The reference comes from Islamic tradition, which asserts that Muhammad, a prosperous Arabian merchant from the Quraysh tribe of Mecca, was forty years old, he was praying in a cave in the mountains near Mecca. As he passed the entire night in devotion, an angel came to him and commanded him to read and recite what he read. Muhammad replied, “I do not know how to read.”
The spiritual being, however, would brook no objections. According to a hadith recorded by Bukhari, he pressed his will upon Muhammad in a terrifying fashion, even going so far as to menace him physically:
(The Prophet added), “The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and again asked me to read, and I replied, ‘I do not know how to read.’ Thereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and asked me again to read, but again I replied, ‘I do not know how to read (or, what shall I read?).’ Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me and then released me and said, ‘Read! In the Name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists). Has created man from a clot. Read! And Your Lord is Most Generous…[unto]…that which he knew not.’” (V. 96:5)
This is the famous first revelation of the Qur’an, now found as sura 96:1-5. In the standard Islamic version of this event, it was the angel Gabriel who appeared to Muhammad, but the earliest Islamic sources present a slightly more complex picture. The ninth-century Islamic historian Ibn Sa’d records a Muslim tradition asserting that an angel named Seraphel originally visited Muhammad, and was replaced by Gabriel after three years. He also records the fact that “the learned and those versed in Sirah literature” contradicted this tradition, and maintained that only Gabriel ever appeared to Muhammad. Nevertheless, it is hard to see how anyone would have gotten the idea that another angel was involved with Muhammad if Islamic tradition had been absolutely certain from the first moment that it was Gabriel.
At the beginning Muhammad regarded his spiritual encounter with considerable agitation. According to Ibn Sa’d, he “suffered much pain and his face turned dust-coloured.” According to the eighth-century Islamic historian Ibn Ishaq, he wondered if he had been demonically possessed, and even contemplated suicide:
I will go to the top of the mountain and throw myself down that I may kill myself and gain rest. So I went forth to do so and then when I was midway on the mountain, I heard a voice from heaven saying: “O Muhammad! Thou art an apostle of God and I am Gabriel.” I raised my head towards heaven to see (who was speaking) and lo, Gabriel in the form of a man with feet astride the horizon, saying, “O Muhammad! Thou art the apostle of God and I am Gabriel.”
Muhammad returned to his wife Khadija in tremendous distress. According to Aisha (via Bukhari):
“Then Allah’s Messenger returned with that (the Revelation), and his heart severely beating; (and the) muscles between his neck and shoulders were trembling till he came upon Khadija (his wife) and said, ‘Cover me!’ They covered him, till his fear was over, and after that he said, ‘O Khadija! What is wrong with me? I was afraid that something bad might happen to me.’ Then he told her all that had happened.”
Ibn Ishaq says that he repeated to her his initial fears: “Woe is me, poet or possessed.” He meant “poet” in the sense of one who received ecstatic, and possibly demonic, visions. But according to Bukhari, Khadija had more confidence in Muhammad than he did in himself. She took Muhammad to see her uncle Waraqa, a Nestorian Christian priest, who told Muhammad the identity of his angelic visitor: “This is the same one who keeps the secrets (angel Gabriel) whom Allah had sent to Moses.” And so Muhammad became convinced that he was a prophet.
Thanks to Hatun Tash DCCI Ministries.
Linde B. says
Thank you to our dear Robert Spencer,
who might have been a professional
fencer. But he chose to tell the world
the truth about Islam, and rejects the
legacy media’s phony fame and glam.
God bless Robert Spencer, Dr. David
Wood, and David Horowitz for their
discerning intelligence, their integrity,
and their courage.
This video is very humorous and
memorable. Thank you for it!
Walter Sieruk says
The founder of Islam , Muhammad , if he had actually existed , with his encounter with an angle in that cave viewed in the light of the Bible as an incident that he had with a real angle, that could certainly an angle fallen angle meaning a demon.
In that specific incident it would have been a demon masquerading as the unfallen angel of God who is Gabriel .
That demon impostor of Gabriel had every intention of encouraging and inciting Muhammad to start the false religion of Islam to lead many people astray and then straight into hell.
