The archangel Gabriel is a fundamental part of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. For this reason, when speaking of this archangel, interreligious dialogue opens up. 

Indeed, angelology is the study of the doctrines concerning spiritual entities defined as 'angels', whose existence appears in various cultures, including Assyro-Babylonian, Iranian, Judaic, and Christian.

The classification of angels according to Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church, is recognized by the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. It is taught in the main Catholic pontifical universities in courses on angelology. The Catholic Church venerates on the same day, September 29, the three biblical archangels (Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael). The seven archangels appear in Orthodox liturgy but not in Catholic liturgy.

A BIT OF HISTORY

In the Abrahamic religions, Gabriel (Hebrew: גַּבְרִיאֵל, Gavriʼel; Latin: Gabriel; Greek: Γαβριήλ, Gabriḗl; Tiberian Hebrew: Gaḇrîʼēl; and Arabic: جبريل‎, Jibrīl or Jibraeil), whose name means "Power of Lord ('El)" or "Lord ('El) is strong", is, in biblical tradition, one of the angels who are in the presence of Yahweh and incessantly sing his praises. He announced the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus. 

NEW TESTAMENT - In the New Testament he announces to Zechariah the birth of his son John (the Baptist) and to Mary of Nazareth the birth of Jesus (Luke 1:11-20). Infact, in the New Testament, Gabriel is the angel who reveals to Zechariah that John the Baptist will be born to his wife Elizabeth and who visits Mary, revealing to her that she will be the mother of Jesus. Gabriel's visit to Mary in the Gospel of Luke, called the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), is celebrated on March 25 by the Catholic Church. It is also commemorated as the First Joyful Mystery every time the rosary is prayed. Gabriel may also be the angel who visited Joseph. After learning of Mary's pregnancy, Joseph considered not marrying her, but "an angel of the Lord" appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him that the conception had been through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18-25) 

According to a later legend, Gabriel is also the unidentified angel in the Book of Revelation who blows the horn announcing the Day of Judgment.

JEWISH MYTHOLOGY - According to Jewish mythology, the Garden of Eden is home to the tree of life or "tree of souls" which blossoms and produces new souls, which fall into the Guf, the "Treasure of Souls". Gabriel searches within it and extracts a soul at random. Then Lailah, the Angel of Conception, watches over the embryo until birth.

The angel Gabriel rules over all the princely angels of the 70 nations. He is called the man clothed in linen.

THE TALMUD - The Talmud describes him as the only angel who can speak Syriac and Chaldean. 

THE BOOK OF DANIEL - Along with Michael and Raphael, he is one of the angels mentioned in the Bible. Also depicted as "the left hand of God," he is the first to appear in the Book of Daniel in the Bible. 

In the historical context of the destruction of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, and the Babylonian captivity of the Kingdom of Judah that followed, the prophet Daniel pondered what the meaning of the various visions he had experienced in exile was, when Gabriel appeared to him (Daniel 8:16-25).

JUDAISM - According to Judaism, Gabriel is also the voice that told Noah to take the animals before the great flood, the invisible force that prevented Abraham from killing Isaac, and the voice of the burning bush.

THE SEVEN ANGELS - The system of the seven archangels originates from an ancient tradition of Jewish angelology, according to which there are seven angels who are constantly before the throne of God, ready to carry out God's interventions in human history. They are called "angels of the presence" or "angels of the face," and only later, after the development of angelic hierarchies, were they called "archangels."

In the Bible, they are explicitly mentioned only in the Book of Tobit, a deuterocanonical work, which is considered inspired only by the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, not by Jews and Protestants.  In the book, in fact, the angel Raphael appears. 

In the Bible, the names of two other archangels appear. The first is Michael, who is briefly mentioned in the Book of Daniel (Daniel 10:13) and also appears in the New Testament in the Revelation, where he is considered the leader of the angels (Revelation 12:7) and in the Letter of Jude, where he is recognized as an archangel (Jude 9); the second is Gabriel, who appears in the Annunciation to Mary, where the title of archangel is not mentioned (Luke 1:26).

THE SEVEN ARCHANGELS - The elaboration of the doctrine of the seven archangels in Kabbalah and in other esoteric doctrines has led to seeking a correspondence with the days of the week, that is, with the seven movable stars ('planets') of ancient astronomy: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. Gabriel represents the Moon. The seven archangels preside over each of the seven heavens, according to Jewish tradition. There is great variability in the names of the archangels, first of all because the names are not perfectly identical even in different ancient manuscripts of the same work and secondly because the translators vocalize Hebrew (which writes only the consonants) in a different way and more suited to the phonetics of their own language.

