Muḥammadan lexicographers are unanimous in interpreting the word furqān to mean that which distinguishes between good and evil, lawful and unlawful. The Jews use the word perek, or pirka, from the same root, to denote a section or portion of scripture.
FUṢṢILAT (فصلت). Lit. “Were made plain.” A title of the XLIst Sūrah of the Qurʾān, from the word occurring in the second verse. The Sūrah is also known as the Hāmīm as-Sajdah, to distinguish it from the Sūrah XXXIInd, which is also called as-Sajdah, or “Adoration.”
FUTURE LIFE. The immortality of the soul and the reality of a future life are very distinctive doctrines of the religion of Muḥammad, and very numerous are the references to it in the Qurʾān. The whole system of Islām is based upon the belief in the future existence of the soul of man. A description of the special character of this future life will be found in the article on [PARADISE].
The terms generally used to express a future life are Dāru ʾl-Ak͟hirat, Dāru ʾl-Baqāʾ, Dāru ʾl-Uqbā.
G.
GABR (گبر). [[MAJUS].]
GABRIEL. Arabic Jibrāʾīl (جبرايل). In the Qurʾān Jibrīl (جبريل). The angelic being who is supposed to have been the medium of the revelation of the Qurʾān to Muḥammad. He is mentioned only twice in the Qurʾān by name. Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah ii. 91: “Whoso is the enemy of Gabriel—for he hath by God’s leave caused to descend on thy heart the confirmation of previous revelations,” &c. And again in Sūratu ʾt-Taḥrīm, lxvi. 4: “God is his Protector, and Gabriel.” He is, however, supposed to be spoken of in [Sūrahs ii. 81, 254]; [v. 109]; [xvi. 104], as “the Holy Spirit,” Rūḥu ʾl-Qudus; in [Sūrah xxvi. 193], as “the Faithful Spirit,” ar-Rūḥu ʾl-Amīn; and in liii. 5, as “one terrible in power,” Shadīdu ʾl-Quwā.
The account of Gabriel’s first appearance to Muḥammad is related as follows by Abū ʾl-Fidāʾ: “Muḥammad was wont to retire to Mount Ḥirā for a month every year. When the year of his mission came, he went to Mount Ḥirā in the month of Ramaẓān for the purpose of sojourning there, having his family with him; and there he abode until the night arrived in which God was pleased to bless him. Gabriel came to him, and said to him, ‘Recite!’ And he replied, ‘What shall I recite?’ And he said, ‘Recite thou, in the name of thy Lord who created. Created man from clots of blood. Recite thou! For the Lord is most Beneficent. Who hath taught the use of the pen. Hath taught man that which he knoweth not.’ After this the Prophet went to the middle of the mountain, and heard a voice from heaven which said, ‘Thou art the Messenger of God and I am Gabriel.’ He continued standing in his place to contemplate Gabriel until he withdrew.” [[QURAN].]
Sir William Muir says: “It is clear that at a later period at least, if not from the first, Mahomet confounded Gabriel with the Holy Ghost. The idea may have arisen from some such misapprehension as the following. Mary conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Ghost, which overshadowed her. But it was Gabriel who visited Mary to announce the conception of the Saviour. The Holy Ghost was therefore another name for Gabriel. We need hardly wonder at this ignorance when Mahomet seems to have believed that Christians held Mary to be the third person in the Trinity!”
With reference to the verse quoted above, from the Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah, Sale says the Commentators say that the Jews asked what angel it was that brought the Qurʾān to Muḥammad, and on being told that it was Gabriel, they replied that he was their enemy, and the messenger of wrath and judgment; but that if it had been Michael they would have believed in him, because that angel was their friend, and the messenger of peace and plenty.