The Quran rebukes Muhammad for doubting the revelations he was receiving and was exhorted to assuage his doubts by consulting the Jews and Christians who had been given an inspired Book to judge by:
(Muhammad,) if you are in doubt about what We sent down to you, then ask those who read the book (that was sent down) before you. Indeed the truth has come to you from your Master, so do not be of the doubters. And do not be among those who denied God’s signs, for you would become of the losers. S. 10:94 95 (Ali Bakhtiari Nejad https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/10/st65.htm)
Muslim sources state that when the so-called revelations came to Muhammad, he initially believed that he may have seen a demon and that he was perhaps demon possessed. He was then taken to a Christian monk named Waraqa ibn Nawfal to see whether such was a caae. However, even after his meeting with the monk Muhammad continued to be troubled by what the spirit had down to him and went as far as trying to kill himself on more than one occasion after the death of Waraqa:
Narrated Aisha: (the wife of the Prophet) The commencement (of the Divine Inspiration) to Allah’s Apostle was in the form of true dreams in his sleep, for he never had a dream but it turned out to be true and clear as the bright daylight. Then he began to like seclusions, so he used to go in seclusion in the cave of Hira where he used to worship Allah continuously for many nights before going back to his family to take the necessary provision (of food) for the stay. He come back to (his wife) Khadija again to take his provision (of food) likewise, till one day he received the Guidance while he was in the cave of Hira. An Angel came to him and asked him to read. Allah’s Apostle replied, “I do not know how to read.”
The Prophet added, “Then the Angel held me (forcibly) and pressed me so hard that I felt distressed. Then he released me and again asked me to read, and I replied, ‘I do not know how to read.’ Thereupon he held me again and pressed me for the second time till I felt distressed. He then released me and asked me to read, but again I replied. ‘I do not know how to read.’ Thereupon he held me for the third time and pressed me till I got distressed, and then he released me and said, ‘Read, in the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists), has created man out of a clot, Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous. Who has taught (the writing) by the pen, has taught man that which he knew not.’ (96.1-5).”
Then Allah’s Apostle returned with that experience; and the muscles between his neck and shoulders were trembling till he came upon Khadija (his wife) and said, “Cover me!” They covered him, and when the state of fear was over, he said to Khadija, “O Khadija! What is wrong with me? I was afraid that something bad might happen to me.” Then he told her the story. Khadija said, “Nay! But receive the good tidings! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you, for by Allah, you keep good relations with your Kith and kin, speak the truth, help the poor and the destitute, entertain your guests generously and assist those who are stricken with calamities.” Khadija then took him to Waraqa bin Naufil, the son of Khadija’s paternal uncle. Waraqa had been converted to Christianity in the Pre-lslamic Period and used to write Arabic and write of the Gospel in Arabic as much as Allah wished him to write. He was an old man and had lost his eyesight. Khadija said (to Waraqa), “O my cousin! Listen to what your nephew is going to say.” Waraqa said, “O my nephew! What have you seen?” The Prophet then described whatever he had seen. Waraqa said, “This is the same Angel (Gabriel) who was sent to Moses. I wish I were young.” He added some other statement. Allah’s Apostle asked, “Will these people drive me out?” Waraqa said, “Yes, for nobody brought the like of what you have brought, but was treated with hostility. If I were to remain alive till your day (when you start preaching). then I would support you strongly.” But a short while later Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was paused (stopped) for a while so that Allah’s Apostle was very much grieved.
Narrated Jabir bin ‘Abdullah: While Allah’s Apostle was talking about the period of pause in revelation. He said in his narration: Once while I was walking, all of a sudden I heard a voice from the sky. I looked up and saw to my surprise, the same Angel as had visited me in the cave of Hira. He was sitting on a chair between the sky and the earth. I got afraid of him and came back home and said, ‘Wrap me! Wrap me!’ So they covered him and then Allah revealed:
‘O you, wrapped up! Arise and warn and your Lord magnify, and your garments purify and dessert the idols.’” (74.1-5) (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60, Number 478 https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=60&translator=1&start=0&number=478)
“… But after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while and the Prophet became so sad as we have heard that he intended SEVERAL TIMES to throw himself from the tops of high mountains and every time he went up the top of a mountain in order to throw himself down, Gabriel would appear before him and say, “O Muhammad! You are indeed Allah’s Apostle in truth” whereupon his heart would become quiet and he would calm down and would return home. And whenever the period of the coming of the inspiration USED TO BECOME LONG, HE WOULD DO AS BEFORE, but when he used to reach the top of a mountain, Gabriel would appear before him and say to him what he had said before. (Ibn ‘Abbas said regarding the meaning of: ‘He it is that Cleaves the daybreak (from the darkness)’ (6.96) that Al-Asbah means the light of the sun during the day and the light of the moon at night). (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 87, Number 111 https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=87&translator=1&start=0&number=111)
Renowned Muslim historian and commentator al-Tabari wrote:
Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Al‘a – Ibn Thawr – Ma‘mar – al-Zuhri: The inspiration ceased to come to the Messenger of God for a while, and he was deeply grieved. He began to go to the tops of mountain crags, in order to fling himself from them; but EVERY TIME he reached the summit of a mountain, Gabriel appeared to him and said to him, “You are the Prophet of God.” Thereupon his anxiety would subside and he would come back to himself. (The History of al-Tabari: Muhammad at Mecca, translated and annotated by W. Montgomery Watt and M.V. McDonald [State University of New York Press (SUNY), Albany, NY 1988], Volume VI (6), p. 76; bold and capital emphasis mine)
Islamic sources say that the period in which the spirit stopped coming to Muhammad, which caused the latter to try to kill himself, lasted anywhere from between six months to three years!
