The Truth About the Prophet Muhammad: Examining Historical Claims
- Mar 4
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 13
Disclaimer: This article discusses historical claims about the prophet Muhammad that some readers may find sensitive. All references cited come from recognized Islamic sources, including hadith collections and early biographies. The goal is not to offend, but to examine whether these accounts are consistent with the standards of a true prophet.
Introduction:
What is the truth about the prophet Muhammad according to Islamic Sources? This article examines widely discussed historical claims found within Islamic sources themselves, including hadith collections and early biographies, and evaluates whether these accounts align with the character expected of a true prophet.
Did Muhammad Believe He Was Demon-Possessed?
After his first experience in the Cave of Hira, Muhammad returned to Khadija trembling and asking to be covered. Ibn Ishaq records his fear that he had become a poet or a man possessed, the standard pre-Islamic association of inspiration with jinn.
During the pause in revelation (the fatra), a report preserved in Sahih al-Bukhari says he repeatedly set out to throw himself from mountain tops, with Gabriel appearing each time to stop him. This portion enters Bukhari as an addition from the narrator al-Zuhri, a point Muslim scholars raise in its defense (see the steelman section below).
References/Links:
Sahih al-Bukhari 3 - the first revelation, his fear, and Khadija's reassurance
Sahih al-Bukhari 6982 - the fatra and the mountain-tops report (via al-Zuhri's addition)
Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah (Guillaume translation, The Life of Muhammad, pp. 105-107)
Al-Tabari, History (SUNY edition, Vol. 6, pp. 67-77)
Answering-Islam: https://answering-islam.org/Silas/demons.htm
The Truth About the Prophet Muhammad and the Satanic Verses Incident
During the recitation of Surah 53 (An-Najm), Muhammad is reported to have spoken lines praising the pagan goddesses al-Lat, al-Uzza, and Manat as intercessors, easing tensions with his Quraysh tribe.
The polytheists were pleased and prostrated alongside the Muslims. Muhammad later withdrew the lines, saying Satan had cast them onto his tongue.
The Quran itself acknowledges satanic interjection upon prophets (Surah 22:52) and warns Muhammad about being tempted to alter revelation (Surah 17:73-75).
References/Links:
Al-Tabari, History (SUNY edition, Vol. 6, pp. 107-112) - includes the report in which Muhammad says he attributed to Allah words He had not spoken
Ibn Ishaq's original Sirat contained the episode; Ibn Hisham's surviving recension omits it. Guillaume restores it from Tabari at pp. 165-167 of The Life of Muhammad
Quran 22:52-53; 17:73-75; 53:19-23
Shahab Ahmed, Before Orthodoxy: The Satanic Verses in Early Islam (Harvard University Press, 2017) - documents that the earliest Muslim biographers transmitted the incident widely
Answering-Islam: https://answering-islam.org/Silas/demons.htm
The Truth About the Prophet Muhammad and Claims of Bewitchment
Sahih al-Bukhari reports Muhammad was bewitched by Labid ibn al-A'sam, a man of Banu Zurayq, using a comb, hair, and knots hidden in the well of Dharwan.
Aisha narrates that the spell affected his mind: he imagined he had done things he had not done, including relations with his wives. Reports differ on the duration; the Bukhari narrations give no fixed length, while later sources range from weeks to months.
Bukhari's narrations describe the discovery of the items and Muhammad declining to burn them. The tradition that Surahs 113-114 (Al-Falaq and An-Nas) were revealed to undo the knots comes from other narrations and the tafsir literature, not from Bukhari itself.
References/Links:
Sahih al-Bukhari 3268, 5763, 5765, 6391 (older USC numbering: 4.490, 7.658, 7.660) - Aisha's narrations of the spell
Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Vol. 2, pp. 244-248)
Answering-Islam: https://answering-islam.org/Silas/demons.htm
The Truth About the Prophet Muhammad: The Poisoning at Khaybar
After the conquest of Khaybar, Zaynab bint al-Harith, a Jewish woman whose husband, father, and uncle had been killed in the battle and its aftermath, served Muhammad a roasted sheep with poison concentrated in the shoulder he preferred.
Muhammad chewed a piece and spat it out, but his companion Bishr ibn al-Bara swallowed his portion and died from it. Accounts differ on Zaynab's fate: some reports say she was pardoned, others that she was executed after Bishr died.
Years later, in his final illness, Muhammad said he still felt the pain of the Khaybar food and felt as if his aorta were being cut from that poison.
References/Links:
Sahih al-Bukhari 4428 (older numbering 5:59:713) - Aisha's narration of the deathbed statement about the Khaybar poison and the aorta
Sunan Abi Dawud 4512 - Bishr ibn al-Bara's death and the report concerning Zaynab's execution
Ibn Ishaq (Guillaume translation, pp. 515-516) - the poisoning account and the killing of Kinana ibn al-Rabi at Khaybar
The Truth About the Prophet Muhammad and the Aorta Verse
Quran 69:44-46 declares that if Muhammad had fabricated sayings against Allah, Allah would seize him by the right hand and cut off his aorta (al-wateen).
