caused me pain, and then said: Did you think that Allah and His Apostle would deal unjustly with you? She said: Whatsoever the people conceal, Allah will know it. He said: Gabriel came to me when you saw me. He called me and he concealed it from you. I responded to his call, but I too concealed it from you (for he did not come to you), as you were not fully dressed. I thought that you had gone to sleep, and I did not like to awaken you, fearing that you may be frightened. He (Gabriel) said: Your Lord has commanded you to go to the inhabitants of Baqi’ (to those lying in the graves) and beg pardon for them. I said: Messenger of Allah, how should I pray for them (How should I beg forgiveness for them)? He said: Say, Peace be upon the inhabitants of this city (graveyard) from among the Believers and the Muslims, and may Allah have mercy on those who have gone ahead of us, and those who come later on, and we shall, God willing, join you.^[3] 

Allah must be insane for ordering his prophet to go to the cemetery in the middle of the night to ask forgiveness from him for the dead people. Can’t he forgive them without inconveniencing his prophet it in such odd hours? Ironically, Muhammad’s companions misinterpreted his strange behaviors that are indication of his psychopathology as proof of his sincerity.

In a hadith Muhammad admonishes his followers to “Save your heels from the fire”^[4]  by wiping them with wet hand. It was not cleanliness that concerned Muhammad, but the ritual itself. He thought one can save himself from hellfire by passing wet hand over one’s feet or even socks. Bukhari reports a hadith where Muhammad wiped his feet while wearing socks:

Narrated Al-Mughira bin Shu’ba:

‘I was in the company of Allah’s Apostle on one of the journeys and he went out to answer the call of nature (and after he finished) I poured water and he performed ablution; he washed his face, forearms and passed his wet hand over his head and over the two Khuff, (leather socks).’^[5]

In another hadith Bukhari quotes Humran, (the slave of ‘Othman):

I saw ‘Othman bin ‘Affan asking for a tumbler of water (and when it was brought) he poured water over his hands and washed them thrice and then put his right hand in the water container and rinsed his mouth, washed his nose by putting water in it and then blowing it out. Then he washed his face and forearms up to the elbows thrice, passed his wet hands over his head and washed his feet up to the ankles thrice. Then he said, “Allah’s Apostle said ‘If anyone Performs ablution like that of mine and offers a two-rak’at prayer during which he does not think of anything else (not related to the present prayer) then his past sins will be forgiven.’” [Then he added] “I heard the Prophet saying, ‘If a man performs ablution perfectly and then offers the compulsory congregational prayer, Allah will forgive his sins committed between that (prayer) and the (next) prayer till he offers it.^[6]

This is unreasonable. Only one suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder can think that one’s sins can be forgiven by performing certain rituals. Compulsions are defined by repetitive behaviors or mental acts that the person is driven to perform according to rules that must be applied rigidly, and by behaviors or mental acts that are aimed at preventing or reducing distress or preventing some dreaded event or situation, such as hell.

Islam is full of meaningless rules and rituals. The rules of wodoo (ablusion), ghosl (bathing), obligatory prayer and the very fact that it is obligatory, hajj, fasting, etc. are all indications that Muhammad was obsessed with rules. He even said how many pebbles one must use to clean oneself after excreting. (They must be odd numbers. Three pebbles clean better than four.)

In one hadith Muhammad has said, “When one of you passes urine, he should empty (shake) his penis three times.” The Ayatollahs of Iran have concluded that any urine dropping on the cloths after the penis is squeezed three times is clean and it will not annul one’s prayer.

Schizophrenia

Muhammad may have also suffered from schizophrenia. The following symptoms of schizophrenia could be traced in Muhammad:

• Delusions, false personal beliefs held with conviction in spite of reason or evidence to the contrary, not explained by that person’s cultural context.
• Hallucinations, perceptions (can be sound, sight, touch, smell, or taste) that occur in the absence of an actual external stimulus. Auditory hallucinations, those of voice or other sounds, are the most common type of hallucinations in schizophrenia.
• Disorganized thoughts and behaviors
• Disorganized speech
• Violent or Aggressive Behavior
• Restlessness
• Catatonic behavior, in which the affected person’s body may be rigid and the person may be unresponsive.^[7]

Muhammad’s disorganized thoughts can be ascertained through the Qur’an. He was also violent and restless. In just ten years, he fought more than seventy wars, all in the form of raids. As for his catatonic behavior, a syndrome seen most frequently in schizophrenia, characterized by muscular rigidity and mental stupor, it is enough to quote Ali, who said, “When he walked he would lift his feet with vigor, as if walking up a slope. When he turned towards a person he would turn with his entire body.”^[8]

Manic Depressive Disorder  (Bipolar Disorder):

Muhammad may have also been a manic-depressive disorder (Bipolar disorder was formerly called manic depression). Bipolar disorder causes dramatic mood swings— from overly “high” and/or irritable to sad and hopeless, and then back again, often with periods of normal mood in between. The periods of highs and lows are called episodes of mania and depression. Extreme mood swings punctuated by periods of even-keeled behavior characterize this disorder.

