There's something about Gabriel

[Ahanu]

What's going on with Gabriel? How did this angel become associated with the Holy Spirit and revelation?

Thus at the hour when Muḥammad, that divine Beauty, purposed to unveil one of the mysteries hidden in the symbolic terms “resurrection,” “judgment,” “paradise,” and “hell,” Gabriel, the Voice of Inspiration, was heard saying: “Erelong will they wag their heads at Thee, and say, ‘When shall this be?’ Say: ‘Perchance it is nigh.’"
-Baha'u'llah

Look at the Mosaic cycle: The Lord, and Moses, and the Fire (i.e., the burning bush), the Intermediary; and in the Mohammedan cycle: The Lord, the Apostle (or Messenger, Mohammed), and Gabriel (for, as the Mohammedans believe, Gabriel brought the Revelation from God to Mohammed).
-Abdu'l-baha

Henry Corbin provides a clue:

"The pattern of Ebionite Christology as contrasted with the official Christology of the Church is well known.30 Adoptianist like that of the Shepherd of Hermas, this Christology considers Jesus as having first been a man among men. It looks on the scene of the Baptism as the Epiphany: a supernatural light descended from heaven, illumining and transfiguring the place (as in the narrative of the Acts of Peter), and the words of the Holy Spirit were heard: "Thou art my beloved son, today I have engendered thee" (words which are echoed by those of Jesus recorded in the Gospel According to the Hebrews: "My mother the Holy Spirit seized me by the hair and carried me up to Mount Tabor").31 The consequences of this Christology are incommensurable: what interest now has the earthly genealogy of Jesus? Only Angelos Christos pre-exists, and all that need be meditated upon is his eternal birth in the pleroma. For beyond any doubt we find here a trace of the early hesitation to distinguish between Angelos Christos, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the repercussions of which may be found in all Islamic theology (in the identification between the Holy Spirit and Gabriel the Archangel, who in Christian Gnosis was also Gabriel-Christos). But we know that this recognition of Christos as an Angel (who confers not his essence or his 'person,' but his name and his quality upon Jesus) was bound up, among the Ebionites, as may be seen in I Enoch,32 with the idea of the Son of Man as originally a celestial Archangel and of Christos as one of the Archangels, at once prince of all the other Angels and celestial archetype of mankind.33 And we also find Christos as an Archangel among the Seven, or identified with the Archangel Michael (as in Hermas or among the Catharists), and this identification becomes all the more comprehensible.

In view of the contrast stated in one of the Clementine writings between the Demon us prince of the world and the Archangel Christ who will rule over the world to come.34 In all these variants, Angel Christology develops a soteriology that contrasts no less strongly with the orthodox soteriology. As the passage from the Acts of John regarding the mystery of the Cross of Light has solemnly told us, no soteriology attaches to the death of Jesus on the cross made of material wood. If he has been enthroned as a messianic Lord, it is not because his death effected a redemption; it is because the community was waiting for the Epiphany of the Son of Man, for Angelos Christos, the the return of him who dispenses the Knowledge that delivers and who will thereby establish a supraterrestrial kingdom, a kingdom of Angels.35 It is not by shedding his blood that he saved the world (Christus impatibilis does not die); he is the Saviour because he has kindled for mankind the torch of perfect Knowledge.36 The Clementine Homilies never speak of the Passion: redemption is effected by the Knowledge of the Truth. Jesus, the prophet of the Truth, is essentially an Illuminator, not a Redeemer in the Pauline sense. The traditional objection37—if Christ were an immortal Angel, he could not have become a true man and have suffered and died as a Saviour—always elicits the same reply: why should it have been necessary? And indeed this is a wholly Pauline objection. And although it is true that certain evangelical texts as well as the Apocrypha and certain Manichaean notions are known to Islamic theology and Ismailian Gnosis, there is no doubt that, like Mohammed himself, they know nothing of St. Paul.

We have suggested above that an ANGEL Christology goes hand in hand with an angel anthropology;38 the entire Adamology is affected, and the Ismailian vision concentrates on this theme. The dramaturgy embraces the events that befell the angelic, celestial Adam and the terrestrial Adam, or rather Adams. The traditional identification among the philosophers between Gabriel, the Holy Spirit, and the active Intelligence, which among the Ishraqiyun is the Angel of humanity and in Ismailism is Adam ruhani, or the Spiritual Adam, is only a commentary on the Koranic texts, where the identification Gabriel-Holy Spirit itself exemplifies a Gnostic Christology in which Angelos Christos assumes more particularly the features of Gabriel Christos. Here I shall briefly set forth a few points: they will serve us as an introduction to the dramaturgy that has its source in this angel archetype of mankind—a dramaturgy in which our own history today is simply a phase, the crucible of the metamorphoses which must either lead humanity back to its celestial and angelical origin or consummate its demoniacal fall.

