Latest / Abide Meditation App / Who is Gabriel in Islam_ _ Jibrīl Explained

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Who is Gabriel in Islam_ _ Jibrīl Explained · Abide Meditation App

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  Speaker 1: And one of the most famous hadith. The prophet Muhammad
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  Speaker 1: is approached by a stranger who kneels before him and
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  Speaker 1: asks the prophet about Islam, faith, good deeds, and the
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  Speaker 1: nature of the end times. After Muhammad answers all of
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  Speaker 1: his questions, the stranger responds, you have told the truth. Now.
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  Speaker 1: All of Mohammed's companions are surprised, like, who's this guy
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  Speaker 1: fact checking the prophet, who has the audacity to claim
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  Speaker 1: equal or superior knowledge, But once the stranger leaves, Muhammad
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  Speaker 1: turns to them and says, that was Gabriel. He came
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  Speaker 1: to you in order to teach you of your religion.
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  Speaker 1: The angel Gabriel or Jabriel in Arabic, is a key
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  Speaker 1: figure in Islam. He is one of the greatest of
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  Speaker 1: the angels, a companion and guardian of the prophets, and
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  Speaker 1: the foremost agent of God on earth, and as a
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  Speaker 1: major figure in both Judaism and Christianity, Gabriel offers a
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  Speaker 1: fascinating lens into how Islam integrates, adapts, and distinguishes itself
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  Speaker 1: from the other Abrahamic religions. To really understand Gabriel's role,
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  Speaker 1: we need to step back and ask what exactly are
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  Speaker 1: angels in Islam. Like in Judaism and Christianity, angels are
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  Speaker 1: God's messengers and agents. They pass along revelations, carry out
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  Speaker 1: divine commands, and sometimes even go to battle on God's behalf.
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  Speaker 1: Like the Gin, angels exist invisibly in a spiritual realm
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  Speaker 1: alongside our own, though they can interact with humans and
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  Speaker 1: enter and exit heaven. They also play a special role
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  Speaker 1: in recording humanity's actions. It's said in the Qoran that
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  Speaker 1: every human has two angels watching their every action and
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  Speaker 1: recording their good and evil deeds. The Kuran also states
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  Speaker 1: in multiple passages that belief in angels is one of
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  Speaker 1: the fundamental expectations of all Muslims, as important as belief
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  Speaker 1: in scripture, prophets, the resurrection, and God. Since the first
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  Speaker 1: century of Islam, Muslim theologians have debated whether angels are
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  Speaker 1: infallible and whether or not they possess free will. For example,
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  Speaker 1: the prophet's cousin and companion Eben a Boss, claim that
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  Speaker 1: angels were capable of acting contrary to God's commands, whereas
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  Speaker 1: the early mystic Hasan Albastri asserted they were not, and
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  Speaker 1: this was not just a niche theological debate. It tied
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  Speaker 1: directly into another big question, whether or not a bliss
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  Speaker 1: or Satan was a fallen angel or gin, which I
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  Speaker 1: get into in another video. Those who argue that angels
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  Speaker 1: are infallible point of ver like Sarah sixty six, verse six,
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  Speaker 1: which paints a vivid picture of angels guarding the fires
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  Speaker 1: of hell. Believers guard yourselves and your families against a
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  Speaker 1: fire fueled by people and stones, over which stand angels,
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  Speaker 1: stern and strong, angels who never disobey God's commands to them,
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  Speaker 1: but do as they are ordered. Those who argue for
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  Speaker 1: angelic fallibility point to a churonic passage that names two angels,
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  Speaker 1: Harut and Marut, who came down to Babylon and ended
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  Speaker 1: up teaching people sorcery, something that's clearly forbidden. And then
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  Speaker 1: there's Surah twenty one twenty nine, in which God seems
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  Speaker 1: to threaten the angels with hell fire if they claim
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  Speaker 1: to be divine themselves. That kind of warning only makes
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  Speaker 1: sense if disobedience is at least theoretically possible. Either way.