For Islam with its Qu ran has doctrines that in strong contrast to the Christian Gospel , As in First Corinthians 15:1-5.
The Bible does warn about not being beguiled , deceived or “taken in” by any other type of gospel that in not in accord with the Gospel of Christ..If the messenger be a man or an angle he should not be listened to and is even accursed by God. Galatians 1:-9…
This jihadwatch article does explain that in spite of all his doubts ,at first , Muhammad later became sure as in ” convinced that he was a prophet.”
There is a very strong likelihood that Muhammad was really a prophet ,but the very most important thing to understand that he was definitely not a prophet send by God.. Instead, Muhammad was a false prophet who started a false religion, Islam.
Jesus had predicted and warned about the coming of such men as Muhammad. For Jesus declared
“Beware of false prophet, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
Matthew 7:15. [N.K.J.V.]
Linde B. says
To Walter- Thank you for your excellent comment. And I too
think that the so-called “angel” who spoke to Muhammad was really a demon. I also believe that Muhammad was a narcissist and because of that mental illness he could not discern good from evil.
But what really makes me sad
are the millions upon millions of
people who are good people at heart but have converted to
Islam because they were threatened with death by the
evil jihadists. Just sickening. 😈
Walter Sieruk says
Speaking about someone being “possessed, “that being demon processed is what some false teachers of Islam might be. In that, they teach the false doctrines of Islam to other people, therefore leading them further astray for God
From the Bible was well as from other may other sources information such wicked spirits, which are called Demon spirits or just the term “Demons” who are malice-filled beings that do exist. Demons are vicious and malicious and hate humans with a passion. Those evil spirits which are demons will harm people in any method that they find the most effective. If they are able they will also not just harm, that’s bad enough, but murder humans. One way those wicked spirits, demons, do this is by and through the Muslim clerics, be they the imams of Pakistan or the mullahs of Iran or of any other Islamic nation as neither Afghanistan nor Indonesia and so forth. For those Muslim clerics in the mosques and even more so in the madrasas. For a number of those imams and mullahs is literally demon possessed or demon inspired to indoctrinate non-violent Muslims in the becoming jihad-minded violent and dangerous Muslims who will be dangerous to self and others by engage in murderous Islamic terror attacks. As already keyboarded about demons are malicious, vicious and will harm and kill human beings any way they are able. By demons working through the imams and mullahs to inspire mass murder by brainwash Muslim into becoming violent and dangerous jihadist who take part in of jihad attacks As far–fetched is this might seem to many people of this twenty –first century after years of study of the awful subject , I’m over 60, the conclusion can only be that demons of horrible reality those evil spirits many times ,work though false teachers , the imams and mullahs , to damage humans terribly . This of course is all centered on the false religion which is Islam.
Just reminiscing, a bit, about a Christian book that I had read the late 1970’s. It expounded the Bible based information that in ancient times a true prophet of God was inspired to action by the Holy Spirit. In terrible contrast a false prophet sent by Satan is always inspired to action to give a false message and sometimes even start a false religion .This would very much, explain the great zeal that the false prophet, Muhammad, had to give the information that was gathered that compose the Qu’ran which is the foundation of and for the false religion of Islam.
Linde B. says
To Walter- You wrote a detailed and accurate contrast between Islam and Christianity. Thank you.
The 1 fact that really puts me
over the top in disgust and
hatred of Islam is this: Muslims are taught that Jesus (whom
they regard as a prophet) was
not crucified on the cross. They
believe that Jesus was spirited away by God and a different
man was crucified in Jesus’
place. BUT, Josephus was a scribe by trade, a Roman citizen, and a Jewish man who did not
believe in Jesus as “God’s son”. Yet Josephus was doing his job when he reported that Jesus was crucified on the cross at Calvary. SO Islam will not acknowledge the truth about what happened
to Jesus. Does anyone who
reads JihadWatch want to offer
a reason as to why this is?
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Your poems keep getting better w/ every show. Maybe after the Byzantine book, you can write a poetry book and have it tossed into the fiction section of bookstores 😈