Prophets in islam

Prophets in Islam (Arabic: الأنبياء في الإسلام‎) are those people who Muslims believe were assigned a special mission by God to guide humans. Islamic tradition holds that God sent messengers to every nation.^[1] This is obligatory to accept in Islam.^[2] Muslims believe that every prophet was given a belief to worship God and their respective followers believed it as well.^[3] Each prophet, in Muslim belief, preached the same main belief, the Oneness of God, worshiping of that one God, avoidance of idolatry and sin, and the belief in the Day of Resurrection or the Day of Judgment and life after death. Each came to preach Islam at different times in history and some told of the coming of the final prophet and messenger of God, who would be named "Ahmed" commonly known as Muhammad. Each prophet directed a message to a different group of people, and thus would preach Islam in accordance with the times.

Messenger-Prophets were people whom have been ordered to convey and propagate what God revealed to them. To believe in the Messenger-Prophets means to believe that the God has sent them to creation to guide them, and perfect their life, and their hereafter, and he has aided them with miracles which demonstrate their truthfulness; and that they have conveyed the message of God; and have revealed what they were ordered to reveal to the responsible and accountable individuals; and it is obligatory to respect all of them, and not to discriminate or differentiate between any of them.^[4] For information about whether or not Islam states that Mohammad and other Messengers or Prophets were always infallible, or unquestionable for any of their acts, see the Qur'an (5: 116) (11: 36 - 37, 40 - 47) (37: 139 - 142) (66: 1).^[5][6][7][8]

Muslims believe that God finally sent Muhammad to transmit the message of the Qur'an, which is universal in its message. Muslims believe that the Qur'an will remain uncorrupted because previous Islamic holy books (the Torah given to Moses, the Psalms given to David and the Gospel given to Jesus) were for a particular time and community and because, even if the books were corrupted, many prophets were still to come who could tell the people of what was correct in the scripture and warn them of corruptions. Muhammad, being the last Prophet, was vouchsafed a book which will remain in its true form till the Last Day.^[9] Surah 15:9 refers to the Qur'an as the Dhikr,^[9] simultaneously labeling it as an authority given from the God of Abraham himself.

Etymology

In both Arabic and Hebrew,^[10] the term nabī (plural forms: nabiyyūn and anbiyāʾ) means "prophet". Forms of this noun occur 75 times in the Quran. The term nubuwwah (meaning "prophethood") occurs five times in the Quran. The terms rasūl (plural: rusul) and mursal (plural: mursalūn) denote "messenger" or "apostle" and occur more than 300 times. The term for a prophetic "message", risāla (plural: risālāt), appears in the Quran in ten instances.^[11]

The Syriac form of rasūl Allāh (literally: "messenger of God"), s̲h̲eliḥeh d-allāhā, occurs frequently in the apocryphal Acts of St. Thomas. The corresponding verb for s̲h̲eliḥeh—s̲h̲alaḥ, occurs in connection with the prophets in the Hebrew Bible.^{[12][13][14][15]}

The words "prophet" (Arabic: نبي nabī) and "messenger" (Arabic: رسول rasūl, ) appear several times in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The following table shows these words in different languages:^[16]

In the Hebrew Bible, the word "prophet" (Hebrew: navi) occurs more commonly, and the word "messenger" (Hebrew: mal'akh) refers to angels (Arabic: ملائكة, Malāīkah), But the last book of the Old Testament, the Book of Malachi, speaks of a messenger that Christian commentators interpret as a reference to the future prophet John the Baptist.^[17]

In the New Testament, however, the word "messenger" becomes more frequent, sometimes in association with the concept of a prophet.^[18]

"Messenger" can refer to Jesus, to his Apostles and to John the Baptist.

It seems that in the New Testament a messenger can have a higher rank than prophets: Jesus Christ said about John the Baptist:

But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.
For this is he, of whom it is written, "Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee."

—Matthew, Gospel of Matthew^[19]

General information

In Muslim belief, every prophet preached Islam. The beliefs of charity, prayer, pilgrimage, worship of God and fasting are believed to have been taught by every prophet who has ever lived.^[20] The Quran itself calls Islam the "religion of Abraham"^[21] and refers to Jacob and the Twelve Tribes of Israel as being Muslim.^[22] Isaac, Ishmael, Jesus, Noah, Moses and the disciples of Jesus are just some of the other figures referred to as Muslims in the Quran.^[23]

The Quran says:

The same religion has He established for you as that which He enjoined on Noah - the which We have sent by inspiration to thee - and that which We enjoined on Abraham, Moses, and Jesus: Namely, that ye should remain steadfast in religion, and make no divisions therein:...

