Islam Dismantled

by Sujit Das

  There is another destructive aspect of narcissistic rage. It is the duration. The rage is not just a flash fire that quickly burns out. It is not easily quenched because the anger is not rationally connected to others; it continues to seethe and burn until the Narcissist’s internal stability is regained (Zayn & Dibble, 2007, p. 86). He has a persistent feeling of ill-will and resentment, and his anger will brood for years over what others consider being insignificant matters. Even when others may try to make amends, he still sees the person who triggered his rage as someone who has the potential to threaten his carefully fashioned false self.

  3.6: Correlating Muhammad and Malignant Narcissism

  There are literally thousands of short stories available about Muhammad in the authentic sources, and unlike other semi-mythical religious figures, he is as well known to us as that of any other prominent historical figure. By comparing all the information we have about Muhammad to modern development of psychological studies on NPD, it is possible to make an objective study to evaluate the character and psychological make up of Muhammad. And with this investigation, the Prophet Muhammad stands naked in front of us, the divinity vanishes into thin air and we can identify him as a malignant Narcissist in a divine robe. We can clearly see his inflated false self and the monodrama he enacted yet skillfully remained behind the scene. We can make out that the aforementioned seven deadly sins were significantly present in him.

  Now, I should explain, step by step, why Muhammad thought of himself as “special” or “privileged” and demanded excessive praise, why he lacked empathy and enjoyed “putting something over others”, how he became a slave to his false self, and how he failed to realize that beneath this narcissistic glitter there was an impaired real self. Next, I wish to answer the question; was he unaware of his lies or felt completely justified while lying to others about his prophetic mission?

  Lastly, I intend to discover the impaired true self of Muhammad.

  3.6.1: The Narcissistic Delusion of Muhammad

  Muhammad was a massive denier of reality. He often retreated into a fantasy world to avoid feelings of low self-esteem. If we apply Freud’s theory of id, ego and superego to understand his strange mental setup, we can clearly identify the three important “players” of his mind.

  Id (true self, real self) – Muhammad: the weak, orphaned, neglected and unloved, coward, insignificant, illiterate and poor merchantman of Mecca who never got a meaningful employment in his life, and lived a parasitic life with the wealth of his wife.

  Ego (false self) – Prophet Muhammad: the Apostle of Allah, the best of creation, the preferred one, an excellent example to humankind, exalted above other Prophets in degrees and mercy to the world. Allah first created the light of Muhammad, out of which, everything which constitutes this world, were created. He is on a divine mission to conquer the world for Allah.

  Superego – Allah: The God, who had chosen Muhammad as His last Prophet and took special care for every whimsical demand of his beloved Prophet. Allah is the most merciful and most powerful God. He is the Lord of the worlds and best of all the Creators.

  On the day Muhammad had a vivid hallucination in the cave Hira (i.e., received his first revelation), his false self realized the self-importance. This was the time, he clearly separated the concepts of real self and false self, and in this process a confusion arose. Since he was also a neurotic patient, this delusion/confusion was deep-rooted in his mind. As Freud (Strachey & Gay, 1966, p. 103) concludes that a delusion, for instance, meets one squarely and with definite outlines; e.g., suddenly a neurotic patient says straight out with all sincerity – “I am the Emperor of the World” and starts putting forward many “cleverest” arguments in support of his delusional beliefs which any child can see are nonsensical.

  Such a person is a riddle hard to understand, but if we put him under Freudian analysis, the confusions disappear. According to Freud (Strachey & Gay, 1961, p. 39), some delusions are derived from human wishes and they are psychiatric delusions. In psychiatric delusions, the wish-fulfillment is the most prominent factor in its motivation and in doing so the patient completely disregards its relations to reality. It is so deep-rooted that there is no scope for verification in the patient’s mind. He just allows himself to be carried away by his delusion, and at any cost he will never let his belief be torn from him. Psychiatric delusions often take their rise from the patient’s childhood and once we understand the root causes, we can also understand how much energy it took to form them. In the case of Muhammad, it initiated when he was hardly five year old but erupted when he was about forty.

