So far we’ve seen that Islam has a history of violence, a holy text that isn’t what it claims to be, a God that cannot be trusted and a salvation that must be earned. We’ve compared and contrasted some of its most important components to Judaism and Christianity and found it wanting. Today I want to examine a very specific element of its origin story: Muhammad’s first spirit visitation.

Sahih Bukhari (1,1,3), a notable and most revered early commentary on the Quran tells this story: “The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it any more. 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 any more. He then released me and again asked me 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…”

The spirit being identified himself to Muhammad as the angel Gabriel, but was he really? It seems particularly uncharacteristic of Gabriel. Gabriel is named in four angelic appearances in the Bible, two in the Old Testament (Daniel 8.16 and Daniel 9.21) and twice in the New (Luke 1.19 and Luke 1.26). In each of these occasions Gabriel is polite, helpful and shows real concern for those he must deliver messages to. He is not to be trifled with, however. Since Zechariah did not believe the message Gabriel brought the angel did not permit him to speak until the message was fulfilled.

When angels appear, whether in the Old or New Testaments, they do have a frightful effect on humans. So much so that their first words are often, “Do not be afraid” (Matthew 1.20, Matthew 28.5, Mark 16.6, Luke 1.13, Luke 2.10). They frequently appear with weapons, sometimes drawn swords, but are mostly concerned with delivering a message. Never are they abusive, even when speaking to one they do not like and have permission to kill (see Balaam in Numbers 22). To abuse and oppress isn’t behavior associated with angels anywhere in the Bible.

Neither is the compulsion to kill oneself an effect of being visited by an angel. The Sahih Bukhari also records that Muhammad was so terrified by the spirit that he would often try to commit suicide by throwing himself off of mountain tops. Each time the spirit would appear and stop him. It may seem a noble act to stop one from killing themselves, but in this case it was only so that the spirit could continue to oppress him and drive him into further despair. This being was making a point: Muhammad’s life was not his own but instead belonged to the entity.

The point was made even clearer in the following year. The spirit often visited Muhammad at his home. When he would appear sometimes only Muhammad could see him, and on other occasions could be seen by all but would have the appearance of someone they knew. Over the course of the year the spirit deceived Muhammad into thinking he was entertaining guests and attending to his wives when in fact he was not. Even Muhammad believed that he was sometimes demon possessed.

While the spiritual oppression culminated during his 40’s this was not Muhammad’s first visit by spiritual beings. Early in his life, pre-school aged Muhammad was visited by two spirits appearing as “men in white garments.” From Ibn Ishaq’s biography (page 36) we see them described as carrying a gold basin filled with snow. The men took the child and, according to the story, split open Muhammad’s body, removed his heart, then split open his heart and removed what sounds like a tumor from it. They then washed the heart, placing it back in his chest, and washed his body clean with the snow until he was “made pure.”

No one but young Muhammad saw the spirit visitor. The father of a friend of his witnessed what Muhammad could not see at the time: the young man writhing on the ground as if in a seizure or suffering a stroke. This sounds similar to the events found in Mark 9.14-29. While not an exact match, so few details are included about Muhammad’s case that it is difficult to say just how similar these events were. One should note, however, that demons can cause their victims to collapse and mimic a seizure-like event. I’m not the only one who suspected this was a demonic event. Upon hearing the story, Muhammad’s Bedouin wet nurse became very afraid and feared that a demon had possessed him.

It is possible that at this young age Muhammad had been marked by the demonic due to a curse or an agreement one or both parents made with an evil spirit (called a Jinn in the Quran). As such it gave the demon permission to enter or oppress Muhammad at any time during his life, which it did thirty-some years later.

I believe that the evidences presented make clear that the spirit Muhammad obeyed was not the angel Gabriel as claimed, but rather a malevolent fallen spirit who used Muhammad to construct the world’s first Satanic scripture in the Quran and has ever since been using Islam in an attempt to destroy the children of God. As clear as this is to me, I know that it is not as clear to millions of Muslims around the globe. Like Muhammad they have been deceived into following the rebellious one, the one who craves Jehovah’s throne. They are to be pitied; we are to gently and lovingly attempt to bring them to a knowledge of the truth.

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