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Muhammad and Gabriel, not quite the way the story tells it
According to Islamic tradition, when 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.”
Without the care of Khadija (who remained Muhammad’s only wife until her death) and the affirmation of Waraqa, the world might never have known Islam. Soon after Waraqa identified the being who had appeared to Muhammad, the old man died. And not long after that the prophet he had effectively anointed was again plunged into a despair so intense that he again contemplated suicide. According to Bukhari:
But after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Revelation was also paused for a while and the Prophet became so sad as we have heard that he intended several times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains and every time he went up the top of a mountain in order to throw himself down, Gabriel would appear before him and say, “O Muhammad! You are indeed Allah’s Messenger in truth,” whereupon his heart would become quiet and he would calm down and would return home.
This scenario evidently played out again whenever Muhammad had to wait too long for Gabriel to reappear. Bukhari also records a tradition in which “whenever the period of the coming of the Revelation used to become long, [Muhammad] would do as before, but when he used to reach the top of a mountain, Gabriel would appear before him and say to him what he had said before.”
In another Bukhari hadith, Muhammad reacted to the resumption of the revelations in the same way he reacted to the first one. He explained:
The Divine Inspiration was delayed for a short period but suddenly, as I was walking, I heard a voice in the sky, and when I looked up towards the sky, to my surprise, I saw the angel who had come to me in the Hira Cave, and he was sitting on a chair in between the sky and the earth. I was so frightened by him that I fell on the ground and came to my family and said (to them), “Cover me! (with a blanket), cover me!”
The rest of the sura comes from a later date, and is preoccupied with the ingratitude of man: he thinks he is self-sufficient (v. 7) when actually he depends upon Allah (v. 8). The man who tries to prevent someone from praying (vv. 9-10) is turning his back on the truth (v. 13) but will face Allah’s punishment (vv. 15-16), and no one will aid him (v. 17). Muhammad, however, should pay no attention to him, but devote himself to the worship of Allah (v. 19). Ibn Kathir says that “all this referred to Abu Jahl, may Allah curse him. He threatened the Prophet for performing Salah [Islamic prayer] at the Ka’bah.”
(Here you can find links to all the earlier “Blogging the Qur’an” segments. Here is a good Arabic Qur’an, with English translations available; here are two popular Muslim translations, those of Abdullah Yusuf Ali and Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall, along with a third by M. H. Shakir. Here is another popular translation, that of Muhammad Asad. And here is an omnibus of ten Qur’an translations.)
Posted by Robert at December 14, 2008 7:50 AM
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If he had not yet recieved the word of the Qu'ran, what pagen god was the illiterate bastard praying too?
Posted by: fatbill![[TypeKey Profile Page]](https://swap.stanford.edu/was/20100322163935im_/http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 14, 2008 8:48 AM
Lucifer aka Satan.
"By their fruits shall ye know them"
ABS
Posted by: Drewbenstein at December 14, 2008 9:05 AM
It sounds like Mohammad got some ergot-infested bread just like those girls in Salem, Massachusetts in the 1600’s. It seems to have worked out much better for him than it did for those girls.
Is there any record of what he was eating that night or historical record of infected grain in that part of the world at that point in time?
at December 14, 2008 9:11 AM
Would a true angel of God torture a man for not being able to read?
Another possibility to ergot poisoning (as suggested by dentalque) might have been sleep paralysis.
Posted by: nighthawk at December 14, 2008 9:25 AM
1 John
Chapter 2
22 "Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist.
23 No one who denies the Son has the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well." Muhammad denies Jesus as the Christ,the savior of mamkind. Therfor he is of the antichrist,It was not the the angel Gabriel.It was one of the fallan. Revelation Chapter 12
7" Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back,
8 but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
9 The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it." ISLAM IS OF THE ANTICHRIST
at December 14, 2008 9:28 AM
Mohammad was illiterate, how would he know what the people wrote was correct, l mean a person could tell him what he wanted to hear and write then something all together different.
Posted by: ZenaWarriorPrincess at December 14, 2008 9:32 AM
casey92 there is a case in what you say that mohammud/islam could be considered the AntiChrist.