The late Christian scholar of Islam Sir William Muir noted:
The period succeeding the revelation of the 96th Sura, during which inspiration was suspended, and Mahomet in despondency contemplated suicide, is generally represented as of longer duration than in the above statement. This interval, styled the Fatrah or “Intermission,” is variously held to have lasted from six months to three years. At its close, the 74th and 93rd Suras, containing assurance of mercy and the command to preach, were delivered. The accounts, however, are throughout confused, if not contradictory; and we can only gather with certainty that there was a time (corresponding with the deductions which we have drawn from the Coran itself), during which the mind of Mahomet hung in suspense, and doubted the Divine mission.28 (Muir, The Life of Muhammad, Volume II, CHAPTER THIRD: The Belief of Mahomet in his own Inspiration, pp. 85-86; online edition; bold emphasis mine)
Muslim translator Abdullah Yusuf Ali states the following in regards to Sura 73:
This is one of the earliest Suras to have been revealed. The first was S. xcvi. 1-5 (Iqraa), in the fortieth year of the Prophet’s life, say about 12 years before the Hijra. Then there was an interruption (Fatra), of which the duration cannot be exactly ascertained, as there was no external history connected with it. The usual estimate puts it at about six months, but it may have been a year or two years. The years were then counted by the luni-solar calendar… (Ali, The Holy Qur’an: Text, Translation and Commentary, p. 1632; bold emphasis mine)
Suffice it to say there are glaring problems with Muhammad’s encounters with the particular spirit being that came to give him the Quranic revelations.
First, none of the true prophets were violated when revelations came to them the way Muhammad was manhandled by his spirit guide. Nor did any of God’s true prophets ever contemplate killing themselves after encountering the divine. Instead, the true emissaries of God were comforted and their fears completely removed during these divine encounters:
“Then it happened, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, ‘Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.’ So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me, ‘Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end.’ Now, as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me, and stood me upright.” Daniel 8:15-18 New King James Version (NKJV)
“In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar. The message was true, but the appointed time was long; and he understood the message, and had understanding of the vision.In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks.I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. Now on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, that is, the Tigris,I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz! His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone when I saw this great vision, and no strength remained in me; for my vigor was turned to frailty in me, and I retained no strength.Yet I heard the sound of his words; and while I heard the sound of his words I was in a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground. Suddenly, a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. And he said to me, ‘O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.’ While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling. Then he said to me, ‘DO NOT FEAR, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.’ When he had spoken such words to me, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless.And suddenly, one having the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips; then I opened my mouth and spoke, saying to him who stood before me, ‘My lord, because of the vision my sorrows have overwhelmed me, and I have retained no strength.For how can this servant of my lord talk with you, my lord? As for me, no strength remains in me now, nor is any breath left in me.’ Then again, the one having the likeness of a man touched me and strengthened me.And he said, ‘O man greatly beloved, FEAR NOT! Peace be to you; be strong, yes, be strong!’ So when he spoke to me I was strengthened, and said, ‘Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.’” Daniel 10:1-19 NKJV
“So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division,according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, ‘DO NOT BE AFRAID, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.’… And the angel answered and said to him, ‘I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.” Luke 1:8-13, 19 NKJV
“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’ But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.Then the angel said to her, ‘DO NOT BE AFRAID, Mary, for you have found favor with God.And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.’ Then Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man?’ And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.’” Luke 1:26-35 NKJV
“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’ I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,’ and, ‘What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.’ Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters;He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, ‘DO NOT BE AFRAID; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.’” Revelation 1:7-18
Second, the fact that Muhammad’s experiences were to be judged by the Scriptures of the Jews and Christians indicates that the Quran’s author(s) and/or editor(s) presupposed that the Holy Bible is the uncorrupt revelations of God. After all, it makes no sense to consult corrupt, unreliable writings to verify the so-called revelations of Muhammad.
This brings us to the third problem Muslims face. The very Scriptures which Muhammad’s deity commanded him to consult contradict the revelations sent down to Muhammad, thereby exposing him as an antichrist!
Therefore, Muhammad’s experiences with the malevolent spirit who came and violated him prove that he was a false prophet and that Allah is a false god.
FURTHER READING
Sura 10:94 and Muhammad’s doubts
Muhammad: Man of Faith or One Filled With Doubts?
Muhammad the Doubter Still
Evidence that Muhammad was a Sinful Transgressor
Did Muhammad Contemplate Suicide?
Reexamining Satan’s Influence and Control over Muhammad: [Part 1], [Part 2]
A Muslim Scholar’s Incriminating Statements on Islam Pt. 1
Analysing the defences offered by the charlatan advocates of Muhammad
Answering Islam Blog 