islam

Islam claims the archangel Gabriel came to Muhammad commanding him to "Recite" and ushering in his prophetic calling. What are we to make of this "Second Annunciation?  On March 25, the Orthodox Church commemorates the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary.   As the hymn for the Feast says, Today is the beginning of our salvation, The revelation of the eternal mystery! The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin As Gabriel announces the coming of Grace... Islam also begins with an annunciation of sorts, to Muhammad, (not) coincidentally by a spirit being also identified as the angel Jibril (Gabriel). However, the nature and outcome of that annunciation is quite different from the one to the Virgin Mary six centuries earlier. As St Gregory Palamas noted in the 14th century, Muhammad's actions were  "instigated by the devil" : "[Muhammad] came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the goo...

Islam claims the archangel Gabriel came to Muhammad commanding him to "Recite" and ushering in his prophetic calling. What are we to make of this "Second Annunciation?  On March 25, the Orthodox Church commemorates the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary.   As the hymn for the Feast says, Today is the beginning of our salvation, The revelation of the eternal mystery! The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin As Gabriel announces the coming of Grace... Islam also begins with an annunciation of sorts, to Muhammad, (not) coincidentally by a spirit being also identified as the angel Jibril (Gabriel). However, the nature and outcome of that annunciation is quite different from the one to the Virgin Mary six centuries earlier. As St Gregory Palamas noted in the 14th century, Muhammad's actions were "instigated by the devil" : "[Muhammad] came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the good...