Critics present the deathbed statement as the fulfillment of the Quran's own false prophet test. Precision matters here: the Quran uses al-wateen while the hadith uses abhar. Both terms refer to the aorta or a life-artery from the heart, but they are different Arabic words, and Muslim scholars press that difference (see the steelman section below).
References/Links:
Quran 69:44-46 (Surah Al-Haqqah)
Sahih al-Bukhari 4428 - the deathbed aorta statement
Tafsir Ibn Kathir on Surah 69:44-46 - the classical commentary on the passage
The Truth About the Prophet Muhammad: Marriage to Zaynab and Adoption Changes
Later reports in al-Tabari and some tafsir works say Muhammad saw Zaynab bint Jahsh, the wife of his adopted son Zayd, in a way that stirred attraction. Many Muslim scholars reject these specific reports as weak, so the argument should not rest on them.
The Quran's own text carries the question by itself: Zayd divorced her, Muhammad married her, and Surah 33:37 states that Muhammad concealed within himself what Allah would bring to light and that he feared the people when Allah had more right to be feared.
The Quran redefined adoption (Surah 33:4-5, 33:40) so that Zayd was no longer counted a true son, removing the taboo. Anas later remarked that if Muhammad were to have concealed any part of the revelation, he would have concealed this verse.
References/Links:
Quran 33:4-5, 33:36-40
Sahih al-Bukhari 4787 - Anas's remark on concealment, in the tafsir of Surah Al-Ahzab
Al-Tabari, History (SUNY edition, Vol. 8, pp. 2-4) - the disputed reports about the origin of the attraction
Tafsir Ibn Kathir on 33:37 - the mainstream Muslim rejection of those reports
How Muslims Respond: The Steelman
An honest case states the other side at full strength. These are the strongest Muslim defenses of each account, followed by where the tension remains.
The suicide reports: The mountain-tops detail enters Bukhari as a disconnected (mursal) addition from al-Zuhri, not on Aisha's unbroken chain, so many scholars rule it below Bukhari's usual standard. That is a fair point. The remaining tension: the material still sits inside Sahih al-Bukhari, and the fear of possession stands independently in Ibn Ishaq and al-Tabari.
The satanic verses: Most Muslim scholars, medieval and modern, reject the incident because its chains of transmission are broken and it contradicts the Quran's promise of protection (Surah 15:9). That is the strongest defense. The complication: Shahab Ahmed's research shows the earliest generations of Muslim biographers transmitted the story widely and treated it as memory, not slander. The rejection hardened later, and largely on theological rather than historical grounds.
The bewitchment: The defense is that the spell touched Muhammad's body and imagination but never the revelation, so prophecy is untouched. The tension: the Quran records pagans dismissing Muhammad as a bewitched man and treats the charge as a slander of wrongdoers (Surah 17:47; 25:8-9). If Sahih al-Bukhari affirms he was in fact bewitched for a time, the Quran's own rebuttal is strained.
Khaybar and the aorta: The defense: Surah 69:44-46 describes an immediate divine seizure for fabricating revelation, while Muhammad lived roughly three more years and died of illness, and al-wateen and abhar are different words. The tension: the hadith still records Muhammad, on his deathbed, describing his life-artery being cut from the Khaybar poison, in language any early Arabic hearer would hear echoing Surah 69. The weight of that echo is for the reader to judge.
Zaynab bint Jahsh: The defense: the reports of Muhammad seeing her are weak, and the marriage was commanded by Allah precisely to demolish a pagan adoption taboo, as Surah 33:37-38 states. The tension: even on the Quran's own telling, Muhammad concealed his intent and feared men, and the revelation arrived to authorize the very marriage in question. Anas's remark shows the first Muslims themselves felt the difficulty.
References/Links:
Shahab Ahmed, Before Orthodoxy: The Satanic Verses in Early Islam (Harvard University Press, 2017)
Tafsir Ibn Kathir on Surah 33:37 and 69:44-46
Quran 15:9; 17:47; 25:8-9
Apologetic Insight:
If these accounts are accurate within Islamic sources, they raise serious questions about the reliability and consistency of Muhammad’s prophetic claims.
Takeaway
These historical claims, drawn from Islamic sources themselves, are central to understanding the truth about the prophet Muhammad. The question is not whether these sources exist, but how they should be interpreted.
If these accounts are accurate, do they align with what one would expect from a true prophet of God? Or do they raise deeper questions about the foundation of these claims?
Each reader must examine the evidence and come to their own conclusion.
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