# 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**.

**Credible hadiths describing Muhammad's revelations:**

#### Sahih Bukhari 6982 (First revelation)

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

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"**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?**'"

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"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 2

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"Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) replied, '**Sometimes it is (revealed) like the ringing of a bell**'"

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"I saw the **Prophet (ﷺ) being inspired divinely on a very cold day and noticed the sweat dropping from his forehead (as the Inspiration was over)**"

[Sahih Bukhari 2](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:2)

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 5

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"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 Bukhari 4985

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"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)

#### Sahih Bukhari 4592

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"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)

### Sources
- Sahih Bukhari 6982: https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6982
- Sahih Bukhari 2: https://sunnah.com/bukhari:2
- 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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