The Quran

وَلَقَد آتَينا موسَى الكِتابَ وَقَفَّينا مِن بَعدِهِ بِالرُّسُلِ ۖ وَآتَينا عيسَى ابنَ مَريَمَ البَيِّناتِ وَأَيَّدناهُ بِروحِ القُدُسِ ۗ أَفَكُلَّما جاءَكُم رَسولٌ بِما لا تَهوىٰ أَنفُسُكُمُ استَكبَرتُم فَفَريقًا كَذَّبتُم وَفَريقًا تَقتُلونَ

J. M. Rodwell

Moreover, to Moses gave we "the Book," and we raised up apostles after him; and to Jesus, son of Mary, gave we clear proofs of his mission, and strengthened him by the Holy Spirit.¹ So oft then as an apostle cometh to you with that which your souls desire not, swell ye with pride, and treat some as impostors, and slay others?

Gabriel. Muhammad either knowingly rejected the divinity of the Holy Ghost, or confounded Gabriel announcing the conception, with the Holy Spirit that overshadowed Mary. It is probable that Muhammad's ideas of the Spirit were at first indefinite, but that the two expressions, Gabriel and the Holy Spirit, became ultimately synonymous. See note on Sura [lxvii.] xvii. 87. Geiger (p. 82) quotes an instance in which the Jewish expositors understand the distinctly-speaking Spirit (Sanhedr. 44) of Gabriel.