The identification of Christos with the Archangel Gabriel is the dominant trait of an entire Gnostic Christology.39 If we consider at the same time the primitive identification between the Holy Spirit and the Son of God (the "magnificent Angel" of the Shepherd of Hermes), we shall understand the contention that it is the Holy Spirit itself that is sent to Mary, that inspires her with its own breath and "takes body" in her with a reality which is not that of a material body but of a subtle celestial body. Eo ipso, this equation (Gabriel-Christos-Holy Spirit) that is discernible in Angel Christology, becomes an aspect of what has been called "Spirit Christology" (Geisteschristologie). The great majority of the tafsir (Koran commentaries) are in agreement on this point (an entire book ought to be devoted to this pneumatology)."

See Angelmorphic Christology for details:

The name of the other well-known principal angel, Gabriel, means "Man of God" or "Power of God" or "God has shown himself mighty".28 The last six chapters of Daniel are central to discussions of Gabriel and undoubtedly contributed to the growth of traditions about this angel. Although Michael is mentioned in these chapters, it is Gabriel who is prominently visible and active as the angelus interpres for the visions that Daniel receives (7.16-18, 23-27; 8. 15-26; 9.21-27; 10.4- 12.13). Gabriel is not specifically identified as the one with whom Daniel talked in Dan 7. 16-27 and 10.5-12.13. Nevertheless, because of his interpretations and appearance in Daniel 8-9 where he is identified by name (8.16; 9.2 1), it is reasonable to conclude that he is the interpreter of these scenes as well.29

Because the angel in Daniel 10- 12 can be identified as Gabriel, the exalted description given of him at the beginning of this vision deserves special attention:

[ 1 0.4] On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris, [5] I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz. [6] His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the noise of a multitude.

This is a very special angelomorphic figure. On account of the indisputable links with the appearance of the Glory in Ezek 1.26-28 and 8.2, Gabriel may appear like the Glory in Ezekiel in order to emphasize his exalted status or he may have been understood to be the Glory of Ezekiel.3° One of the primary descriptions of Gabriel in Daniel 10-12, however, is his linen clothing ( 10.5; 12.6, 7). This is the distinguishing feature of the angelomorphic figure with the writing case in Ezekiel 9- 10 who supervises the six destroying angels (9.2, 3, 1 1; 10.2, 6, 7). Perhaps the best way to understand Gabriel's splendor in Daniel 10 is to see it as a phenomenon similar to Ezek 8.2. There a very exalted angelomorphic figure, which one would expect to see upon the divine throne, functions as a revealer.31 This understanding of Gabriel being identified as the Glory has led to the possibility of the rather controversial interpretation identifying Gabriel as the "one like a son of man" of Dan 7.13.32.

Gabriel's role as a revealer in Daniel is performed in response to Daniel's fervent prayer and fasting. Gabriel's revelatory activity is related to his role as an intercessory angel because he is one of the archangels. Gabriel is entrusted, however, with a unique activity according to 1 Enoch:

[ 40.6] And the third voice I heard interceding and praying on behalf of those who dwell upon the earth and supplicating in the Name of the Lord of the Spirits. [ 40.9] The third, who is set over all exercise of strength, is Gabriel [ ... ].

One may feasibly argue that Gabriel became known as the angelus interpres who responded to prayer with revelation. If he was the angel who gave interpretation to Daniel, he would understandably be looked upon as the spiritual being who had revealed prophecy to other prophets of God. We see Jewish traditions about Gabriel developed in this particular manner in Jewish Christianity, Mandeism, Manicheism, and Islam.33​

 

[Ahanu]

Here is part of the hadith describing Muhammad's meeting with earlier prophets:

"While I was lying down at alHatim [a wall on the northwest side of the Kaaba] someone came to me and made a split from here to here (meaning from the pit of his cheat to the hair below his navel), then took out my bean. I was next brought a gold dish full of faith, and my heart was washed, then filled up and put back.... I was then brought a beast smaller than a mule and larger than a donkey, which was white, was called alBuraq, and stepped a distance equal to the range of its vision. I was mounted on it, and Gabriel went with me till he came to the lowest heaven. He asked that the gate be opened. When he was asked who he was, he replied that he was Gabriel. He was asked who was with him. He replied that it was Muhammad. He was asked whether he had been sent for. When he replied that he had been, the words were uttered, "Welcome; his coming is good," and the gate was opened. When I entered Adam was there, and Gabriel said, "This is your father Adam, so give him a salutation." I did so, and when he had returned my salutation he said, "Welcome to the good son and the good prophet." Gabriel then took me up till he came to the second heaven."
​

According to this text, Muhammad meets Jesus is in the second heaven.

