Muslims need to write an honest biography of the Prophet that does not shun the truth, least of all cover it up with the dishonest subterfuge of condescending the Western scholars... Ibn Warraq
Introduction:
Towards the beginning of last century, there was a rising interest among the Western scholars to investigate the origins of Islam and its founder, i.e., Prophet Muhammad. For this they had used highest standard of historical scholarship available at that time. Their aim was to collect authentic information about Muhammad and the rise of early Islam by carefully separating the facts from fictions. In some ways the research on Muhammad was inspired by a similar type of investigation of Christianity made famous by Albert Schweitzer's famous work 'The Quest of the Historical Jesus'.
All religions except Islam have their origins covered in mystery. Islam, as Renan used the famous phrase, "[Islam] was born in the full light of history" (cited Warraq, 2000, p. 15), stands firm and clear in front of us. Unlike semi-mythological religious figures, example, Christ, Buddha, Adi Shankara or Mahavira Jain; the founder of Islam is as well known to us as that of any other social reformer. Several thousand short stories about Muhammad were collected in Shahih Hadith.
Considering above, though it appears to be comparatively easier to write an analytical history of Islam and its founder, but actually it is not so. As Spencer (2006, p.19) commented, "Most Western non-Muslims know virtually nothing about the Prophet of Islam", but the question is, how many practicing Muslims know their Prophet well? Has an honest biography of Muhammad yet been written? There are enough pious and totally un-objective traditions of Muhammad preserved by the Muslim religious community, but what is lacking in these sources is honesty.
Even today, numerous works in Arabic and other Muslim majority languages appear each year which try to portray Muhammad as a holy man, a seer, visionary and miracle worker. But in reality these are far away from truth. The reason no Muslim can write an honest biography of their Prophet, is that the biography of Muhammad is a subject that is taboo and as Rodinson (1981, p.24) commented, "... is permitted only when written as apologetic and edifying literature". Hence, objective historical research on Muhammad has long been severely handicapped both by the resistance of the Muslim societies to Western analysis of their sacred traditions and by the apologetic approaches of many Western scholars, who had compromised their investigation for fear of offending Muslim sensibilities.
But in recent time, thanks to both Western and ex-Muslim writers; a lot of scholarly work had been produced 'which could offend certain readers'. With the help of these scholars, we can trace Muhammad's fluctuation of thought year by year, his actions, his achievements, family life, abnormal sexual behavior, strength and weaknesses. If we compare our findings with that of modern development of psychological studies, the image of Muhammad that surfaces is far away from any holy religious figure but that of a person who was suffering from severe mental illness. And if we probe further deep into the mystery of Allah and carefully make a distinction between superstition and science, we have hardly any doubt left that it was his mental illness and hallucinatory experience which was solely responsible for creating Allah, Qur'an and Islam altogether.
The above is the introduction to the book, Chapter 1 follows, 
download Chapter 1 here , full book here .
Unmasking Muhammad:The Malignant Narcissist and His Grand Illusion Allah by Suujit Dass
Outline of Chapter 1
1.1: Muhammad's Prophetic Claim
1.2: The Embarrassment of Satanic Verses
1.3: The Traditional Sources
1.3.1: The Reliability of Traditional Sources
1.4: Discrediting Muhammad using Traditional Sources
1.5: Discrediting Muhammad using the Modern-day Sources
1.6: Discrediting Muhammad by His Own Words and Conduct
1.7: The Message of Prophet Muhammad
1.8: Muhammad's Miracles
1.8.1: Refuting the Claims of Muhammad's Miracles.
1.9: Conclusion
Chapter 1: The Flashback of a False Prophet
1.1: Muhammad's Prophetic Claim
Islam is a religion which had developed from the Prophetic claim, preaching and life of Muhammad early in the seventh century of the Christian era. During that time, the old Arabian paganism was in a process of slow disintegration and Judaism and Christianity were widely gaining popularity. Several self-proclaimed Prophets had arisen with various degrees of success in convincing people. In the beginning Muhammad was such a self-proclaimed Prophet, but with time he successfully synchronized certain basic elements of Judaism and Christianity with the pagan practices and added some nationalistic Arab pride and it has become a world religion today.
From the authentic Islamic sources it appears that Muhammad thought of himself as in the succession of the Old Testament men of faith who was sent on a Divine mission by the one and only God, Allah. Like Noah, Jonah, and Elijah he preached a religious message in the name of this Supreme Lord, like Moses he also issued legislation in His name, and like Abraham he was not only a maintainer of righteousness but the founder of a community of the righteous. But unlike Christianity or Buddhism, his religious endeavor was an utter failure unless he was able to draw the sword and use it successfully to impose his religion on others.
Muhammad declared himself a Prophet of Allah when he was about forty years old. Bukhari's Hadith (1:3) recorded Muhammad's first experience with the angel Gabriel. But this Divine confrontation was less heavenly and more demonic. Once in the cave of Hira, the angel Gabriel came to him with some written messages from Allah and asked him to read. Muhammad replied, "I do not know how to read". Three times Muhammad expressed his inability to read but Gabriel forcefully gave him the message of Allah, the famous first revelations of Qur'an.
"Read (Prophet Muhammad) in the Name of your Lord who created the human from a (blood) clot. Read! Your Lord is the Most Generous, who taught by the pen, taught the human, what he did not know" (Q: 96.1-5).
So the truth of Allah's message started descending upon Muhammad in a violent way. This is entirely sufficient for a rational person to seriously doubt about the truthfulness of Qur'anic message and Muhammad's reliability as a Prophet. Surprisingly, Muhammad himself was the first person to doubt the genuineness of the revelation. He hurried back to his wife bewildered and terrorized, "What's wrong with me?" he asks his wife. Just as kids hide under the covers when they are afraid of monsters in the dark, so Muhammad had his wife wrap him in a blanket; he did not want to see the cause of terror again. He thought he was either going mad or possessed by an evil spirit.
After this first revelation Allah was silent for about three years. Muhammad was so sad that he preferred to commit suicide. Several times he intended to throw himself from the top of high mountains but every time he went up the top of mountain in order to throw himself down, Gabriel would appear before him and said, "O Muhammad! You are indeed Allah's Apostle in truth." This is how Muhammad began to believe that he was a messenger of God. A messenger of such a demonic God who's influence caused him to attempt suicide.
Few people are aware of Muhammad's suicide attempts. Few Islamic leaders will teach this to their fellow Muslims because it casts a stain upon Muhammad; it brings doubt to his trustworthiness and the credibility of his assumed "Prophetic" experience. Some Muslims deny the sources of the story. Other more intelligent Muslims, knowledgeable about the sources, respond by saying that the shock of the experience caused him to attempt suicide.
According to Qur'an, Muhammad was the seal of the Prophets.
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