Mohammed said that the angel Gabriel appeared to him. Is this true? We read that this angel Gabriel appeared to him, squeezed, scared him and sent him home frightened.
(The whole story written in Bukhari" volume 9, book 87, Hadith number 111).
In the Bible we have a totally different picture of the angel Gabriel who appeared to many people before Mohammed. Let us look at some
examples:
Gabriel appeared to the prophet Daniel (Daniel 8:16-18),
“And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, ‘Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.’ So he
came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face, but he touched me, and set me upright.”
Gabriel appeared to Zacharias the priest (Luke 1:13, 19),
“There
appeared to him an angel of the Lord, and Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. He said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zacharias... I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God.’”
Gabriel appeared to Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:26-33),
“The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin name Mary and said, ‘Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!’ But she was greatly troubled
at the saying, and the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and
will be called the Son of the Most High.’”
The Son of the Most High God became the Son of Man (Son of Mary) in order to give his life at the cross for the sinful world that, “All who received him, who
believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.” (John 1:12)
Paul the apostle wrote these words years after Jesus had finished the work of salvation and said, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven,
should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8).
So what kind of a message did this strange spirit who called himself Gabriel deliver to
Mohammed? He said, “The Christians call Christ the son of Allah… Allah's curse be on them, how they are deluded away from the Truth!”(Sure 9:30).
When Gabriel appeared to Mary as we read before, he told
her that Jesus “will be called the Son of the Most High.” (Luke 1:35) Now that same angel reveals himself to our new prophet and tells him that “Allah's curse be on them, those who call Christ the son of Allah.” It
seems that either the angel Gabriel was getting old in age and now was cursing himself, or simply that the angel Gabriel did not make this visitation.
Was this then the angel Gabriel, or another spirit?
The Bible tells us about some fallen angels who lost their positions in heaven because an act of rebellion against God. Here is the story according to the Bible,
How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I
will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the
depths of the Pit. (Isaiah 14:12-15)
Also in Ezekiel 28:13-17, it is written about that poor fallen angel who:
was in Eden, the garden of God. With an anointed guardian cherub I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from
the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you, you were filled with violence, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God.
That fallen angel wishes that someone would call him angel again, for he wants so badly to go back to his original position; but he cannot, for God had cast him down from heaven and changed his name to
“Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Revelation 12:9).
This Satan is a liar and the deceiver of the nations; he “has blinded
the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4). And, because Satan was an angel, he is able to change himself into that image; as it is
written, “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
It is clear that Muhammad was totally deceived, and blinded from seeing the light of the gospel
of the glory of Christ, and could not search for the truth as it is recorded in the gospel which was available in his time.
JESUS AND DEMONS
We see in the Bible that demons behaved
differently when they confronted Jesus, who ”went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38).
“Whenever the unclean spirits beheld him, they fell down before him and
cried out, ‘You are the Son of God’” (Mark 3:11).
Even at the end of His life on earth, before He gave His life willingly as a sacrifice for our sins, Christ said, “I will no longer talk much with you, for
the ruler of this world (Satan) is coming. He has no power over me” (John 14:30).
We see that “the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Once His followers
told Him with joy, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing
shall hurt you” (Luke 10:17,19).
When He finished His work on earth, He gave power and authority to His followers, and the first power was, “In my name (the name of Jesus) they will cast out demons” (Mark
16:17).
Let us look at some examples of when the apostles encountered demons:
“The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.” (Acts 5:16)
“For unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, crying with a loud voice.” (Acts 8:7)
“As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and
brought her owners much gain by soothsaying. She followed Paul and us, crying, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.’ And this she did for many days. But Paul was
annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, ‘I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour.” (Acts 16:16-18)
Is the Moslem able to drive out an evil spirit in the name of Mohammed or the name of Allah?
Or is that evil spirit going to squeeze, scare him and send him home frightened as he did with the prophet
Mohammed?
Since the fall of man, “the whole world is in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, to know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in
his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:19-21).
Jesus came and destroyed the power of that evil one. There is no record in the Koran that this angel Gabriel had taken the
fear of Mohammed, or given him power over the demonic powers of this world. Only Jesus can set you free and bring you to the true way; for He is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Listen to Him saying,
"I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12)
I hope that I made it clear that we need to choose between light and
darkness, between Bible or Koran, between either Jesus as Lord and saviour or Mohammed as a prophet.