  However, under his psychiatric delusion, Muhammad felt entitled to regular admiration, compliance, or favorable treatment from others. From this day, his false self started dominating his true self and it continued until his true self was actually paralyzed. In sum, he had constructed an air-tight cocoon of narcissistic enjoyment where he could relax, feel good and feel secure – all because he had invented a lie that he was the chosen Prophet of Allah. He mistook his hallucination for real and thus believed in his own lie. However, his psychopathic behavior was not noticed by others till the time he got a strong foothold in Medina.

  After the first revelation when Allah was silent for a long time, Muhammad was depressed. He realized that his inflated false self could not be preserved and the narcissistic grandiosity “balloon” would be punctured, which may ultimately activate his true self. He felt so miserable and insecure that he even wanted to commit suicide.

  In the beginning of his prophetic mission, Muhammad was not sure who should be his God. When he received the first revelation, overnight he changed his rank from a merchantman to a Prophet without even knowing from whom he received the divine instruction. The “voice” he had heard in the cave did not tell him about the identity of his God because it was a command hallucination. In spite of that, he started warning the Meccans with dire consequences if they did not accept him as a Prophet while he himself was in such a delusion.

  Initially Muhammad tried various brands of God, but he was frustrated with the response from his audience and changed his mind several times. Surprisingly, the real Allah did not come forward to remove his confusion. Later on he realized that all the pagans, despite their numerous idols, were wholly devoted to their moon God, Allah, because they believed that Allah had the ability to inflict punishment as well as rewards. This is the only reason Muhammad choose the pagan Allah as his God. Therefore, those who try to single out Allah and glorify him above the other Meccan idols should remember that Muhammad could just as easily have picked Manaf, al-Lat, al-Uzza, or any of the others. Allah did not find Muhammad but it was Muhammad who looked for a suitable “Allah” to preach in His name. The deception of this seventh century malignant Narcissist started from here.

  3.6.2: Identifying the Defensive Inflated False Self of Muhammad

  The defensive inflated false self of Muhammad was the role he played under the title of a Prophet for the entire period of his prophetic mission. His true self was subdued and his inflated false self played the monodrama with a Prophet’s cap on his head. Muhammad was quite aware that a direct self-promotion would be seen as repulsive and hence would be rejected. A Prophet cannot stand alone unless he has a God to certify him. In other words, the false self of a Narcissist cannot survive without the authorization of a superego. Throughout Muhammad’s prophetic mission, Allah had no other job but to defend his beloved Prophet.

  To preserve his false self and to exaggerate his own importance, Muhammad had made some extraordinary claims about himself. Apart from thinking that he was the “seal of the Prophets” (Q: 33.40); this megalomaniac regarded himself as “Khayru-l-Khalq” (the best of creation), an “excellent example” (Q: 33.21), and gave us a hint that he was “exalted above other Prophets in degrees” (Q: 2.253). He also claimed to be “the preferred one” (Q: 17.55), sent as a “Mercy to the Worlds” (Q: 21.107), and will be “raised to a praised estate” (Q: 17.79). Also, in ahadith he
had made many strange claims – I am from Allah and believers are from me, the very first thing Allah ever created was my soul, first of all things the Lord created my mind, Allah created me noble and gave me noble character (cited Adil, 2002, p. 29). Allah very generously declared, “Were it not for you, I would not have created the universe.” (Tabaqat, Volume - 1).

  Narcissists are mentally sick and their claims are strange. They also lack in judgment (Vaknin, 1999, p. 19), and massive deniers of reality (Masterson, 1990, p. 93; Vaknin, 1999, p. 23). This is what we understand from the extraordinary claims of Muhammad. People say outlandishly positive things about themselves (e.g., I am smarter than Stephen Hawking) when it is obvious that they are covering up for a perceived deficiency (e.g., he dropped out of high school). Only a malignant Narcissist can be so cut off from reality as to claim that God had created universe because of him. Undoubtedly, Muhammad was talking about a nonexistent past, a nostalgia based on narcissistic delusion. According to Vaknin (1999, p. 86), when there is lack of narcissistic supplies, the Narcissists hark back to a past that “ never existed except in the thwarted grandiosity of the Narcissist. The longer the lack of narcissistic supply, the more this past is glorified, rewritten, missed and mourned. This serves to enhance all the other negative feelings .”