Jesus did say that there would be false prophets that would come after him, and so mohammud can be considered the false prophet.
at December 14, 2008 9:38 AM
If humans ever develop the ability to travel back in time and change the course of history, I will gladly volunteer to take a trip to 610AD Arabia.
Upon arrival I'd make my way to the cave of Hira, and give dear old Mo his very last 'revelation' (but not before smothering him with pig fat and bacon).
Posted by: f-ala at December 14, 2008 9:46 AM
If humans ever develop the ability to travel back in time and change the course of history, I will gladly volunteer to take a trip to 610AD Arabia.
Upon arrival I'd make my way to the cave of Hira, and give dear old Mo his very last 'revelation' (but not before smothering him with pig fat and bacon).
- Proud EX-Muslim
Posted by: f-ala at December 14, 2008 9:46 AM
Sorry for the double post.
Posted by: f-ala at December 14, 2008 9:47 AM
From above: It sounds like Mohammad got some ergot-infested bread...
Maybe, but it would require rye bread. Ergot of rye is what produces LSD.
This does not mean he was not hallucinating from some other cause. There is also a hadith, Bukhari I think, that during a battle (Badr?) Gabriel appeared on a horse and chastised Mohammad for taking a rest break. So Mohammad put his two suits of armor back on and rejoined the battle.
Gabriel also shamed him by saying that several thousands of angels on while horses, are also helping defeat what must have been a very tough enemy...I could look up references, but I'm too lazy...
The point being about ergot of rye. I doubt he was 'under the influence on this occasion', but maybe, there's lots of reasons to believe none of this angelic intervention happened in the first place...
Was the cave on Mt Hira Mohammads personal property, or was it used by other monk types looking for solitude, or maybe contact with other spiritual seekers?
Personally I think 98% of Mohammads stories are made up. The other two percent was stolen or a fact, like the cave on Mt Hira exists, the Ka'aba exists etc...Anyone who actually believes that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mohammad all those times, passed on Allah's words, and even helped him in battle, have fallen for Islams created hallucinations...
at December 14, 2008 10:10 AM
According to Casey, and John, I am the anti-Christ.
And my high school counsellor said I'd never amount to anything.
at December 14, 2008 10:32 AM
If humans ever develop the ability to travel back in time and change the course of history, I will gladly volunteer to take a trip to 610AD Arabia.
Upon arrival I'd make my way to the cave of Hira, and give dear old Mo his very last 'revelation' (but not before smothering him with pig fat and bacon).
- Proud EX-Muslim
Posted by: f-ala at December 14, 2008 9:46 AM
Can I come with?
Posted by: darcy at December 14, 2008 10:54 AM
[MAD][HAM][MAD] I saw a red eyed dog i thought was a demon.
Sound like a mecsiful god to anyone this is why I laugh about we pray to the same god thing.
at December 14, 2008 11:17 AM
Walid Shoebat was a Palestinian terrorist who has now converted to Christianity. In one of several videos posted on YouTube, he discusses Islamic eschatology, comparing it to Christian end-time prophecies. He was stunned to find that the "good" guys in the Quran are the evil ones in the Bible.He recalls seeing the number 666 as it was written in the original Greek for the first time and being horrified, as he says that looks just like the Arabic words "Bismillah"--in the name of Allah.
Posted by: ceejay at December 14, 2008 11:17 AM
give me doughnuts , nah. You are just an anti-christ not the anti-christ.
Posted by: interestinconundrum at December 14, 2008 11:32 AM
reposting this link
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/15959.htm
"'Isa's mother Mariam was the daughter of 'Imran, (Âl 'Imran 3:34,35) - cf the Amram of Exodus 6:20 - and the sister of Aaron (and Moses). (Maryam 19:28) She was fostered by Zachariah (father of John the Baptist). (Âl 'Imran 3:36) While still a virgin (Al-An'am 6:12; Maryam 19:19-21) Mariam gave birth to 'Isa alone in a desolate place under a date palm tree. (Maryam 19:22ff) (Not in Bethlehem)."