The symptoms of BD are: in the manic phase irritability, inflated self-esteem, decreased need for sleep, increased energy, racing thoughts, feelings of invulnerability, poor judgment, heightened sex drive, and denial that anything is wrong, or in the depressed phase, feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness, or melancholy, fatigue, thoughts of death or suicide, and suicide attempts.

Ibn Sa’d reports a hadith that could be interpreted as a symptom of bipolar disorder. He writes:

“Sometimes the Prophet used to fast so much, as if he did not want to end it, and sometimes he would not fast for so long that one thought he did not want to fast at all.”^[9]

Based on these findings, it is clear that Muhammad was most likely suffering from a variety of mental and personality disorders. According to Occam’s razor, one should not make more assumptions than the minimum needed to explain anything. If TLE and NPD can explain the conduct and the epiphany of Muhammad, why resort to metaphysical, hocus-pocus, and unsubstantiated mystical explanations? Now we have scientific evidence that Muhammad was mentally ill, something his contemporaries already knew. Alas, they succumbed to his brute force and their voices were silenced.

It is ironic that over a billion people should cling to an insane man as their prophet and try to emulate him in every way. It is no wonder that the Muslim world is languishing. The actions of Muslims can only be defined as insanity. It is because they have a mentally disturbed man as their role-model and guide. When sane people follow insane people they act insanely. This is perhaps, the greatest tragedy of all times. An insanity of such a colossal magnitude is a real abomination.

The Mystery of the Cave Hira

One friend, while proof reading this book made an interesting comment about the Oracles of Delphi, which may explain why Muhammad received his prophetic intimation in a cave.

The Oracle of Delphi was an ancient Greek temple site. People came from all over Europe to call on the Pythia at Mount Parnassus to have their questions about the future answered. The Pythia, a role filled by different women was the medium through which the god Apollo spoke.

Plutarch, a priest at the Temple of Apollo, attributed Pythia’s prophetic powers to vapors that came from a chasm in the ground. A recent study of the area in the vicinity of the shrine is causing archaeologists to revisit the notion that intoxicating fumes loosened the lips of the Pythia. ^[10]

The study, reported in the August 2001 issue of National Geography, reveals that two faults intersect directly below the Delphic temple. The study also found evidence of hallucinogenic gases rising from a nearby spring and preserved within the temple rock.

“Plutarch made the right observation. Indeed there were gases that came through the fractures,” says Jelle De Boer, a geologist at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and co-author of the study. One of the gases was ethylene that he found in the spring water near the site of the Delphi temple.

Ethylene has a sweet smell and produces a narcotic effect described as a floating or disembodied euphoria.

Diane Harris-Cline, a classics professor at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. believes that Ethylene is a serious contender for explaining the trance and behavior of Pythia. “Combined with social expectations, a woman in a confined space could be induced to spout off oracles,” she said. ^[11]

According to traditional explanations, the Pythia derived her prophecies in a small, enclosed chamber in the basement of the temple. De Boer believes that if the Pythia went to the chamber once a month, as tradition says, she could have been exposed to concentrations of the narcotic gas that were strong enough to induce a trance-like state.

Mentally ill people frequently self-medicate with alcohol and drugs. It is also likely that the Cave Hira contained euphoric gasses, which made Muhammad want to spend most of his time there.

Although Muhammad had several epileptic trances since his childhood, we must not discard the possibility that Cave Hira may have tapped hallucinogenic vapors that triggered his visions. “If ethylene in mild doses causes euphoria, this could explain why Muhammad was so keen to spend days on end in the caves,” my friend remarked. “It certainly is peculiar behavior, especially for a married man with small children, to take off with several days’ provision of food, just to stay in a cave! But if something in the caves made him feel euphoric, it seems a little less mysterious,” she observed.

Cave Hira is no more than 3.5 meter by 1.5 meter in length and width, respectively – the size of a small bathroom. If God is omnipresent, why would Muhammad be so interested in this particular cave?

Apart from toxic gases, fungi and microbial agents present in caves and other enclosed spaces can also affect the brain. The “curse of the Pharaohs,” turned out to be largely caused by a deadly fungus growing in the pyramids.

Concentration of vapors in caves fluctuates. It depends on earthquakes that keep Earth’s narcotic juices flowing. The possibility that Cave Hira may have been contaminated when Muhammad used to spend days therein alone should not be discarded.

References:

[1] http://www.cmha.ca/bins/content_page.asp?cid=3-94-95

[2] http://hubpages.com/hub/Islami

[3] Sahih Muslim Book 4, Number 2127

[4] Bukhari Volume 1, Book 3, Number 57

[5] Bukhari Volume 1, Book 4, Number 182

[6] Bukhari Volume 1, Book 4, Number 161

[7]  emedicinehealth.com/schizophrenia/article_em.htm

[8]  The Book of Merits (manaqib) in Sunan Imam at-Tirmidhi. http://www.naqshbandi.asn.au/description.htm

[9] Tabaqat, Volume 1, Page 371

[10] John Roach for National Geographic News August 14, 2001 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/08/0814_delphioracle.html

[11] ibid.