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  Speaker 1: It's nearly universally accepted among Muslims that angels in Islam
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  Speaker 1: don't sin or er. But why that is, whether it's
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  Speaker 1: because they simply can't or because they choose not to
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  Speaker 1: is up for debate. In Islam, Gabriel is one of
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  Speaker 1: the four top angels in God's service. The other three
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  Speaker 1: includes Michael or Mikal. Islami tradition describes him as God's
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  Speaker 1: messenger to the other angels, whereas Gabriel is his messenger
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  Speaker 1: to humanity. Then there's Asrael or Israel, the angel of death,
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  Speaker 1: who guides the spirits of the dead to the afterlife. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: the Sarafael or Israphel, who sits closest to God's throne
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  Speaker 1: and is always holding a trumpet to his lips, waiting
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  Speaker 1: for his cue to sound it and bring about the
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  Speaker 1: day of resurrection. Now, in Christianity, Gabriel and the others
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  Speaker 1: are usually called archangels, but that's not really a term
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  Speaker 1: you'll often hear in Muslim contexts. Some sources refer to
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  Speaker 1: them as the head angels, or the cherubim, or the
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  Speaker 1: close angels, as in the angel's closest to God's throne,
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  Speaker 1: But Islamic doctrine has never formalized a taxonomy of angels
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  Speaker 1: in the same way that Christian theologians have made over
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  Speaker 1: the centuries. For the most part, Gabriel is simply called
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  Speaker 1: an angel rather than an archangel or anything else. Now.
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  Speaker 1: Gabriel has a lot of roles in Islam, but by
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  Speaker 1: far he's most well known as the heavenly emissary who
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  Speaker 1: taught Muhammad that he was a prophet, taught him how
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  Speaker 1: to be a Muslim, and relay the entire Koran to him.
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  Speaker 1: For Muslims, the Koran is God's final revelation to humanity,
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  Speaker 1: while other prophets in their scriptures, such as Jesus and
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  Speaker 1: the Gospels or Moses and the Torah, are reckoned as
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  Speaker 1: authentic and divinely inspired, their scene as being directed at
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  Speaker 1: particular people's in particular times. By contrast, the Koran is
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  Speaker 1: seen as universal and eternal. The Koran means the recitation,
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  Speaker 1: so the oral nature of the text is key, as
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  Speaker 1: in it's understood to be the literal speech of God
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  Speaker 1: which God recited to Gabriel, and which Gabriel then recited
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  Speaker 1: to Muhammad for transmission to mankind. Divine speech passed a
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  Speaker 1: long voice to voice. According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad's prophethood
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  Speaker 1: began when Gabriel appeared to him in a cave, calling
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  Speaker 1: upon him to recite the word of God. His commandments
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  Speaker 1: are preserved in the opening of Surah ninety six. Recite
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  Speaker 1: in the name of your Lord, who created created man
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  Speaker 1: from a clot. Recite and your Lord is the most generous,
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  Speaker 1: who taught by the pen, taught man that which he
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  Speaker 1: knew not. And over the next twenty two years, Gabriel
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  Speaker 1: would regularly reappear before the prophet to deliver more of
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  Speaker 1: the scripture until it was entirely revealed. Yet Islamic tradition
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  Speaker 1: remembers him as much more than a messenger of revelation.
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  Speaker 1: He was also a companion, teacher, and guardian. According to
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  Speaker 1: numerous hadith, it was Gabriel who taught Muhammad how to
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  Speaker 1: pray and how to perform woodoo, the ritual washing Muslims
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  Speaker 1: do before prayer. So Gabriel is remembered as the originator
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  Speaker 1: for the physical practices which many Muslims observe every single day.
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  Speaker 1: He's also seen as Mohammad's friend. He encouraged him in
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  Speaker 1: tough times, warned him of incoming danger, and even corrected
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  Speaker 1: him in the rare instances where the prophet aired. Some
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  Speaker 1: traditions even say Gabriel fought side by side with Muhammed
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  Speaker 1: and battle at the Battle of Butder in six twenty
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  Speaker 1: four and at a Hood in six twenty five, either
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  Speaker 1: with the angel Michael or leading a heavenly army, And
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  Speaker 1: perhaps most famously, Gabriel is said to have accompanied the
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  Speaker 1: prophet on his miraculous night journey, the ascent to Heaven
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  Speaker 1: from the skies about Jerusalem, and across this early period,
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  Speaker 1: Gabriel didn't always appear the same way. Sometimes his presence
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  Speaker 1: was subtle and benign. The prophet's wife Aisha, for example,
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  Speaker 1: described gentle revelation as taking the form of good dreams.
