104 – EPILEPTIC PROPHET – EXCLUSIVE SERIES EPISODE 1 – EARLY YEARS & FIRST REVELATION – FARID DESTROYED

For this exclusive series, Abdullah Gondal and I tackle the question of whether Muhammad had epilepsy. Since this is the introductory episode of this series, we started off this discussion by defining the term epilepsy and highlighting the different types of epilepsy and their general symptoms. We then moved on to discuss the scholars/medical practitioners and sources that we will be using to inform this discussion and this series going forward.

The focus of the discussion then moved to Muhammad’s life before receiving the revelation of the Quran. We discussed the possible risk factors that Muhammad was exposed to as a child that would have sparked epilepsy. Another area we discussed was Muhammad’s experiences pre-receiving revelation and how they match up with the symptoms of frontal lobe epilepsy. Additionally,  we presented interviews and opinions from various experienced psychotherapists and neuroscientists on how all of Muhammad’s experiences point towards him suffering from epilepsy.

Lastly, we delved into Muhammad’s experiences during and after receiving the revelation. We compared Muhammad’s seizures to those of contemporary epilepsy patients who exhibit the same symptoms. We also drew parallels between what the contemporary patients report after the seizures and what is reported about Muhammad in the hadith and other Islamic literature. 

This was such a well-researched and heavily detailed yet still funny and enjoyable episode. I invite you to take a listen and to keep an eye for the next episode of this series!

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Timestamps:

0:00 Introductions

6:50 A quick overview of the presentation

8:10 What if epilepsy was Allah’s chosen method of communicating with humans?

9:36 Disclaimer: Epilepsy is idiopathic

12:05 Authenticity – How to affirm the authenticity of narrations and standards that are used

16:15 A quick overview of the brain and functions of each region

18:09 What is epilepsy? Dr. Abbas’s explanation of epilepsy

23:22 Types of seizures and symptoms

29:20 Psychosis of epilepsy

32:01 Farid’s clip – Did Gondal diagnose Muhammad?

33:50 Experts who diagnosed Muhammad

40:54 Did Muhammad have any epilepsy risk factors

51:27 Muhammad’s traumatic birth – how authentic is this hadith?

56:02 Umbilical cord severed during labor and born circumcised?

1:00:20 Muhammad’s early years – a quick summary

1:03:40 Dr. Ali Sina explains the effects of traumatic childhood experiences

1:10:24 Chest splitting – Haleema incident #1 

1:14:02 Chest splitting – Haleema incident # 2

1:16:10  Epigastric rising – A seizure: symptoms and multiple case studies.

1:22:30 How many times was Muhammad’s belly split?

1:25: 25 Muhammad slapped unconscious by an Angel? – Hadith

1:28:00 Muhammad exorcised for the evil eye before the revelation

1:31:14 Muhammad’s daily Dejavu and Deja Reve experiences for 6 months-  Dr. Yasir Qadhi’s explanation

1:35:01 Muhammad hears trees and stones talking to him.

1:39:00 Hadith – Muhammad questioning his own sanity.

1:44:05 Hallucinations in the cave before the first revelation.

1:48:20 A quick overview of the section on the first revelation

1:50:49 Temporal lobe epilepsy and how it affects a patient’s religiosity  by Dr. V.S Ramachandran

2:02:14 Dr. V.S Ramachandran’s interview with patients with temporal lobe seizures.

2:17:45 Dr. Dede Korkut’s case studies of patients with symptoms similar to Muhammad’s.

2:22:03 How did the angel reveal the Quran? – Dr. Yasir Qadhi

2:26:06 Interview with a patient with Grand Mal seizures – The choking/squeezing and the parallels of his experiences and those of Muhammad during the first revelation.

2:31:54 Dr. Abbas Sadeghian on the first revelation

2:35:40 Gabriel covering the whole size of the horizon? What happened outside the cave after the first revelation?

2:38:00 Dr. Dede’s take on the first encounter – Macropsia, micropsia, and Diplopia.

2:44:20 Emotional changes and epilepsy symptoms of Muhammad – Dr. Dede.

2:49:08 Muhammad’s extreme sadness after revelations and attempting suicide.

2:52:11 Hadith – Muhammad fainted upon seeing the angel Gabriel.

2:55:27 Muhammad ran home shivering and shaking – Hadith

2:57:31 Dr. Yasir Qadhi’s account of the revelation – Muhammad is confused and fearful.

3:02:09 Suicidal Muhammad

3:03:30 Dr. Dede – Religious delusions and messiah complex in epilepsy patients.

3:05:10 Dr. Ammar Nakshawani on Sunni hadith’s portrayal of Muhammad

3:11:46 A preview of the upcoming content.

3:16:13 Channel announcements and final remarks

List of resources used in this episode:

1. Absence seizure –  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29763042/
2. Psychoses and epilepsy: Are Interictal and Postictal Psychoses Distinct Clinical Entities? – https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1528-1157.2002.22402.x
3. Schizophrenia-Like Psychosis and Epilepsy: The Status of the Association – https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/ajp.155.3.32
4. Risk for schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like psychosis among patients with epilepsy: a population-based cohort study – https://www.bmj.com/content/331/7507/23?ehom
5. Postictal psychosis vs interictal vs peri-ictal – https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/challenges-epilepsy/moods-and-behavior
6. Farid
7. In Spite Of Epilepsy: Being A Review Of The Lives Of Three Great Epileptics (1913) – https://www.amazon.com/Spite-Epilepsy-Being-Review-Epileptics/dp/1166472590
8. Life Alert: The Medical Case of Muhammad by Dr. Dede Korkut
9. Sword and seizures Muhammad’s epilepsy and creation of Islam by Dr.Abbas Sadeghian – https://www.amazon.com/Sword-Seizure-Muhammads-Epilepsy-Creation/dp/1599770024
10. The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason By Dr. Ali Rizvi 
11. Causes of epilepsy – https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/conditions-services/neurology-neurosurgery/epilepsy-seizures/causes
12. Symptoms for smallpox including convulsions and fatigue –