So Mary is the sister of a man who lived hundred of years before.
Not only mo the pedo was illiterate but he was also mentally challenged
Posted by: Péguy at December 14, 2008 11:39 AM
Muhammad replied, “I do not know how to read.”In addition to the usual contrasts between the original Jesus and the Mohammedan twiseted version Issa, we now have the original Biblical Gabriel vs the Mohammedan Jabril.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
So if someone you know doesn't know how to read, no need to send him/her to remedial reading. Instead, just physically torture that acquaintance, until they come out with what you want to hear.
Islamic revelations! Unplugged!
Posted by: Infidel Pride at December 14, 2008 11:46 AM
"Seraphiel" is listed as a fallen angel in the book of Enoch. Telling Mo that God created man from a blood clot sounds like this being is mocking His creation as a harmful thing.
How Islam became such a huge religion based upon stories like this only speaks of the insanity that plagues the human race.
Posted by: revparadigm at December 14, 2008 11:56 AM
One can say that Khadija invented Islam. Probably a good business model, for having a prophet is a religious attraction in a smalltown place like Mecca.
This, in turn, is wholly earthly.
It's worth noting that 8 years after this, Khadija is unceremoniously dumped from history, at the time of the 'Satanic Verses' incident. One should assume that Muhammad would mourn much over the loss, but nothing of the kind is recorded in the Sirat.
Posted by: Henrik at December 14, 2008 12:01 PM
And when Mohammed was on the mountain thinking of jumping, the crowd below was chanting "Jump! Jump! Jump!".
Too bad nobody pushed him.
Of course, nowadays someone who sees things and is suicidal is instituionalized.
Islam is a threat to itself and others, as any craziness would be.
at December 14, 2008 12:05 PM
Nighthawk wrote:
Another possibility to ergot poisoning (as suggested by dentalque) might have been sleep paralysis.
Posted by: nighthawk at December 14, 2008 9:25 AM
Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis? I would not discount this either. I have, when I was younger, and when you wake up, you would swear that it really happened.
at December 14, 2008 2:02 PM
on allah the pagan moon god
http://islammonitor.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=97
at December 14, 2008 2:30 PM
Yes, I have experienced sleep paralysis. It was pretty scary.
I have heard people describe it as something pressing against their chest and preventing them from getting up or moving, which sounds like what Mo said the angel did to him.
Posted by: nighthawk at December 14, 2008 2:45 PM
"Sleep paralysis" sounds likely from the symptoms described in the verse. It's also a possible explanation for experiences reported in Judeo-Christian myth of visits by succubi and incubi.
Posted by: Phineas at December 14, 2008 3:21 PM
...his face turned dust coloured...
He was alone... in a cave... at night. No mirror. No one to record how he looked.
Who saw his face turn dust colour?
No one was with him. And it was at night. He couldn't see his own face.
It just seems like the Tales of the Arabian Nights. Some story tellers just got together and added whatever sounded good.
Posted by: Borg at December 14, 2008 5:29 PM
"cover me, cover me with a blanket"
Possible epileptic fit?
Posted by: tanstaafl at December 14, 2008 7:34 PM
Either epilepsy or schizophrenia. Both are noted for producing mystical experiences.
As for Mo being illiterate, I find it hard to believe that a successful businessman, 40 years old, obssessed with poetry and scripture, never learned to read.
Posted by: Uzza at December 14, 2008 7:56 PM
Guys, it was agromegaly. It causes hallucinations and seizures, along with freakish physical characteristics (like the weird gate and the doughy hands and feet), body odor (hence the obsession with perfume, hair removal, and washing one's feet, ass, and pits), impotence (duh), and ultimately death. It usually strikes around 40.
As for Mo's illiteracy, there was no way he could read. He would not have twisted all those Bible stories so badly if he had been literate. He was not obsessed with literature, either. There simply was none that existed outside of oral tradition in old Arabia.