The first reference to the system of seven archangels appears in chapter 20 of the Book of Enoch (the Ethiopian Enoch), where they are called Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, Zerachiel (or Saraqael), and Remiel. The first four names remain unchanged in all subsequent lists reported in other angelic texts. The last three, however, often have different names.

CARDINAL POINTS - In the "Book of the Watchers," a section of the Book of Enoch, chapter 9, four angels—Michael, Gabriel, Suriel (Raphael), and Uriel—"looked down from heaven and saw how much blood was flowing on the earth and how all the iniquity was being committed on earth" at the hands of the rebellious angels. Since the first cardinal point for the Jews is the East, the four archangels can be placed at the cardinal points. However, the uncertainty of direction (clockwise or counterclockwise) makes it uncertain whether Uriel corresponds to the North or the South, and whether Gabriel corresponds to the South or the North.

MUSLIM TRADITION - For Muslims, Gabriel is the angel who revealed the Quran to Muhammad. He is often called the chief of the four favorite angels and the Spirit of Truth, attributing to him a function similar to that of the Holy Spirit. Gabriel's Arabic name is Jibrīl or Jabrāʾīl in Arabic جبرائيل , جبريل ‎

As a form of reverence, Muslims also call him Our Lord Gabriel (Sidna Jibril), as he presents himself as the initiator capable of transmitting the divine message to the Prophet and, consequently, to mankind. Because he can intercede with God, he is also considered the protector and interpreter of divine will. He is also known as the Great Ordainer (An-Namus al-Akbar), the Holy Spirit (ar-Ruh al-Qaddus), and the Incorruptible (Al-Amin).

Gabriel is primarily mentioned in verses 2:97, 2:98, and 66:4 of the Quran, although the Qur'anic text does not explicitly refer to him as an angel. In the Qur'an, the archangel Gabriel appears named in 2:97 and 66:4, as well as in 2:98, where he is mentioned together with the archangel Michael (Mīkāʾīl).

Qur'anic exegetical literature narrates that Muhammad saw the archangel Gabriel in his full angelic splendor only twice, the first time when he received his first revelation. Since the Bible portrays Gabriel as a heavenly messenger sent to Daniel, Mary, and Zechariah, Islamic tradition holds that Gabriel was sent to numerous pre-Islamic biblical prophets with divine revelations and directives, including Adam, whom Muslims believe was also consoled by Gabriel sometime after the Fall. He is known by many names in Islam, such as "guardian of holiness."

The physical appearance of Gabriel is described in the ḥadīth of Bukhari (Ṣaḥīḥ, 4:54:455): «Abū Isḥāq al-Shaybānī narrated to me (ḥaddathanī): I asked Zir ibn Ḥubaysh about the statements of God: "He approached within two bows and less / and revealed to His servant [Gabriel] what he revealed. On this, Zir said, "Ibn Masʿūd told us that the Prophet saw that Gabriel had six hundred wings."

Gabriel is regarded by Muslims as having the same appearance, and when pronouncing his name or referring to him, Muslims repeat the eulogy: "upon him be salvation" ( ʿalayhi l-salām ). Gabriel's primary task is to bring messages from God to His messengers.

Gabriel is said to be the angel who informed Mary, in Arabic Maryam, of her virginal conception of Jesus (Qur'an, 19:16-21, Surah of Mary).

OTHER DENOMINATIONS

GNOSTICISM

The heretical Christian movement of Gnosticism paid particular attention to angels, understood as beings belonging to a pantheon of spiritual forces involved in the creation of the world. According to an ancient Gnostic manuscript, the Sacred Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, Gabriel was a divine being who inhabited the Pleroma, existing before the Demiurge.

EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS

The image of Gabriel's trumpet blast to announce the end times was taken up in evangelical Christianity, where it spread, particularly in spirituals. An early example is found in John Milton's Paradise Lost (1667).

CHURCH OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as Mormons), Gabriel is believed to have lived an earthly life like the prophet Noah. The two are considered the same person; Noah is his mortal name, while Gabriel is his heavenly name.

YAZIDI Tradition

The Yazidis consider Gabriel one of the Seven Mysteries, the heptad to whom God entrusted the world, and sometimes identify him with the archangel Melek Taus.

NEW AGE Angelophilia

Taylor says: “You can think of archangels as greater angelic archetypes, similar to the gods and goddesses of Greek and Roman mythology.”