To summarize the accusations against Muhammad or other prophets[1]
1. He is a madman.
Therefore continue to remind, for by the grace of your Lord, you are not a
soothsayer, or a madman. And they say: O you to whom the Reminder has been revealed! you are most surely
insane: 2. He forged the Qur'an.
Or do they say: He has
forged it. Nay! they do not believe.
And when We change (one) communication for (another) communication, and Allah knows best what He reveals, they say:
You are only a forger. Nay, most of them do not know.
And those who disbelieve say: This is nothing but
a lie which he has forged, and other people have helped him at it; so indeed they have done injustice and (uttered) a falsehood.
3. The Qur'an has multiple authors (25:4, above).
4. He is a liar. (25:4 and the verse below).
He said: O my Lord! help me against their
calling me a liar. 5. He tells stories of the ancients.
And they say:
The stories of the ancients-- he has got them written-- so these are read out to him morning and evening.
6. He was a man deprived of reason.
Or (why is not) a treasure sent down to him, or he is made to have a garden from which he should eat? And the unjust say: You do not follow any but a man
deprived of reason. 7. His knowledge of the Bible was faulty.
O followers of the Book! why do you dispute about Ibrahim, when the Taurat and the Injeel were not revealed till after him; do you not then understand?
8. He believes everything he hears.
And there are some of them who molest the Prophet and say: He is one who
believes every thing that he hears; say: A hearer of good for you (who) believes in Allah and believes the faithful and a mercy for those of you who believe; and (as for) those who molest the Apostle of Allah, they shall have a painful punishment.
9. The word mock/mockery/mocked/mocking appears 29 times in the Qur'an.
And there never came an apostle to them but they mocked him.
The Qur'an provides the Islamic perspective, instead of the perspective of those who were critical. One wonders how the prophet would have responded to such critical accusations. The Qur'an shows that the prophet tried to avoid being questioned, which suggests that he was unable to adequately answer what was being asked.
O you who believe! do not put questions about things which if declared to you may trouble you, and if you question about them when the Quran is being revealed, they shall be declared to you; Allah pardons this, and Allah is Forgiving, Forbearing.
A people before you indeed asked such questions, and then became disbelievers on account of them.
Rather you wish to put questions to your Apostle, as Musa [Moses] was questioned before; and whoever adopts unbelief instead of faith, he indeed has lost the right direction of the way.
O you who believe! do not enter the houses of the Prophet unless permission is given to you for a meal, not waiting for its cooking being finished-- but when you are invited, enter, and when you have taken the food, then disperse-- not seeking to listen to talk; surely this gives the Prophet trouble, but he forbears from you, and Allah does not forbear from the truth And when you ask of them any goods, ask of them from behind a curtain; this is purer for your hearts and (for) their hearts; and it does not behove you that you should give trouble to the Apostle of Allah, nor that you should marry his wives after him ever; surely this is grievous in the sight of Allah.
Narrated Aisha: Once the Prophet was bewitched so that he began to imagine that he had done a thing which in fact he had not done.
It seems doubtful that Muhammad was bewitched but if he hallucinated about activities then it is possible that he hallucinated about prophecies. If he was bewitched, then perhaps some of his prophecies occurred when he was bewitched.
Notes
- ↑ This expands on what Ali Dashti wrote: “23 years: A study of the prophetic career of Mohammad” (F.R.C Bagley, translator), Mazda Publishers (paperback) 1994, p30.