  This is the real cause of his self-glorification by faking an invented past. When he claimed that Allah first created his mind and soul, or, universe was created for him, or, someone washed his heart with snow when he was a child; he was in fact starving from narcissistic supplies. His lies are easy to catch because his claims were self-contradictory. In the beginning of his mission he did not even know who his God was. Now we know how easily Muhammad could swing back and forth between the two extremes – reality and fantasy. The whole religion of Islam stands on Muhammad’s truth claim; but how to determine, in his truth claim how much fantasy and how much truth is there? Twenge & Campbell (2010, p. 276) conclude, “ There is a giant transfer of time, attention and resources from reality to fantasy … corroded interpersonal relationships… a switch from deep to shallow relationships, a destruction of social trust, and an increase in entitlement and selfishness .”

  Muhammad was a pathological liar, and the past he inflated was full of false memories and fantasies which were actually falsifications of his false self. Vaknin (1999, p. 157) commented, “ The Narcissist is bound to develop false memories, conjure up false fantasies, anticipate the unrealistic and work his intellect to justify them ”. A healthy person preserves some senses of continuity and consistency – both in his thought and in his actions that serves as a point of reference. It links his past and present actions and future plans. These senses of continuity and consistency are regulated by memory, eagerness, imagination and understanding. For a Narcissist, the senses are relegated to the false self. Hence an aura of dishonesty is attached to all of them. Since the false self has a false perception, it weaves enchanted and grandiose fables as substitutes. This is how Muhammad evaluated himself and the world around him. Vaknin (cited Sina, 2008, p. 82) suggested that the Narcissists, while masters of self-deception or even malignant con-artistry, are usually fully aware of the difference between true and false, real and make-believe, the invented and the existing, right and wrong, etc. But they can convince themselves of those lies as if they were absolute truth by making suitable changes in the story.

  When faced with limits or criticism, the Narcissists are apt to turn nasty and defensive because the balloon of narcissistic grandiosity may get punctured by criticism. Therefore they overreact to criticism by becoming angry or humiliated. Allah prohibited criticism in Qur’an with the verses 5.101,102 and Muhammad demanded an unquestionable obedience from the Muslims. He knew that if Qur’anic criticism was allowed then it would lead to a situation where his false self would be exposed. A false self cannot survive without delusion, deception and lie; simply because it is false. Muhammad could not stand as a Prophet simply because he was a bogus. The deception is at the very core of Islam.

  The images of the true self are derived mostly from reality and to a small extent from fantasy, i.e., what one wishes as well as what one really is. The false self, on the other hand, is derived mostly from immature fantasies (Masterson, 1990, p. 23). Muhammad’s prophethood was his fantasy. The motive of Muhammad’s false self was not to deal with the reality but to work against it. The false self, however well set up, always lacks something (Winnicott, 1960, p. 152). This is exactly what Muhammad had feared. He lacked the capability to silence his critics in a fair debate because his prophetic claim was based on the quicksand of grand delusion. All he wanted was to relax in his air-tight cocoon of narcissistic enjoyment where he could feel secure. But despite of all his efforts to project himself as a Prophet, there were many instances when he behaved in such manners that were “disgraceful to discuss”. Ibn Ishaq truthfully recorded them in his Sirat Rasul Allah, but Ibn Hisham removed them in his version to save Muhammad from humiliation.

  Muhammad needed a large number of followers to secure narcissistic supply sources. Allah was a useful apparatus of Muhammad to achieve this, i.e., to keep his false self alive and steady going. If Allah had not revealed the verses in perfect time and in perfect manner, Muhammad’s false self could have collapsed. The fake prophetic false self of Muhammad required creating a scarecrow to pose as a true God and to speak out in divine voice so that Muhammad’s position as a Prophet could be established. Neither Qur’an nor Allah had any other purpose beyond than this. Once Muhammad died Allah became silent forever. When the Narcissist is dead, with him dies the hunger of the false self for narcissistic supplies. But Islam did not die with Muhammad; it survived because Muhammad left a book containing his poisonous instructions in the name of God. Muslims, when pick up this book of instructions and put their trust on it, indirectly come within the narcissistic grip of Muhammad. We will discuss more on this in the forthcoming chapter on Qur’an.