 

[Ahanu]

In the above hadith Gabriel acts as a guide to heaven.

More on angels as guides in ascents to heaven

"In the first-century CE Apocalypse of Abraham 10.3,8, Yahoel is the angel whom God sends to Abraham after he rejects the idol-worship of his father; he ultimately guides his ascent to heaven."
-Rebecca Lesses, "Supernatural Beings"

In Islam the angel Gabriel is said to be the Holy Spirit. Note the Holy Spirit at times displays angel-like characteristics in early Christianity.

". . . traces of a primitive angel pneumatology can befound in Acts 8:26–40, where the language for who or what is whisking the deacon Phillip from place to place shifts back and forth between “angel” and “spirit”. We should note that this portrait of the Holy Spirit as the one who carries people to and fro’ occurs again in the very Jewish Gospel of the Hebrews, where Jesus is carried through the air by his mother, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does a lot of heavy lifting and carrying in Jewish-Christian literature: Hermas is carried by the Spirit to the scene of his encounter with the Shepherd; and in the Odes of Solomon Christ says, “I rested on the Spirit of the Lord, and She lifted me up to heaven;And caused me to stand on my feet in the Lord’s high place, before His perfection and His glory, where I continued glorifying Him by the composition of His Odes. The Spirit brought me forth before the Lord’s face, and because I was the Son of Man, I was named the Light, the Son of God.” 19 In the case of Phillip’s transportation, as well as Hermas’, it is clear that the person being carried away in flight by the Holy Spirit is inferior to that Spirit . . .

In the Ascension of Isaiah, Isaiah encounters the Son and the Holy Spirit, angels both of them. Arriving in the Seventh Heaven, Isaiah is brought before the Son,who in turn shows him the Holy Spirit:

And I saw the Lord and the second angel, and they were standing, and the second one whom I saw (was) on the left of my Lord. And I asked the angel who led me and I said to him, “Who is this one?” And he said to me, “Worship him,for this is the angel of the Holy Spirit who has spoken in you and in the other righteous."
-Michel Barnes, "The Beginning and End of Early Christian Pneumatology"

And see how the Holy Spirit is described in early Syriac Christianity with Aphrahat the Persian Sage:

"Indeed, Aphrahat describes the work of the Holy Spirit in unmistakably angelic imagery: the Spirit “is always on the move,” he stands before the divine throne, beholds the Face of God, entreats Christ on behalf of the worthy ascetics, accuses the unworthy, etc. It is significant that the action of carrying prayers from earth to the throne of God is sometimes ascribed to the archangel Gabriel.46 This is again similar to the Shepherd (Herm. Sim. 8.2.5), where the archangel Michael states that, in addition to the inspection of the believers’ good deeds by one of his angelic subordinates, he will personally test every soul again, at the heavenly altar (ἐγὼ αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον δοκιμάσω). Both Aphrahat and the Shepherd deploy the traditional imagery of angels carrying up the prayer of humans to the heavenly altar."
-Bogdan Bucur, "Early Christian Angelomorphic Pneumatology: Aphrahat the Persian Sage"

The Persian Sage was later criticized for his views concerning the Holy Spirit:

"At one point, however, Bishop George seems to have run out of sugarcoating, for he bluntly states that Aphrahat’s views about the Holy Spirit are both stupid and blasphemous. Just as the ideas about the animal spirit are an example of “crassness and boorish ignorance,” so also are those statements that seem to equate the Holy Spirit with the angels:

You see, my brother, the crassness of the conceptions; what sort of honor they ascribe to the Holy Spirit; how he understands the angels of the believers, of whom our Lord has said that they always see the face of his Father. He also holds this opinion in that which he says towards the end of the Demonstration On the Resurrection of the Dead."
-Bogdan Bucur, "Early Christian Angelomorphic Pneumatology: Aphrahat the Persian Sage"

 

[arthra]

Abdul-Baha is quoted in the magazine "Star of the West" explaining the trinity:

"Then he explained in detail the puzzling question of the "Trinity" and demonstrated from both a scientific and religious standpoint that "trinity" not only exists in every religion, but in philosophy as well. In the Mosaic dispensation there was (1) Elohim, the " I AM", (2) the burning bush and (3) Moses; in Christianity, (1) the Father, (2) the Holy Ghost and (3) the Son; in Islám, Alláh, Gabriel and Muhammad. In philosophy we say, the mover, the motion and the moved; the cause of causes, the cause and the effect; the Illuminator, the illumination and the illuminated; the Creator, the creation, the created; the teacher, the knowledge, the student; the Giver of bounty, the bounty, and the recipient of the bounty. In principle, every religionist believes in this explanation in so far as it applies to the founder of his own faith; but when this same principle is applied to the founder of another religion, he refuses to accept it. Thus, while they are agreed as to reality, they disagree in mere names and historical personalities."

