Skip to main content
Refutations

Did the Prophet ﷺ Really Wrestle the Devil? Refuting the Missionary Doubt with Their Own Bible

7 min read 1357 words

Did the Prophet ﷺ Really Wrestle the Devil? Refuting the Missionary Doubt

Table of Contents

The Doubt Presented

Missionaries claim that among the myths attributed to the Prophet of Islam is that he wrestled with the devil, strangled him until he felt the coolness of his tongue between his two fingers, and then intended to tie him to one of the pillars of the mosque — before refraining out of remembrance of the supplication of Prophet Solomon. They present this as a ground for mockery and ridicule against Islam and its Prophet ﷺ.

The Hadiths in Question

First: Musnad Ahmad, No. 11354, on the authority of Abu Sa’id al-Khudri: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood up and prayed the dawn prayer, and Iblis was behind him. His recitation became confused. When he finished his prayer, he said: “If you saw me and Iblis — I reached out with my hand and continued to strangle him until I felt the coolness of his saliva between these two fingers of mine, the thumb and the one next to it. Were it not for the prayer of my brother Sulayman, he would have been tied to one of the pillars of the mosque and the children of Madinah would have played with him. So whoever among you is able to ensure that no one stands between him and the Qiblah, let him do so.” Authenticated by Shaykh al-Albani in As-Silsilah As-Saheehah, No. 3251.
Second: Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of Interpretation of the Qur’an, Chapter on the verse {Grant me a kingdom such as will not belong to anyone after me. Indeed, You are the Bestower}, No. 4434, on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, that the Prophet ﷺ said: “A demon from among the jinn came to me last night in order to interrupt my prayer. Then Allah gave me power over him, and I wanted to restrain him to one of the pillars of the mosque until morning comes and you all look at it. Then I remembered the words of my brother Solomon: ‘My Lord, grant me a kingdom such as will not belong to anyone after me.’ So He sent him back, defeated.”

Refutation Part One — Can Jinn Take Physical Form

The first aspect of the doubt asks: Can a jinn devil take on a physical body such that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ could wrestle with him?
The answer is yes, and there is no problem with that whatsoever. Satan came to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in an embodied form in this incident. He also came in the form of an Arab man when the polytheists sought to kill the Prophet at the beginning of his mission. He appeared to Abu Hurayrah in an embodied form. He appeared to Jesus, according to the Gospel of Matthew, when he took him and tested him. He appeared to Adam and Eve in the form of a snake, as recorded in the Book of Genesis — and this is affirmed by theologians across traditions. Allah gave the jinn the ability to take on several forms, and there is nothing strange in this. If our eyes do not witness it today, they do witness animals and insects that completely transform their shape and color — such as the chameleon and certain species of butterflies. The objection here is ultimately an objection to the texts of all religions, not merely Islam, since these texts confirm this reality and do not deny it. The first to raise such objections are therefore the atheists, who deny everything beyond material observation.

Refutation Part Two — Does the Devil Have Saliva

The second aspect of the doubt contains an element of mockery and ridicule — that the devil, being a jinn, could have saliva that ran cold on the hands of the Prophet ﷺ after he strangled him.
Yes — and this is cause for no surprise. They express shock and ridicule that Satan, a created being, has saliva. Yet they do not express shock or ridicule that the Lord of the heavens and the earth — Jesus, according to their own belief — possesses saliva, feces, and urine. The standard of surprise they apply is entirely selective and inconsistent.

The Critical Comparison — Jacob Wrestling God in the Bible

After addressing both parts of the doubt, an even more critical matter emerges — one that turns the missionaries’ objection back upon their own scripture. They object to the hadith because the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ wrestled with Satan in human form and defeated him. Yet they raise no objection to what their own Holy Book attributes to the Prophet Jacob — that he wrestled with the Lord of the Worlds Himself in human form, defeated Him, and was victorious to the point that the Lord cried out begging to be released.
“And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of day. And when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; and the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day is breaking. But he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. And he said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed. And Jacob asked him, Please tell me your name. And he said, Why do you ask my name? And he blessed him there. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” — Genesis 32:24–30
According to Islamic narrations, Muhammad ﷺ defeated Satan — a created, rebellious being — grabbed him and almost bound him. According to the Biblical text, Jacob ﷺ defeated God Himself in wrestling, bound Him, and extracted a blessing from Him by force. The comparison speaks for itself.

Unanswered Questions for the Missionaries

Several profound questions arise from the Genesis account that the missionaries have never satisfactorily answered:
What is the relationship between the rising of dawn and the Lord’s desire to leave? The text states that the Lord begged Jacob to release him before daybreak — and in the end, the Lord blessed him seemingly against His will and renamed him Israel. Why was the Lord afraid of the appearance of the sun? Would He have burned up as occurs in fantasy depictions of vampires and Dracula? Is the Lord so weak that a human being could defeat Him, bind Him, and extract a blessing from Him by force? Was the Lord ignorant of the name of Jacob — whom He is supposed to have created — that He had to ask: “What is your name?” (Genesis 32:27)?
And should anyone claim that the one who wrestled with Jacob was not God in human form — the text itself refutes this: “And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day” (Genesis 32:24). The word used is “a man.” Jacob himself confirmed it: “For I have seen God face to face” (Genesis 32:30). The scripture leaves no room for reinterpretation.
In summary: the missionaries mock a Prophet ﷺ who overpowered a devil — a created being of disobedience — while their own scripture depicts their God being overpowered, begging for release, and surrendering a blessing to a human being. The double standard is its own refutation.

This article is part of the OpenIslam Wiki — Responding to Missionary Doubts series.