—Quran, sura 42 (Ash-Shura), ayah 13^[24]

Status

The Quran speaks of the prophets as being the greatest human beings of all time.^[20] A prophet, in the Muslim sense of the term, is a person whom God specially chose to teach the faith of Islam.^[20] Before man was created, God had specifically selected those men whom He would use as prophets. This does not, however, mean that every prophet began to prophesy from his birth. Some were called to prophesy late in life, in Muhammad's case at the age of 40 and in Noah's case at 480.^[25] Others, such as John the Baptist, were called to prophesy while still in young age and Jesus prophesied while still in his cradle.^[26]

The Quran verse 4:69 lists various virtuous groups of human beings, among whom prophets (including messengers) occupy the highest rank. Verse 4:69 reads:^[11]

All who obey Allah and the messenger are in the company of those on whom is the Grace of Allah - of the prophets (who teach), the sincere (lovers of Truth), the witnesses (who testify), and the Righteous (who do good): Ah! what a beautiful fellowship!

—Quran, sura 4 (An-Nisa), ayah 69^[27]

Prophethood in Ahmadiyya

Unlike other Muslims, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community does not believe that messengers and prophets are different individuals. They interpret the Quranic terms of – "warner" (Nadhir), "prophet", and "messenger" - as referring to different roles that the same divinely appointed individuals perform. Ahmadiyya Muslims distinguish only between law-bearing prophets and non-lawbearing ones. They are the only Muslim group who believe that although law bearing prophethood has ended with Muhammad, non law bearing prophethood continues. In this capacity, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community recognizes Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908) as a prophet of God, and also believes him to be the promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi of the latter days.^[28]

Scriptures and other gifts

Holy books

The revealed books are the records which Muslims believe were dictated by God to various Islamic prophets throughout the history of mankind. All these books promulgated the code and laws of Islam. The belief in all the revealed books is an article of faith in Islam and Muslims must believe in all the scriptures to be a Muslim. Muslims believe the Quran, the final holy scripture, was sent because all the previous holy books had been either corrupted or lost.^[29] Nonetheless, Islam speaks of respecting all the previous scriptures, even in their current forms.^[30]

The Quran mentions some Islamic scriptures by name, which came before the Quran:

• Tawrat (Torah): According to the Quran, the Tawrat (Torah) was revealed to Moses,^[31] but Muslims believe that the current Pentateuch, although it retains the main message,^[32] has suffered corruption over the years. Moses and his brother Haroon (Aaron) used the Torah to preach the message to the Children of Israel. The Quran implies that the Torah is the longest-used scripture, with the Jewish people still using the Torah today, and that all the Hebrew prophets would warn the people of any corruptions that were in the scripture.^[33] Jesus, in Muslim belief, was the last prophet to be taught the Mosaic Law in its true form.
• Zabur (Psalms): The Quran mentions the Psalms as being the holy scripture revealed to David. Scholars have often understood the Psalms to have been holy songs of praise.^[34] The current Psalms are still praised by many Muslim scholars,^[35] but Muslims generally assume that some of the current Psalms were written later and are not divinely revealed.
• Book of Enlightenment: The Quran mentions a Book of Enlightenment,^[36] which has alternatively been translated as Scripture of Enlightenment or the Illuminating Book. It mentions that some prophets, in the past, came with clear signs from God as well as this particular scripture.
• Books of Divine Wisdom: The Quran mentions certain Books of Divine Wisdom,^[37] translated by some scholars as Books of Dark Prophecies, which are a reference to particular books vouchsafed to some prophets, wherein there was wisdom for man. Some scholars have suggested that these may be one and the same as the Psalms as their root Arabic word, Zubur, comes from the same source as the Arabic Zabur for the Psalms.
• İnjil (Gospel): The İnjil (Gospel) was the holy book revealed to Jesus, according to the Quran. Although many lay Muslims believe the Injil refers to the entire New Testament, scholars have clearly pointed out that it refers not to the New Testament but to an original Gospel, which was sent by God, and was given to Jesus.^[38] Therefore, according to Muslim belief, the Gospel was the message that Jesus, being divinely inspired, preached to the Children of Israel. The current canonical Gospels, in the belief of Muslim scholars, are not divinely revealed but rather are documents of the life of Jesus, as written by various contemporaries, disciples and companions. These Gospels contain portions of Jesus's teachings but do not represent the original Gospel, which was a single book written not by a human but was sent by God.^[39]
• Scrolls of Abraham: The Scrolls of Abraham are believed to have been one of the earliest bodies of scripture, which were vouchsafed to Abraham,^[40] and later used by Ishmael and Isaac. Although usually referred to as 'scrolls', many translators have translated the Arabic Suhuf as 'Books'.^[41] The Scrolls of Abraham are now considered lost rather than corrupted, although some scholars have identified them with the Testament of Abraham, an apocalyptic piece of literature available in Arabic at the time of Muhammad.
• Scrolls of Moses: These scrolls, containing the revelations of Moses, which were perhaps written down later by Moses, Aaron and Joshua, are understood by Muslims to refer not to the Torah but to revelations aside from the Torah. Some scholars have stated that they could possibly refer to the Book of the Wars of the Lord,^[42] a lost text spoken of in the Hebrew Bible.^[43]

