LOL!!! You made me spew tea all over the screen with that one :-) Great parallel there.
The more I read about Islam, the more I think you're right. A cross between L. Ron Hubbard, a mafia don and John Edwards (Crossing Over). The descriptions of Mohammed's trance sessions sounds exactly like the kind of setup a modern TV faith healer would have, complete with cold & warm readings of a pre-screened audience of gullible believers.