It is interesting to note that western orientalists and...

It is interesting to note that western orientalists and Islamologists who strive with their utmost integrity and sincerity to destroy the credibility of Islam and the Prophet, have not ignored this group of narratives and extract the greatest amount of benefit from them. That which is added to the writings of these westerners is a scientific and psychological analysis of the event which gives greater credence to its factuality in the eyes of the unfamiliar.

For evidence of this we will first of all rely on the writing of Professor Montgomery Watt, the British Islamologist, in the book "Mohammad, Prophet and Statement'.

"It is surprising that a person who lived in a remote city like Mecca in the seventh century could acquire the belief that he has been appointed a prophet by God(?) so it is not surprising if we hear that Mohammad was beset by fear and doubt.......another of his fears was the fear of insanity because the Arabs of that time believed that these kinds of persons were possessed by spirits and demons.

A group of the inhabitants of Mecca interpreted Mohammads' inspirations this way and he himself often wondered if they were right or not!......They say that in the early days and the receiving of the first revelation, his wife Khadijeh and her cousin Varagheh encouraged him to accept that he had been appointed to the prophethood.....

Apart from all that, the claim of a Christian that the way the revelation was revealed to Mohammad was in every way similar to the way the revelation was revealed to Moses, strengthened Mohammad in his belief!" 282 Professor Montgomery Watt, Professor of Islamic studies at Edinburgh University, mentions in another of his books this very discussion including a narration of the various narratives involved, and studies them in detail and at great length with no doubt as to their authenticity and factuality arriving at the same conclusion we saw summarized above.

283 Of course, the use of these types of narratives is not restricted to the English orientalist Watt alone. Others in the past followed the same path and just as we saw in the past they were usually looking for weak points in Islam, the Prophet and all of the other things Holy in Islam.

Unfortunately they find what they are looking for in some of the narratives of the Caliphate school, and of course, without a doubt they rely on these types of books for documentation, in particular Tabaris "Tarikh", Ibn Heshams' "Sireh" and Bukharis "Sahih".