Was Muhammad a Gelotophobe?

The Danish psychologist Nicolai Sennels weighs in on the notoriously thin-skinned nature of Muslims — who are, in Zenster’s famous formulation, “skinless people in a sandpaper world”.


Psychological research: Muslims have the world record in feeling ridiculous

by Nicolai Sennels

Gelotophobia is “the fear of being laughed at”. According to research, gelotophobics are more insecure, they have a feeling of being ridiculous — and they do their best to hide it.

Scientists from Aarhus University in Denmark have studied the degree of gelotophobia in 72 different countries. The study shows that Danes are the world’s least gelotophobic people.” 1.67 percent of Danes are gelotophobic to a slight degree. In comparison, between 11and 13 percent of British, Germans and Spaniards are gelotophobic. In Asia and the Middle East the figure respectively one in six and one third of the citizens.”

With one third, 33 percent, being gelotophobic, people in the Middle East are thus 19.7 times more gelotophobic than Danes. In comparison, Norway scores 2.97 percent, Israel 5.91 percent, Spain 11.65 percent and England 13 percent.

The study involved agreeing or disagreeing with nine statements:

1.		When others laugh in my presence, I become suspicious.
2.		I avoid attracting attention in public, because I fear that people will see my insecurity and will make fun of it.
3.		When strangers laugh in my presence, I often think they are laughing at me.
4.		I try not to attract negative attention, in order to avoid seeming ridiculous.
5.		I think I involuntarily seem ridiculous to others.
6.		Even though I often feel lonely, I often avoid participating in social activities to protect myself against derisive comments.
7.		When I have made a embarrassing impression somewhere, I avoid that place afterwards.
8.		It takes a long time for me to get over it after someone laughs at me.
9.		When I dance, I feel awkward because I am convinced that those who see me think I am ridiculous.

As a professional psychologist, it is my estimation that the high degree of gelotophobia among Muslims in the Middle East may partly explain their aggressive reactions to the Danish Muhammad cartoons — and apparent lack of humour and self-irony. The Muslim culture’s great focus on honour and shame probably contributes to the development of gelotophobia among Muslims — and thereby the feeling of insecurity and of being ridiculous.

It should be mentioned that the Muslims’ prophet Mohammad himself was being ridiculed and laughed at when he started his career as a prophet (Quran, surah 21). People in his village did not believe him when he said that a voice inside his head told him that he was a divine prophet.

This is why several verses in both the Quran and the hadith forbid making fun of Muhammad. Was Muhammad a gelotophobe?


Nicolai Sennels is a psychologist and the author of “Among Criminal Muslims: A Psychologist’s experiences with the Copenhagen Municipality”.

Previous posts by or about Nicolai Sennels:

2010		Jan		6		The Eternal Victim
		Feb		19		Youths, Crime, and Islam
		Apr		11		The Stigmatization Fallacy
		May		8		Islam Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry
		Jul		28		Nicolai Sennels: An Open Letter to David Cameron
		Aug		5		Rape by Proxy
				10		Islam and Inbreeding
		Dec		17		The Connection Between Muslim Inbreeding and Terrorism
2011		Jan		10		The Dhimmification of the Red Cross