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  Speaker 1: Other times Gabriel took a human form, described as handsome, strong,
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  Speaker 1: and wearing green or white. In that shape, he was
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  Speaker 1: visible to others, like in that hadith of Gabriel at
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  Speaker 1: the start of this video. But these encounters were not
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  Speaker 1: always easy. Aisha is said to have reported that she
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  Speaker 1: saw sweat dripping from her husband's forehead while receiving revelation
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  Speaker 1: from Gabriel, even though the weather that day was very cold,
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  Speaker 1: So it seems that the weight of divine communication could
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  Speaker 1: be physically taxing. At other times, Gabriel's appearance was more supernatural.
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  Speaker 1: Some traditions describe him seated on a chair suspended between
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  Speaker 1: heaven and earth, or seated on a cloud. Others report
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  Speaker 1: that he could take on a terrifying form of a
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  Speaker 1: gigantic being with six hundred wings whose appearance blotted out
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  Speaker 1: the sky. One report from the early mystic us that
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  Speaker 1: even Musa even says Gabriel once appeared in such a
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  Speaker 1: terrifying form that Mohammad's horse died on the spot from
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  Speaker 1: sheer fright. But perhaps the most moving articulation of the
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  Speaker 1: relationship between Muhammad and Gabriel as a tradition compiled by
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  Speaker 1: the sixteenth century scholar Alsuti. He cites a report from
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  Speaker 1: the prophet's companion even Abas that when the angel of
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  Speaker 1: death came to Muhammad on his deathbed, the prophet asked
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  Speaker 1: him to wait until Gabriel arrived, and only after Gabriel
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  Speaker 1: joined them was Mohammad willing to pass on. But according
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  Speaker 1: to Islamic tradition, Mohammad was not the only prophet guided
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  Speaker 1: by Gabriel. Scalar is such as the tenth century scholar Altaburi.
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  Speaker 1: In the twelfth century polymath fachradin a Razzi described Gabriel
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  Speaker 1: as the angel who delivered God's messages to all of
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  Speaker 1: the prophets throughout history. The Quran appears to refer to
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  Speaker 1: Gabriel as the Faithful Spirit or even the Holy Spirit,
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  Speaker 1: serving as an intermediary between God and humanity. Beyond his
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  Speaker 1: role as a messenger to the prophets, Islamic tradition is
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  Speaker 1: filled with stories of Gabriel serving as a literal guardian angel.
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  Speaker 1: One tradition tells the story of Abraham being thrown into
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  Speaker 1: a blazing furnace by order of a king often identified
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  Speaker 1: as Nimrod, a ruler and hunter mentioned in the Hebrew Bible,
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  Speaker 1: but it was Gabriel who saved him by cooling the flames.
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  Speaker 1: Another tradition narrates that the sacred well of Zamzaman Mecca
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  Speaker 1: was dug by Gabriel's wings to provide water for the
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  Speaker 1: prophet Ishmael and his mother Hagar, who were stranded in
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  Speaker 1: the desert. Still more traditions tell of his protecting Jesus
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  Speaker 1: from Satan. Or In a controversial but well attested hadith,
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  Speaker 1: Gabriel is said to have told Muhammad that as Pharaoh
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  Speaker 1: from the Exodus story was dying, Gabriel stuffed his mouth
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  Speaker 1: with dirt to prevent him from beseeching God for mercy.
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  Speaker 1: Because Gabriel shows up in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tie,
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  Speaker 1: he's a good example of how Islam both inherited and
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  Speaker 1: adapted beliefs from earlier Abrahamic traditions. In fact, in those
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  Speaker 1: early years of Islam, Gabriel seems to have played a
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  Speaker 1: role in connecting the new religion to its predecessors as
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  Speaker 1: a way to encourage Arabian Jews to embrace Islam. The
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  Speaker 1: earliest biography of Muhammad, the Sirah of Iben Heisham, describes
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  Speaker 1: how Mohammad's wif, Khadija, embraced her husband's prophethood when her
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  Speaker 1: Christian cousin assured her that Muhammad had been visited by
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  Speaker 1: the same spirit that had guided Moses. Another hajith says
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  Speaker 1: that a group of Arabian Jews once asked Muhammad which
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  Speaker 1: angel had brought him revelation. When he said it was Gabriel,
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  Speaker 1: they backed away, saying that they trusted Michael instead and
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  Speaker 1: viewed Gabriel with suspicion. Islamic exegesis says that this exchange
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  Speaker 1: led to the Revelation of Sarah two verses ninety seven
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  Speaker 1: to ninety eight. Whoever is an enemy of Gabriel should
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  Speaker 1: know that he revealed this Koran to your heart by
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  Speaker 1: God's will, confirming what came before. It a guide and
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  Speaker 1: good news for the believers. Whoever is an enemy of God,
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  Speaker 1: his angels, his messengers, Gabriel and Michael, then let them
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  Speaker 1: know that God is certainly the enemy of the disbelievers.