(SOW - Star of the West, Star of the West - 7)

Another reference is found in the "Dawn Breakers":

'This Revelation, so suddenly and impetuously thrust upon me, came as a thunderbolt which, for a time, seemed to have benumbed my faculties.[1] I was blinded by its dazzling splendour and overwhelmed by its crushing force. Excitement, joy, awe, and wonder stirred the depths of my soul. Predominant among these emotions was a sense of gladness and strength which seemed to have transfigured me. How feeble and impotent, how dejected and timid, I had felt previously! Then I could neither write nor walk, so tremulous were my hands and feet. Now, however, the knowledge of His Revelation had galvanised my being. I felt possessed of such courage and power that were the world, all its peoples and its potentates, to rise against me, I would, alone and undaunted, withstand their onslaught. The universe seemed but a handful of dust in my grasp. I seemed to be the Voice of Gabriel personified, calling unto all mankind: "Awake, for lo! the morning Light has broken. Arise, for His Cause is made manifest. The portal of His grace is open wide; enter therein, O peoples of the world! For He who is your promised One is come!"

Mulla Husayn reflecting on the night of the Declaration of the Bab in 1260 AH/1844

(Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 63)

 

[Ahanu]

Some sources in Islam identify Gabriel as a Christian named Bahira:

“The Imam of the period into which Muhammad was born is identified as Bahira, a figure known in Islamic sources as a Christian monk who saw Muhammad while he was a youth on a trading mission with his uncle in Syria and recognized that he would become a Prophet… The Imam Bahira commanded the Prophet to undertake the mission on behalf of the Messiah (al-masih). When Muhammad successfully garnered seventy male missionaries and one female from the Tihama and Ethiopia, Bahira surrendered the command to him. Thus the legacy of prophecy that was his bequest from Isaac was transferred to him from a Christian monk, just as Muhammad had received the legacy of Imamate originating from Isma‘il through his uncle, Abu Talib… Now, according to the logic of Isma‘ili hiero-history, it is perfectly correct for Muhammad to have been reared in the mission of Jesus, for it is Jesus who was the previous speaker-prophet, and his law was still operative. Still, it is surprising that Ja‘far’s account goes to some length to emphasize that Muhammad began his career as a disciple of Jesus. In one ta’wil Ja‘far mentions that Muhammad studied with Bahira for twenty years, and that Bahira was referred to in the sources as the Angel Gabriel.”

– David Hollenberg, Beyond the Qur’ān (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2016), 97-98​

This may be Islam's connection to Jesus' successor: James the brother of Jesus.

 

[Bhaktajan II]

Though arthra would find compelling...
excerpt:
At one point, though, something that India rejected took hold in the West. This something accounts for the major differences between Western and Vedic theology. This something is Zoroastrianism. It is at once the tie that binds the Western religious heritage and Vedic dharma, and the point at which they departed from one another.

Zoroastrianism is an ancient doctrine of “theological dualism” propagated in Persia at some unknown date by the prophet Zarathushtra. Theological dualism means any religious doctrine in which God is thought to have a rival in the person of an anti-God like Satan. As a religious faith Zoroastrianism is almost extinct. But its dualism lives on to a recognizable degree in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The teachings of Zarathushtra were not unknown in ancient India. He is named Jarutha in several passages of the Rg Veda . However, these references are not flattering. Rg Veda 7. 9. 6 indicates that Jarutha’s theology was opposed by the sage Vasistha.

In the Zoroastrian scripture called Zend Avesta, Vasistha is named Vahishtha. He is said to be a person of harmful intellect who opposed Zarathushtra. Srimad-Bhagavatam 6. 18. 5-6 states that Vasistha was fathered by the demigods Varuna and Mitra; 9. 1. 13 confirms that he was a worshiper of Varuna. Rg Veda, Mandala Seven, has much to say about Vasistha’s devotion to Varuna. It appears that Vasistha and Zarathushtra were rival priests of Varuna, who is called Asura-maya in the Rg Veda. continued at

https://www.bhakticharuswami.com/2014/01/the-origin-of-western-religions/