Holy gifts

The Quran mentions various divinely-bestowed gifts given to various prophets. These may be interpreted as books or forms of celestial knowledge. Although all prophets are believed by Muslims to have been immensely gifted, special mention of "wisdom" or "knowledge" for a particular prophet is understood to mean that some secret knowledge was revealed to him. The Quran mentions that Abraham prayed for wisdom and later received it.^[44] It also mentions that Joseph^[45] and Moses^[46] both attained wisdom when they reached full age; David received wisdom with kingship, after slaying Goliath;^[47] Lut received wisdom whilst prophesying in Sodom and Gomorrah;^[48] John the Baptist received wisdom while still a mere youth;^[49] and Jesus received wisdom and was vouchsafed the Gospel.^[50]

Prophets and messengers in Islam

To believe in God’s Messengers (Rusul) means to be convinced that God sent men as guides to fellow human beings and jinn (khalq) to guide them to the path of the Truth, and that they cannot say except the truth about God. It is obligatory to know twenty-five particular messengers.^[94]

In Islamic jurisprudence, when it is mentioned that one must believe in all the prophets, this means that it is necessary to believe in them in general, but if a name of a prophet becomes established to one specifically and by name, like Yahya ﷺ (John the Baptist) for example, it becomes obligatory to believe in him specifically, and this is the same for revealed Books and Angels.^[95]

Muslims believe that many prophets existed, including many not mentioned in the Quran. The Quran itself refers to at least four other prophets but does not name them.^[96][97] All messengers mentioned in the Qur'an are also prophets, but not all prophets are messengers (the difference is discussed in "Prophets and messengers in Islam"). Messengers are tasked with the mission of conveying God's message to people. Out of the twenty-five prophets, five are considered as the God's most preferred Messengers: Nuḥ ﷺ (Noah), Ibrahim ﷺ (Abraham), Musa ﷺ (Moses), `Isa ﷺ(Jesus), and Muhammad ﷺ.^[98]

Other prophets

The Quran mentions 25 prophets by name but also tells that God sent many other prophets and messengers, to all the different nations that have existed on Earth. Many verses in the Quran discuss this:

• "We did aforetime send messengers before thee: of them there are some whose story We have related to thee, and some whose story We have not related to thee. ..."^[99]
• "For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger, ..."^[100]

Other Special Persons in the Quran

• Luqman: The Quran mentions the sage Luqman in the chapter named after him, but does not clearly identify him as a prophet. The most widespread Islamic belief^[101] views Luqman as a saint, but not as a prophet. The Arabic term wali (Arabic ولي, plural Awliyā' أولياء) is commonly translated into English as "Saint". However, the wali should not be confused with the Christian tradition of sainthood. A key difference is that the wali continues what a prophet taught without any change. However, other Muslims regard Luqman as a prophet as well.^[102]
• Khidr: The Quran also mentions the mysterious Khidr, identified at times with Melchizedek, who is the figure that Moses accompanies on one journey. Although most Muslims regard him as an enigmatic saint, some see him as a prophet as well.^[103]
• Sons of Jacob: These men are sometimes not considered to be prophets, although most exegesis scholars consider them to be prophets, citing the hadeeth of Muhammad and their status as prophets in Judaism. The reason that some don't consider them as prophets is because of their behaviour with Yousif (Joseph) and that they lied to their father.
• Dhul-Qarnayn: Dhul-Qarnayn, often identified with Alexander the Great or Cyrus the Great, is a revered ruler in Islam. His narrative, which parallels that of Alexander in the Alexander romance, does not explicitly denote him as a prophet but some Muslims believe he was a prophet as well.^[103]
• Three persons of the town: These three unnamed person, who were sent to the same town, are referenced in chapter 36 of the Quran.^[104]

Prophets in Islamic literature

Numerous other prophets have been mentioned by scholars in the Hadith, exegesis, commentary as well as in the famous collections of Qisas Al-Anbiya (Stories of the Prophets). These prophets include:

• Daniel (Danial) ^[105]
• Isaiah (Ishiya)^[20]
• Hosea^[106]
• Jeremiah (Irmiya)^[107]
• Zechariah, son of Berekiah^[108]
• Seth^[109]
• Shem^[110]
• Abel^[108]
• Zechariah ben Jehoiada
• Elizabeth (Alyassabat)^[111]

Mary, mother of Jesus

A few scholars (such as Ibn Hazm)^[112] see Maryam (Mary) as a nabi and a prophetess, since God sent her a message via an angel. The Quran, however, does not explicitly identify her as a prophet. Islamic belief regards her as one of the holiest of women, but not as a prophet.^[113]

See also

• Biblical narratives and the Quran
• False prophet
• Legends and the Quran
• Major prophets in the Bible
• Table of prophets of Abrahamic religions
• Twelve Minor Prophets
• Ulu'l azm prophets

Notes

External links

• Prophets in Islam
• Legacy of Prophets in Islam.