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  Speaker 1: In this way, Mohammed's connections into Gabriel helped the early
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  Speaker 1: Muslim community to position their faith as the rightful heir
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  Speaker 1: to the Jewish tradition, one that they believed Arabian Jews
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  Speaker 1: had drifted away from, and as Islam grew, this idea
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  Speaker 1: took a broader, more polemical edge. If Gabriel, the same
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  Speaker 1: angel known from Jewish and Christian tradition, affirmed Muhammed's prophethood,
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  Speaker 1: then Jews and Christians ought to recognize it too. It's
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  Speaker 1: also worth noting the Islamic tradition typically identifies Gabriel as
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  Speaker 1: the most warrior like of the angels, unlike Judaism and Christianity,
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  Speaker 1: which more often identify Michael as the general of the
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  Speaker 1: heavenly armies. Given that Michael is portrayed as the guardian
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  Speaker 1: of the people of Israel specifically, some have suggested that
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  Speaker 1: the Islamic traditions emphasis on Gabriel as the most martial
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  Speaker 1: angel reflects a broader shift early Muslims positioning Islam as
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  Speaker 1: a more universal expression of the broader Abrahamic tradition. That said,
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  Speaker 1: Michael still holds a high place in Islamic tradition. He's
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  Speaker 1: honored as one of the greatest angels, just with a
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  Speaker 1: slightly different role than he plays in Judaism or Christianity.
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  Speaker 1: Beyond theology and scripture, Gabriel's presence is also woven into
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  Speaker 1: everyday Muslim life, and nearly every Musl some community has
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  Speaker 1: developed their own stories and traditions about him in folk practice.
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  Speaker 1: For example, one of the most common rukiyahs, or incantations
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  Speaker 1: against evil, is said to have been taught to the
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  Speaker 1: prophet in his community by Gabriel. When God's messenger fell ill,
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  Speaker 1: Gabriel used to recite this, in the name of God,
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  Speaker 1: may He cure you, and from every disease, may He
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  Speaker 1: heal you. And from the spite of the envious, and
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  Speaker 1: from the evil of all who bear the evil eye,
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  Speaker 1: so Gabriel is also understood as a guardian angel of
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  Speaker 1: believers worldwide. In some Shi traditions, Gabriel is also believed
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  Speaker 1: to have delivered special knowledge to Muhammad, meant to be passed
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  Speaker 1: down to his descendants, whom these groups believed to be
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  Speaker 1: the rightful leaders of the global Muslim community. Most other
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  Speaker 1: Muslim groups don't accept this claim, but it shows how
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  Speaker 1: Gabriel's role has been interpreted not just in the founding
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  Speaker 1: of Islam, but in shaping its unfolding history. Among Sufi
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  Speaker 1: mystics and Islamic philosophers, such as the ninth century neoplatonist Alfaarrabi,
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  Speaker 1: Gabriel represented the active intellect, the force which bridge the
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  Speaker 1: human mind with higher realms of truth. Other mystical interpretations
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  Speaker 1: treat him as a manifestation of inspiration itself, or of
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  Speaker 1: the moment where the heart and mind accept new knowledge,
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  Speaker 1: as the key intermediary between God and humanity, and as
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  Speaker 1: the guardian of God's profits. The angel Gabriel shows up
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  Speaker 1: in nearly every corner of Muslim tradition. He's many things
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  Speaker 1: at once, a messenger, a teacher, a warrior, a companion,
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  Speaker 1: and at the same time a being of overwhelming, even
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  Speaker 1: terrifying power. In a way, he puts a face to
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  Speaker 1: both the familiar and the unknowable manifestations of the divine
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