Posted by: jdamn at December 14, 2008 8:52 PM
Compare and contrast:
The Angel Gabriel's visit to Mohammed from the Qur'an:
"(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)”
The Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary from the King Jame's Bible:
"And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
...For with God nothing shall be impossible.
And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her."
.........................
In the case of Mary, the Angel Gabriel praises her, and reassures her, and emphasizes that she has nothing to fear. In the case of Mohammed, Gabriel threatens Mohammed, roughs him up, ridicules him for his inability to read, and so terrifies him that he several times asks his wife and family to hide him from the angel's appearance. Finally, Gabriel almost drives Mohammed to suicide on several occasions.
Do these sound like visits from the same figure? Not to my mind.
at December 14, 2008 9:47 PM
I actually read in an article by Mumin Salih that Mo's near-attempted suicide happened after he had gotten his ass handed to him by the local Arabs. He had decided to debate them about the Koran. Nobody bought for a minute that it could have been divine. They called him on the grammatical errors, the pathetic quality of the poetry, its pointlessness, randomness, etc. It was his encounters with reasonably intelligent humans which brought about his thoughts of suicide, not an angel. He of course had them all killed later on, setting the Islamic precedent of the survival of the slowest, most spineless, and most savage, which continues to this day.
http://www.islam-watch.org/MuminSalih/How-Arabs-Hated-Quran.htm
http://www.islam-watch.org/MuminSalih/Arab-Intellectuals-Debated-Muhammad.htm
He may have mentioned it in both articles. They're both worth the read.
Posted by: jdamn at December 14, 2008 10:03 PM
I thought along the same lines as fatbill; who was Mohammed praying to in the cave? For the entire night, by himself? This is not the behavior of pagans, as I understand - their religions were highly social and not about ascetic prayathons. The whole story is fishy. Mohammed was a man of action (unpleasant action), not contemplation, wasn't he?
Posted by: PG at December 14, 2008 10:42 PM
Indeed Mo was a real idiot, if he can't throw himself from a mountain... then at least he can threw himself in some gutter/well !!
he was just simply a coward person unable to do anything, and thus used other fanatical's to earn his leaving via booty...!!
what a shameful creature he was...
Posted by: Proud of being takfir at December 15, 2008 2:37 AM
Agromegaly sounds likely, but i think the visions due to epiliepsy. That was Sina's opinion too.
Re: writing; good point about the scripture. All the references to reading/writing in the koran, and the poetry traditions have me more or less convinced he could read, was really bad at it, couldn't write poetry for shit, got ridiculed for his attempts.
at December 15, 2008 10:42 AM
If the Quran is 99 percent crap then the New Testament would have to be at least 98 percent crap. And I wouldn’t even go that far if it were not for the historical Jesus, or at least what scholars can gather about him. Both Islam and Christianity are copycat religions. In fact, Christianity is much more a hodge podge of borrowed and inconsistent ideas never meant to be put together than Islam ever was or could ever be, regardless of what new scholarship might reveal. For example, the very fact that Christians pray to a cross, a symbol of oppression, persecution and torture is enough to make all Christians ridiculous and stupid 1000 times over. Just to make it apparent to you how ridiculous, imagine someone praying to an iron maiden or to a noose or the electric chair.
As for comparing Muhammad to Jesus—this is really an apples and oranges comparison. I love Jesus to the same extent that I hate what Christians have done to him. As for Muhammad, I think he was easily a great man. By great, I certainly don’t mean obtaining to what your standards of morality. By great I mean he made something of himself and his life (much more than you little shits could ever even dream of accomplishing). It is more appropriate to compare Muhammad to Caesar or Alexander the Great than to Jesus.
As for all this talk of him being a pedophile—you ignorant little (*$&! Plato and Aristotle very likely slept with little boys and yet our entire Western culture, including Christianity, is bathed in their philosophies. It’s called historical context. Look into it you turds! Muhammad may have married and slept with his 12 or 9 or even 6 year-old bride but what he did for women’s rights in his time compared to how women were treated, West or East, was nothing less than revolutionary. So stuff it!
Posted by: Abdul Haq
at December 19, 2008 5:20 PM
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