I wrote some aspects on these two subjects when discussing Sura Najm (My blog of November 2008)
Here I'll concern myself with some hearsay, misinterpretation or exaggeration that took hold in the non-Muslim perception. I shall quote just the one instance which prompted this blog. Dostoevski's epilepsy is well-known and studied by neurologists. What was picked up by the non-Muslim writers (mostly non-neurologists) is his clever description of his aura that he sometimes felt"supreme exaltation of emotional subjectivity"-- he goes on to say that "probably it was such an instant that the epileptic Mahomet was speaking when he said that he had visited all the dwelling places of Allah within a shorter time than it took for his pitcher full of water to empty itself" (Alajouanine, T. Dostoevski's epilepsy, Brain 86: 209-218, 1963). Any Muslim familiar with the details of Mairaj-un-Nabi can see the fallacy and imagination of the poorly and deceptively informed non-physician (some may concede this to an epileptic's 'first-hand' knowledge of the disease). He was not the only one with 'prejudiced' opinion, but the surprise for me was when a more educated professor of neurology made a 'differential diagnosis of the "spells of Muhammad,the prophet of Islam, as recently as 1976 (Freemon,F.R., in 'EPILEPSIA' 17: 423-427). This professor gathered information from the Western writers and therefore could not see the truth at all. Prejudice against the epileptics has existed from the times of Bible as I can tell (Mathew 17:14 goes like "Lord, do have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic and is in a terrible state. he is always falling into fire or into the water. I did bring him to the disciples, but they could not cure him."). There is more to it than just what I am writing but my point here is that in the past epileptics have been considered "possessed, hysterics, malencholic, suffering with 'falling-sickness' etc. etc. and so the prejudiced Western writers delighted in this label without any proof and so did this professor although writing wearing the cloak of a Neurologist and imparting an air of "authenticity" by publishing it in the journal named Epilepsia' leaving out all other Neurology Journals.
Actually I am quoting from my own article that I had published in the journal of Islamic Medical Association (Vol14, pages23-26, 1982), but now to make some observations on the epilepsy and the aura.
'Ecstacy' as aura I personally did not observe in my 30 years experience, there may have been one patient about which I cannot remember much. It is rare but not unknown. Crying-weeping or being sad is more often seen and one patient I studied I remember he would incessantly continue weeping during attack (I recorded continuous epileptic discharge on EEG during his weeping episode) and would not remember it after the attack. I was intrigued because I did not recognize he was in attack when I first saw him in the ER. He was crying and saying something to which I did not pay much attention until after admiting him. There are all kinds of auras known to neurologists, but trying to "explain away" the episodes of Wahi or Nuzool-e-wahi one meets with several difficulties as one might expect.
If you or others read prof. Freeman's article (quoted above) and are interested, I will be happy to discuss further but for the moment my points are more directed to that Dostoevski problem only.
Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoreebsc.blogspot.com/ and my Hindi blog at http://wahajuana.blogspot.com/
White beard,pleasant to talk to, but extremely hard of hearing (Hearing aid + Cochlear Implant)See limitation in the "interests"
