Reason 1

Muhammad's first impression of the revelations he received is that they were demonic

Article author: Jay Zeke Malakai

Article editor: Unedited

In Galatians 1:8, we read "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed." And in 2 Corinthians 11:14, we read "And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." These two verses are interesting for one very simple reason: They tell us we can't always trust angels. If an angel comes to us, it could be Satan in disguise. What does this have to do with Islam? It is related to Islam because Muhammad originally believed the revelations he recieved (from an angel) were of demonic origin. This is one of the places where Christians and Muhammad would agree.

 

The first account of Muhammad's meeting with the "angel Gabriel" is found in Sirat Rasul Allah, and it says "When it was the night on which God honoured him with his mission and showed mercy on His servants thereby, Gabriel brought him the command of God. "He came to me," said the apostle of God, "while I was asleep, with a coverlet of brocade whereon was some writing, and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What shall I read?’ He pressed me with it so tightly that I thought it was death; then he let me go and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What shall I read?’ He pressed me with it again so that I thought it was death; then he let me go and said ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What shall I read?’ He pressed me with it the third time so that I thought it was death and said ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What then shall I read?’—and this I said only to deliver myself from him, lest he should do the same to me again. He said: ‘Read in the name of thy Lord who created,

Who created man of blood coagulated. Read! Thy Lord is the most beneficent, Who taught by the pen, Taught that which they knew not unto men.’ So I read it, and he departed from me. And I awoke from my sleep, and it was as though these words were written on my heart."

 

Now, in this passage alone we have two problems that would suggest that this account, if true, was not an angelic revelation. The first is that the angel did not tell Muhammad not to be afraid. In the Bible (which the Qur'an says is true numerous times), the response to angels is usually a response of fear, however it is the angel itself that says "do not be afraid". The most noteable example is the angel that appeared to Mary in Luke 1:30. This angel, of course, actually was the angel Gabriel.

 

The second, which relates to that, is the violent manner in which the "angel" revealed the words to Muhammad. Rather than comforting Muhammad with his message, the angel pressed Muhammad so hard, he thought he was going to die. The account continues: Now none of God’s creatures was more hateful to me than an (ecstatic) poet or a man possessed: I could not even look at them. I thought, Woe is me poet or possessed—Never shall Quraysh say this of me! I will go to the top of the mountain and throw myself down that I may kill myself and gain rest.

 

According to the account, Muhammad feared his tribe would fear he was posessed. He was so afraid of this, and his violent encounter with the "angel", that he would rather throw himself from the top of a mountain and die than continue living like this. Now, I'm the last one to favour suicide, so I don't agree 100% with Muhammad here, but sometimes first impressions are absolutely correct. As I found out the hard way, sometimes you really can judge a book by the cover. Muhammad initially believed he had encountered something bad, and he was absolutely correct. What he had encountered was the devil himself, and he was trying to use Muhammad to create the most violent religion in the history of mankind.