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!