Contra Islam: The Calling of Muhammad

My critical examination of Islam continues with this posting.  Though my words may be taken as confrontational, I bear no ill will for any Muslim.  Rather, I pray they are drawn into the Light and Life of Jesus Christ who is God in human flesh, the God who forgives their sins by his death on the Cross, and gives them eternal life by means of his resurrection from the dead.

There is this question:  How did the work of Muhammad and dictation of the Qur’an come to be?  To answer this question, I have turned to Islam’s most trusted collection of the Hadith (collections of the stories about Muhammad):  Sahih al-Bukhari.  As a biographical note, Muhammad al-Bukhari was an imam, and was born in 810 AD (or 194 AH according to the Islamic dating system) in the city of Bukhara which is in present-day Uzbekistan.  He was a devout student of Muhammad’s life via the growing hadith collections of his day.  His own compilation, per Islamic tradition, occurred about 200 years after Muhammad’s death (632 AD).  Yet, modern western scholars contest this timeline, since the work attributed to him did not have full circulation until the 14^th century.  Furthermore, the historicity of all the Hadith is more than a bit questionable.

Al-Bukhari provides the traditional overview of Muhammad’s inspiration:

Allah sent down his divine inspiration to his apostle continuously and abundantly during the period preceding his death till he took him unto him.  That was the period of the greatest part of revelation, and Allah’s messenger…died after that (al-Bukhari, 1514).

By his collection he informs us how Muhammad began to receive the Qur’an.  He provides details for his readers by quoting Aisha, his child bride (she was married to him at age six years, and their marriage was consummated when she was aged nine years!):

Al-Harith bin Hisham asked Allah’s messenger…”O Allah’s messenger!  How is the divine inspiration revealed to you?”  Allah’s messenger…replied, “Sometimes it is (revealed) like the ringing of a bell, this form of inspiration is the hardest of all and then this state passes off after I have grasped what is inspired.  Sometimes the Angel comes in the form of a man and talks to me, and I grasp whatever he says” (al-Bukhari, 2).

She offers her recollection regarding Muhammad’s spiritual practice at the time of his calling:

The commencement of the divine inspiration to Allah’s messenger…was in the form of good dream which came true like bright daylight, and then the love of seclusion was bestowed upon him.  He used to go in seclusion in the Cave of Hira where he used to worship (Allah alone) continuously for many days before his desire to see his family…(al-Bukhari, 3).

Given this, we learn that Muhammad piously worshipped the one he knew as Allah.  In the same recollection, Aisha gives further information which includes the disturbing initial and fateful encounter with “The Angel”:

…The angel came to him and asked him to read.  The prophet…replied, “I do not know how to read.”  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 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 and said, “Read in the name of your Lord, who has created (all that exists), created man from a clot.  Read!  And your Lord is the Most Generous [Qur’an 96: 1 – 3 is quoted]…(al-Bukhari, 3).

The hadith continues as it relates Muhammad’s intense distress caused by this encounter:

Then Allah’s messenger…returned with the inspiration and with his heart beating severely.  Then he went to Khadija [his first wife]…and said, “Cover me!  Cover me!”  They covered him till his fear was over and after that he told her everything that had happened and said, “I fear that something may happen to me.”  Khadija replied, “Never!  By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you” (al-Bukhari, 3).

Khadija relates the encounter Muhammad had with the angel to her cousin, Waraqa.  This man identifies “the Angel” to be Gabriel:  “This is the one who keeps the secrets, the angel Gabriel whom Allah sent to Moses” (al-Bukhari, 3).

Here is the focus of this posting:  Muhammad’s encounter with “Gabriel” is aggressive and confrontational.  His experience is contrary to biblical encounters with the Archangel Gabriel, because this encounter frightened Muhammad.  In his book Exploring Islam, A Christian Perspective on the Life of Muhamma and the Qur’an, Alhambra, California, Sebastian Press, 2022, Lawrence R Farley presents this information from another hadith:

He was in such agony of mind over the revelation that he became depressed and often wanted to throw himself from a cliff, and was only dissuaded when he heard the spirit say, “O Muhammad!  You are Allah’s prophet” (p. 32).

Icon of the Annunciation

Again, “the Angel’s” aggressive, disturbing encounter with Muhammad is the focus of this posting.  This is important because this spiritual interaction is the complete opposite of the New Testament’s recording of human encounters with the Archangel Gabriel, and the calling of the major prophets of the Old Testament by God himself.  The first contrast examined is the Archangel Gabriel’s interaction with St Mary during encounter called the Annunciation (which is celebrated every March 25).

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.  And he came to her and said, “Greetings, you who have been graced, the Lord is with you [Χαῖρε, κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ κύριος μετὰ σοῦ].  But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.  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 (St Luke 1: 26 – 31).

Note that St Gabriel’s actions are courtly and respectful.  Note also that he calms her fears with his words, “Do not be afraid, Mary.”  There is no harsh or violent action directed to her that would cause intimidation or coercion.  His actions were not only derivative of his nature, they were demanded because St Mary must willfully consent to becoming the Mother of God:

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”  And the angel departed from her (St Luke 1: 38).

We note the angel’s same peaceful interaction by means of a dream with St Joseph the Betrothed:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.  When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly.  But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary for your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (St Matthew 1: 18 -21).

Again, note there was no intimidation or consequential fear that came about by the angel’s words.  Then, about two years later, St Joseph had another dream visitation by the angel after the birth of Jesus.  This, too, was a peaceful dream encounter, and is found in St Matthew 2: 13 – 15.

Also, in stark contrast to “Gabriel’s” demands placed upon Muhammad at his commissioning as a “prophet,” we can read of the commissioning of all the Old Testament prophets by God himself.  All of them from the call of Samuel (1 Sam 3: 2 – 10) through the calling of all the minor prophets, we find no intimidation or coercion.  Let’s examine the call of Jeremiah:

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”  Then I said, “Ah, Lord God!  Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”  But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.  Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.”  Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth” (Jeremiah 1: 4 – 9).

With Jeremiah’s commissioning we find promise and assurance, and there is no element of coercion or manipulation because God loves the man.

What, then, can be concluded?  Given the hadith of al-Bukhari we learned that Muhammad was terrified by “the Angel”.  We learned that Muhammad’s experience was the polar opposite of the experiences that came from the actions of the true Archangel Gabriel in the New Testament verses noted above, and the Lord God himself with the holy prophets of the Old Testament.  I must ask, who was Muhammad worshipping in the Cave of Hira, and who posed as a commissioning angel in that cave? Accounts of demonic oppression, and even possession, generally violate the wills of those who are pressed to do their will.   Based upon the interactions between humans and true, holy angels, and of the Lord himself, I must conclude that Muhammad worshipped (albeit unknowingly) a demon (some suggest Satan), and was commissioned violently by another demon posing as the holy Archangel Gabriel.

Violence begets violence.  Coercion begets coercion.  Fear begets fear.  Lies beget lies.  From this beginning we have Islam.

In Christ, who alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life,

Fr Irenaeus