I think Muhammad truly believed that God spoke to him whereas JS just made it up as part of his con, then began to truly believe that he was God himself.
According to Islamic tradition, when Muhammad first started hearing voices/seeing apparitions, he panicked and ran home hyperventilating, then had his wife wrap him in blankets and hid for hours, convinced he'd been the victim of evil spirits.
I think this shows he always thought things were being controlled by an external supernatural source, whereas JS was cocky and smug about his angelic visit and golden plates. He wasn't frightened of any supernatural stuff because he knew he'd made the whole thing up.
I think M was delusional but sincere and JS was lucid and lying.
passing through Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > According to Islamic tradition, when Muhammad > first started hearing voices/seeing apparitions, > he panicked and ran home hyperventilating, then > had his wife wrap him in blankets and hid for > hours, convinced he'd been the victim of evil > spirits.
According to mormon tradition, after Joseph Smith saw the angel Moroni, he was so exhausted from the angelic visions that he collapsed out in the field, overwhelmed by lack of sleep and spiritual overload.
My point: the "traditions" could be stories told after the fact to try and convince people of the "reality" of the apparitions. That's just as likely as the "traditional stories" being true, if not more so :)
Passing through Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I hadn't heard that bit of the first vision, where > JS was overwhelmed. The mishies didn't give me > that version.
It wasn't the "first vision" -- that story was made up later on. The first vision he told anybody about was the supposed three-times visit from Moroni, telling him about the plates. That's the one I was referring to.
> I just get so much more of a "crazy" vibe from M, > having read the Quran. I don't think JS was > actually hearing voices, I think he was just a > liar.
There may be something to that :) Then again, it just may be that Mohammed used the language of his time, and the ideas of "visions" of his time, which may sound "crazier" to us than the later JS stories. I don't know if either "heard voices;" I doubt either did. Though some kind of mental illness producing hallucinations isn't out of the question with Mohammed (it pretty much is with Smith).
Not really, they both had ardent followers who would do anything the prophet asked. They both liked little girls and sex with many. They both told good stories. No, not really much to differentiate between these two other than time.