Gabriel: "Read" or "Recite?"

bmzsp wrote: George, From you: "Another thing that bothers me about this story is the reaction of Muhammad when encountered by the angel.  He is severely afraid and distressed. When I compare his encounter with Mary and Joseph's encounter with Gabriel I see a distinct difference.  They are not afraid." Here it is, George! Luke 1:29 "Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary," For Zechariah, Luke 1:12-13"Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him.......When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah..." As for Joseph, he saw the angel only in a dream. Please read Mark 1:20 and decide for yourself. Muhammad is only the one who saw the angel descending and coming to him, face to face. There is no statement in Qur'aan saying, "Don't be afraid, Muhammad", nothing of the sort.

Apples and oranges, BMZ.  Take another look at the Scriptures. 

Jesus' Mother Mary's encounter:

26Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,  27to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.  28And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."  29But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.  30The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.  31"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.   32"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;  33and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."  34Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"  35The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.  36"And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.  37"For nothing will be impossible with God."  38And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

Notice that Mary was perplexed.  Perplexed at what?  At the kind of greeting.  It was the angel who said, "don't be afraid."  The text does not say that Mary was afraid; only puzzled at the greeting.

Zacharias' encounter. 

11And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.  12Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him.  13But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.  14"You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

Notice that the angel alleviated Zacharias' fears.  

By Muhammad's reaction it leaves one to believe that Gabriel did not identify himself and as the story goes it was Muhammad's wife's cousin who told Muhammad that it was Gabriel.  Muhammad was greatly afraid and apparently as the story goes the angel "pressed" him physically three times.

The stories are completely different, especially the one of Mary.

It doesn't matter if Joseph's visit was a dream. 

George wrote: Another thing that bothers me about this story is the reaction of Muhammad when encountered by the angel.  He is severely afraid and distressed. When I compare his encounter with Mary and Joseph's encounter with Gabriel I see a distinct difference.  They are not afraid.

What is bothering about it?

In one case a divine revelation was being transmitted.

A similar example to this in your bible is in the book of Daniel 10.

bmzsp wrote: George, I have made my point already. There is no need to bring up clarifications.

BMZ, I made my case.  I cited Joseph and Mary as examples and explained them fully.  Their responses were not the same as Muhammad's--not even close.

Muhammad had many contacts with Jews and Christians and he spoke to them about their religon.  Waraqa B. Naufal, his wife's counsin, was a Christian.  I think that your prophet knew about angels.  The point is that the angel did not identify himself and it was Naufal who first suggested that is was Gabriel.

If Gabriel had identified himself to Muhammad, Muhammad would have known who he was, but instead, as the story goes, he did not.  Even having the initial reaction of fear, he should have been comforted knowing that God's angel was speaking to him, but he was not.

Bismillah irrahman irrahim

Assalamu alaikum

George asked in one of previous post what does it matter if Muhammad (saw)  was illiterate and the whole matter some what diffused in jokes, but there are verses in Holy Quran which mention that this was one of the miracles as all His life He could not read and write and at the age of forty He spoke which was more elequent than His fellow arabs who were very famous for their poetry and none of them could response to when Allah swt says in Holy Quran that if you arabs think that Muhammad (saw) made it Himself then all of you join forces and make a little surah like this.

other matter of Muhammad (saw) being fearfull could be his dislike for satanic powers and magic which at that time arabs were involved in,  Maryam and Yahya (as) (Mary and Joan) were both brought up by Joan's father Zakaria (as) who was a Prophet of Allah so they knew more bout encounters from angels (as). as for Muhammad (saw), He was first Prophet in that line after Ismail (as).

wassalam