Ali Sina - Understanding Muhammad

Muhammad’s Ecstatic Experiences
Jabir said: “Whoever pursues a road that has been trodden by the Messenger of
Allâh, will certainly scent his smell and will be quite sure that the Messenger of
Allâh has already passed it.” 271
Muhammad was also canny to use perfume prior to visiting his wives. In
several ahadith Aisha says: “I applied perfume to the Messenger of Allâh and he
then went round his wives.” 272 He so exaggerated in the use of perfume that
Aisha commented, “I used to perfume Allâh's Apostle with the best scent
available till I saw the shine of the scent on his head and beard.” 273
Muhammad is reported to have confessed, “Made beloved to me from
your world are women and perfume.” 274 One of his companions, Al-Hasan al-
Basri, also wrote: “The Messenger of God said, “The only two things I cherish
of the life of this world are women and perfume.” 275
Another version of this tradition narrated by Aisha says, “The Prophet of
God liked three things of this world: Perfume, women, and food; he had the
[first] two, but missed food.” 276 It is not that Muhammad could not afford food.
He had the wealth of thousands of people whom he had vanquished. The fact is
that excessive appetite is yet another symptom of acromegaly. 277
This excessive preoccupation with perfume hints at the fact that
Muhammad was wary of his bad odor and did his best to mask it. Another
symptom of acromegaly is headache, which Muhammad tried to alleviate with
cupping. 278
271 Muhammad Husayn Haykal (1888, 1956): The Life of Muhammad, http://www.witnesspioneer.org/vil/Books/SM_tsn/ch7s12.html
272 Sahih Muslim Book 007, Number 2700
273 Volume 7, Book 72, Number 806
274 Ahmad and Nasaa`i
275 Tabaqat, Volume 1, Page 380
276 Ibid.
277 Several ahadith say that Muhammad often slept hungry because he could not find enough
food to eat. These are exaggerations to portray Muhammad as a long-suffering and detached
prophet. How could he go hungry when he had confiscated the wealth thousands of Jews of
Arabia and had hundreds of slaves, is a question that only Muslim forgerers of hadith could
answer. When Muhammad migrated to Medina, he was poor. However, he soon accumulated a
lot of wealth through pillaging.
278 The ancient process of drawing blood from the body by scarification and the application of
a cupping glass, or by the application of a cupping glass without scarification, as for relieving
internal congestion. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.)
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