  3.6.3: The Development of Muhammad’s Narcissism

  The circumstances of Muhammad’s childhood confirm that his family had fallen on harder times. Muhammad’s father Abdullah died before his son’s birth leaving very little for the family, and Amina, mother of Muhammad, died when he was only six (Geiler & Saleeb, 2002, p. 70). Amina lacked interest in her child and wanted to give her to a nurse. But it was difficult for her to get a nurse because she was a poor widow and hence the pay was miserable. When infant Muhammad was shown to some women who were looking for infants to nurse, one of them was reported to have said, “ An orphan! And with no money! And what can his mother do?” (Rodinson, 1980, p. 45). Ultimately Halima took away the child with much unwillingness because she did not get a child from a wealthy family, and her family desperately needed the extra income even though it was not much. There was a possibility that Halima or her family did not treat the infant well due to this.

  However, at the age of five, Halima returned Muhammad to his mother Amina, but again she was reluctant to take her child back. One year after reunion, Amina died. So Muhammad was neglected not only by his foster mother but by his real mother also. Being orphan in those days was a curse. In Qur’an Muhammad recalls those cursed days of his lonesome orphanhood.

  The Last shall be better for you than the First. Your Lord will give you, and you will be satisfied. Did He not find you an orphan and give you shelter? Did He not find you a wanderer so He guided you? Did He not find you poor and suffice you? Do not oppress the orphan. (Q: 93.4-8)

  Those were clearly Muhammad’s words put to Allah’s mouth. Allah, like a puppet sitting on a ventriloquist’s knee, is expressing His frustration on behalf of Muhammad. Here the Narcissist is playing a monodrama in an open theater where everyone has an access; Muhammad remained behind the scene, while Allah took the center stage and echoed Muhammad’s words of frustration.

  But why there was so much neglect? Was it only poverty? Often the parents of a Narcissist are Narcissists themselves. If the mother is a Narcissist, she may be unusually
distressed with changes in her body in her pregnancy. When the child arrives, the Narcissist mother may be depressed as the newborn has some demands from her. This leaves little opportunity for her to satisfy her grandiose fantasies. Often she looks for a way out; she does not hesitate to take advantage of someone else’s offer to shoulder some or the entire burden. If there is no way out, she shows extreme carelessness (of course, unless others are watching) to the child (Hotchkiss, 2003, p. 49). Authentic Islamic sources do not tell much about Amina, hence we are not very sure if she was a Narcissist herself but her behavior strongly suggests it. However, certainly, a discrepancy between Muhammad’s chronological age and the level of his psychological functioning formed at his adolescent days which widened with time till his death.

  Those Qur’anic verses show how much the memory of his neglected childhood had pained Muhammad. The psychological scars, left in his mind, never healed. Muhammad made his dead mother responsible for all the sufferings caused to him. When he conquered Mecca, about fifty years after Amina’s death, he visited his mother’s grave and told his companions (cited Sina, 2008, p. 11), “ This is the grave of my mother; the Lord has permitted me to visit it. And I sought leave to pray for her, but it was not granted. So I called my mother to remembrance, and the tender memory of her overcame me, and I wept” .

  Because of faulty parenting and traumatic childhood experiences, Muhammad suffered a developmental arrest prior to the full emergence of his true self. The first few years of a child are a very crucial stage, which may make or break the child. Clinical experience shows that childhood trauma and abuse are almost impossible to erase. Modern brain research tends to support this sad view but offers some hope. Vaknin (1999, p. 217) wrote, “ Traumas are inevitable. They are an inseparable part of life. But in early childhood – especially in infancy (ages zero to four) they acquire an ominous aura, an evil, irreversible meaning. No matter how innocuous the event and the surrounding circumstances, the child’s vivid imagination is likely to embed it in the framework of a highly idiosyncratic horror story ”.