MUHAMMAD IS A PROPHET WHO RECEIVED PROPHETHOOD THROUGH FEVER AND DIED OF FEVER

By Dr. Maxwell Shimba

Shimba Theological Institute

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MUHAMMAD IS A PROPHET WHO RECEIVED PROPHETHOOD THROUGH FEVER AND DIED OF FEVER

According to some historical books about Muhammad, it is explained that his prophethood involved an incident of being pressed (crushed) in the cave of Hira, a situation accompanied by fear and fever. These reports are found in the book History of Muhammad by Sheikh Abdulla Saleh Farsy, p. 16, paragraph 4, which explains that Muhammad went to the cave of Hira at the age of 38, and in the second year of his stay there he experienced that incident.

It is explained that one day in the month of Ramadan, when he encountered an unknown person, he was told, “Read,” but he replied that he did not know how to read. After this command was repeated several times and he was pressed, he was recited the opening words of Surah 96 (Iqra). After this incident, that person disappeared, and Muhammad returned home in great fear.

Sheikh Abdulla Saleh Farsy further explains in The Great Prophets and Their Followers, p. 12 paragraph 3, that when Muhammad returned home he developed a severe fever, trembled, and feared that he had gone mad or was being played with by demons. He told his wife Khadija about his fear, but Khadija comforted him and declared him to be a prophet because of his good character.

According to these arguments, it is claimed that Muhammad received his prophethood while in a state of fever and fear, and that he himself feared that the one who confronted him was Satan. Even some narrations, as found in Fat’hul Baary (p. 6, Hadith No. 89), narrate that Muhammad had a devil from the time of his birth.

After that, belief spread that the one who came to him in the cave was the Angel Jibril, a matter that has been accepted in Islam to this day, although these arguments claim that this narrative came later to cover up the real origin of that incident.

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MUHAMMAD DIED OF FEVER

Regarding the death of Muhammad, there are differing claims within Islam: some say he was poisoned, but Sheikh Abdulla Saleh Farsy writes in The Life of the Prophet Muhammad (p. 79 paragraph 4) that Muhammad died of fever. He explains that he began to suffer from fever and headaches that increased day by day, until he became very weak.

As the illness worsened, he requested permission from his wives to be nursed in the house of Aisha, where he continued to be ill until he died. Pages 80–81 explain how his condition continued to deteriorate until he died and was buried.

The argument continues to claim that receiving prophethood through fever and dying of fever is a punishment from God, according to the Book of Deuteronomy 28:22, which mentions fever as a punishment for those who go against the laws of God.

Furthermore, it is stated that Muhammad attempted to turn fever into a “blessing” by saying that fever erases sins, as quoted in The Book of the Truthful and Trustworthy, Volumes 3–4, Hadith No. 922. This argument criticizes that view by claiming that it misleads believers into treating sin lightly.