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/smallpox/symptoms-causes/syc-20353027

13. Elevated risk of contracting Small fever in pregnant women – https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/pregnancy-week-by-week/expert-answers/chickenpox-and-pregnancy/faq-20057886
14. Muhammad’s mother hallucinated – Sirah Ibn Kathir Vol 1
15. Light pregnancy, measles, and smallpox in Mecca? – Ibn S’ad’s Kitab Al-Tabaqat Al-Kabir, Vol 1, Part 1.22.1 and Ibn Kathir p25
16. Muhammad’s traumatic birth: Sahih Ibn Hibban; Al Ihsan, Hadith 6335, Musnad Abu Ya’la, Hadith 7163, Al Mu’jamal Kabir Vol 24 Hadith 545, 
17. Temporal Lobe Syndrome In Children – https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/29/4/617
18. Did Muhammad suffer from Aposthia? https://www.jstor.org/stable/1580504
19. Was Nabi (S.A.W.) Circumcised? – https://islamqa.org/hanafi/mahmoodiyah/53894/was-nabi-s-a-w-circumcised/ and Ibn Kathir p149
20. Aposthia: a birth defect or normal quantitative recessive human genetic trait? – https://search.bvsalud.org/gim/resource/en/emr-156995
21. The Life of Mohammad: From Original Sources – https://archive.org/details/lifemohammadfro00aloygoog
22. Purification of prophet Muhammed sallallahu aleihi va sallam heart – https://darulifta-deoband.com/home/en/hadith-sunnah/59868
23. Chest splitting incident #1 at Haleema’s place – The life of the Prophet Muhammad p72, Ibn Kathir p163
24. Chest splitting incident #2 at Haleema’s place – The life of the Prophet Muhammad p164, Ibn Kathir p295
25. Epigastric rising (Multiple cases) – Life Alert: The Medical Case of Muhammad by Dr. Dede Korkut
26. MUhammad slapped unconscious by angels? – Sahih al-Bukhari 3829 Book 63, Hadith 54,  Ibn Kathir p181
27. Muhammad exorcised for the evil eye before revelation? – Imtah al asmah , Ash Shifa qadi iyad p563
28. Déjà-rêvé: Prior dreams induced by direct electrical brain stimulation – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1935861X18300792
29. Dej´ a Experiences in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy – https://downloads.hindawi.com/archive/2012/539567.pdf
30. Muhammad hearing stones and trees speaking – Seerah Ibn Ishaq p105 and Seerah Ibn Kathir p294
31. Muhammad fearing he is going insane – Musnad Ahmad p15, Seerah Ibn Kathir p297 and 299, Ash Shifa Qadi Iyad p96,  
32. Hallucinations before the first revelation in the cave – Seerah Ibn Kathir/Tareekh Ibn Kathir
33. Religious experiences in epileptic patients – Life Alert: The Medical Case of Muhammad by Dr. Dede Korkut p36 – 38
34. Transcendental Meditation™ and General Meditation are Associated with Enhanced Complex Partial Epileptic-Like Signs: Evidence for “Cognitive” Kindling? – https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pms.1993.76.1.80
35. Patient interview  (Grand Mal) –
36. The Perfect Guide to The Sciences of the Quran Vol 1 –  https://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Guide-Sciences-Quran-Civilization/dp/B00YTJDWDU
37. Muhammad snoring during the first revelation – Seerah Ibn Kathir p294, Tareekh Ibn Kathir 
38. Muhammad was almost choked to death by an angel – Seerah Ibn Kathir, Sahih al-Bukhari (Chapter 91 Interpretation of Dreams) Hadith 6982
39. Gabriel Covers the whole horizon in the shape of a man seated on a throne – Sahih Muslim 161d, Sahih al-Bukhari 3234 and 3235 (hadith 45 and 46)
40. Muhammad saw Gabriel with 600 wings – Sahih Bukhari Vol 6, Book 60, Hadith 379 (Eng version)
41. What happened outside the cave – Seerah Ibn Kathir p293, Seerah Ibn Ishaq, Sahih Muslim 1161d Bk 1 hadith 314, Sahih al-Bukhari (Begining of Creation) Book 59 Hadith 46
42. Analysis of the first encounter – Life Alert: The Medical Case of Muhammad by Dr. Dede Korkut p52 – 53
43. Emotional changes and epilepsy symptoms of Muhammad – Life Alert: The Medical Case of Muhammad by Dr. Dede Korkut, The life of Muhammad p81
44. Extreme sadness – Sealed Nectar p69 -p70 https://www.muslim-library.com/dl/books/English_ArRaheeq_AlMakhtum_THE_SEALED_NECTAR.pdf
45. Muhammad fainted – Tafsir Al Jalalayn, Sahih Al- Bukhari 4926 Booka 65 Hadith 446, Sahih al-Bukhari 3238 Book 59 Hadith 49
46. Muhammad salivated and fainted – Tafsir Ibn Kathir – Sahih ahmad Shakir, Tafsir Ibn Kathir – Alban, Seerat Halbiya
47. The Jinn and Human Sickness: Remedies in the Light of the Qur’aan and Sunnah, Dr. Abu T Mundhir Khaleel ibn Ibraaheem Ameen 

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