Jimmy wrote above in post regarding an angel wrestling with the Prophet:
"If the holy sprit in islam is gabriel why did the angel ( gabriel/holy spirit )caught muhammad (forcefully) and pressed him so hard that he could not bear itany more?"
Have you forgotten when there was an all night wresting with Jacob?
consider Bukhari Hadith attributed to Aisha where it says:
*The Prophet added, *
*"The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it any more. 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 any more.
Sahih Bukhari : Read, Study, Search Online
Compare with:
*And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him… *
Genesis 32:24-28
This “man” turns out is an angel:
4He struggled with the angel and overcame him;
he wept and begged for his favor.
He found him at Bethel
and talked with him there—
*Hosea 12:4
*
“Jimmy wrote above in post regarding an angel wrestling with the Prophet:”
I’ve said nothing about “wrestling with the prophet”. Wrestling would be when two people engage in a struggle.
What we have in the quran is that the angel caught muhammad (forcefully) and pressed him so hard that he could not bear it any more. Not once but three times without any resistance from muhammad.
Furthermore let us examine
Ibn Ishaq, p. 106—[Muhammad said,] “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. (T. 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. So I went forth to do so and then) when I was midway on the mountain, I heard a voice from heaven saying, “O Muhammad! thou art the apostle of God and I am Gabriel.”
According to Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah (our earliest detailed biographical record on the life of Muhammad), the prophet of islam attempted to kill himself because he believed he was possessed by an evil spirit.
Why would allah lead someone to believe this right up until he wanted to kill himself?
Let us go now to Jacob …wrestling with the angel is also symbolic , in my opinion
Genesis 32:25
Jacob was left there alone. Then a man( angel) wrestled with him until the break of dawn.
Notice that the Angel engages in a wrestle with Jacob that lasted all night or until day break. This would mean both took part in the struggle.
Jacob wasn’t exactly “good” and in The Book of Genesis speaks of the relationship between Jacob and Esau, focusing on Esau’s loss of his birthright because of Jacob’s deception. Also his marriage to Leah when he loved Rachel more, and Leah felt hated.
Some would consider him to be ruthless. Also maybe s con artist, a liar, and a manipulator.
When he was alone in the desert wilderness, facing sure death and physically exhausted also he’s powerless to control his fate. The night an angel visited Jacob and they wrestled throughout the night until daybreak, at which point the angel “struck Jacob’s hip at its socket, so that Jacob’s socket was dislocated as he wrestled with him”(32-26). It was by then Jacob knew what had happened:“… I have seen God face to face,” he said, “yet my life has been spared."(32:31) . Jacob received a new name, Israel, "Who prevails with God.” What is most important occurs at the conclusion of that struggle. We read that Israel/Jacob was “blessed” (32:20).
In the end, Jacob does what we all must do. He confronts his failures, his weaknesses, his sins, all the things that are hurting him . . . and faces God. Jacob wrestled with God all night. It was an exhausting struggle that left him crippled. It was only after he came to grips with God and ceased his struggling, realizing that he could not go on without Him, that he received God’s blessing (Genesis 32:29).
