Prophets of Islam

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Muslims identify the prophets of Islam (Arabic: نبي‎) as those humans chosen by Allah to teach mankind. Humans may rely on revelation or tradition to identify prophets.

According to Islamic tradition, each prophet conveyed the same basic ideas of Islam (defined as submission to God, to his words and to his orders). They brought the belief in a single God and in the avoidance of idolatry and sin. Each came to preach Islam and told of the coming of the final law-bearing prophet and messenger of God: Muhammad. Each prophet directed a message to a different group and each prophet taught minor variations in sharia (or the practice of religion) to a different target audience. These variations constitute applications of Islam: mainstream Muslims do not consider them discrete versions of Islam.

Islamic tradition holds that God sent messengers to every nation. Muslims believe that God finally sent Muhammad to "seal" and to convey the divine message to the whole world (to sum up and to finalize the word of God), whereas he had previously sent the other messengers (rusul) to convey their messages to a specific group of people or to an individual nation.

Muslims regard Adam as the first prophet and Muhammad as the last prophet; (from the traditional interpretation of Muhammad's title Seal of the Prophets). Islam regards Jesus as a rasul (and sometimes as a nabi) because he received wahy (revelation) from God, through which God revealed the Injil (Gospel) to him.^[1] Muslims have great respect for Jesus (known by the Arabic form of his given name as Eesa or Isa) and for his mother Maryam. They do not, however, regard Jesus as the son of God.

Islamic theology recognises as many as 224,000 prophets.^[2] According to Wheeler, the Qur'an identifies 25 prophets by name, starting with Adam and ending with Muhammad.^[3]

Etymology

In both Arabic and Hebrew, the term nabī (plural forms: nabiyyūn and anbiyāʾ) means "prophet". Forms of this noun occur 75 times in the Qur'an. The term nubuwwa (meaning "prophethood") occurs five times in the Qur'an. 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 Qur'an in ten instances.^[4]

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 Old Testament (Exodus 3:13-14, 4:13; Isaiah 6:8; Jeremiah 1:7).^[5]

Prophets and messengers in the Bible

The words "prophet" (Arabic: nabi, نبی) and "messenger" (Arabic: rasul, رسول) appear several times in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The following table shows these words in different languages^[6]:

In the Old Testament the word "prophet" (Hebrew: navi) occurs more commonly, and the word "messenger" (Hebrew: mal'akh) refers to angels, But the last book of the Old Testament, the Book of Malachi, speaks of a messenger that some commentators interpret as a reference to the future prophet John the Baptist.^[7]

In the New Testament, however, the word "messenger" becomes more frequent, sometimes in association with the concept of a prophet.^[8]

"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 11:9-10

Prophets and messengers in the Qur'an

The table below charts the Qur'anic verses which explicitly reference a prophet (nabi), a messenger (rasul) , a leader (imam) or a Messiah(Christ). It also includes explicit references to prophets' book(s) / people / divine law (Sharia).

Men of Allah in Qur'an

Name	Prophet	Messenger	Imam	Messiah	Book	People	Sharia
Adem (Adam)
Idris (Enoch)	Prophet[9]
Nuh (Noah)	Prophet[10]	Messenger[11]				People of Noah[12]	Sharia[13]
Hud (N/A)		Messenger [14]				ʿĀd[15]
Saleh (N/A)		Messenger[16]			Dhikr[17]	Thamud[18]
Ibrahim (Abraham)	Prophet[19]	Messenger[20]	Imam[21]		Suhuf Ibrahim (Scrolls of Abraham)[22]	People of Abraham[23]	Sharia[13]
Lut (Lot)	Prophet [10]	Messenger[24]				People of Lut/Sadum[25]
Isma’il (Ishmael)	Prophet[26]	Messenger[26]
Is'haq (Isaac)	Prophet[27]		Imam[28]
Yaqub (Jacob)	Prophet[27]		Imam[28]
Yusuf (Joseph)	Prophet[10]
Ayyub (Job)	Prophet[10]
Shu'ayb (Jethro)		Messenger[29]				Midian[30]
Musa (Moses)	Prophet[31]	Messenger[31]			Suhuf Mossa(Scrolls of Moses)[32]	Pharaoh and his chiefs[33]	Sharia[13]
Harun (Aaron)	Prophet[34]	Messenger[35]
Dawud (David)	Prophet[10]				Zabur[36] (Psalms)
Sulayman (Solomon)	Prophet[10]
Ilyas (Elijah)	Prophet[10]	Messenger[37]				People of Elijah[38]
Al-Yasa (Elisha)	Prophet[10]
Yunus (Jonah)	Prophet[10]	Messenger[39]				People of Jonah (Nineveh)[40]
Dhul-Kifl (Ezekiel)
Zakariyya (Zechariah)	Prophet[10]
Yahya (John the Baptist)	Prophet[41]
Isa (Jesus)	Prophet[42]	Messenger[43]		Messiah[44]	Injil[45] (Gospel)	Sent to the Children of Israel[46]	Sharia[13]
Muhammad	Prophet[47]	Messenger[47]			Qur'an	Sent for all mankind[48]	Sharia[13]

For Ahl al-Kitab (followers of the Holy Books), see People of the Book.

Distinguishing between prophets and messengers

In short, Islam regards every messenger as a prophet as well, but not every prophet as a messenger. The Qur'an, like the quoted passage from the New Testament, may rank a messenger higher than a prophet. For example, whenever both titles appear together, "messenger" comes first. Crucially, a messenger delivers a new religious law (Sharia) revealed by God, whereas a prophet continues an old one. God sends both prophets and messengers as givers of good news and as admonishers of their people. In the case of messengers, however, it appears that a close relationship exists between them and their people (ummah). A messenger will become the witness that God will take from that community on the Day of Judgment (see the following Sura; Yunus 10:48; An-Nahl 16:38; Al-Mu’minoon 23:46; Ghafir 40:5; An-Nisa 4:45; Al-Qasas 28:75). According to the Qur'an, God sent Muhammad to all of humanity and to the Djinn.^[5]

Muslims distinguish between celestial and human messengers. In the Qur'anic world, God has made the angels messengers but not prophets. The human messengers, however, also function as prophets — though not every prophet serves as a messenger.^[4] Angels always carry "orders" to the human prophets or messengers on what to say, what to do, and so forth. While human messengers deliver some messages about new orders to the people, prophets only reinforce previous orders by earlier messengers or prophets, but since the angels carry orders to prophets to do their duty, then all angels of revelations count as messengers.

Prophethood in Ahmadiyya Islam

Unlike Orthodox Islam, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community does not recognize any difference between a Messenger (rasul) and a Prophet (nabi). Ahmadiyya belief regards the terms encountered in the Qur’an to signify divinely appointed individuals - "warner" (nazir), "prophet" (nabi), "messenger" (rasul) - as generally synonymous. Ahmadis however categorise prophets as law-bearing ones and non-lawbearing ones. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community also recognizes Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908) as a Prophet of God, and also sees him as the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi of the latter days and view it^[49] in accordance with the prophecies of Muhammad.

The status of prophets

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

All who obey God and the messenger are in the company of those on whom is the Grace of God,- 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!

—Qur'an 4:69

There were five prophets who had divine books and independent Sharia but same Religion, Islam. They are referred to as Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), 'Isa (Jesus), and Muhammad in the following verse:

He has made plain to you of the religion what He enjoined upon Nuh and that which We have revealed to you, and that which We enjoined upon Ibrahim and Musa and 'Isa that keep to obedience and be not divided therein...

—Qur'an 42:13

These five prophets, who have books and divine religious laws, are called the Ulul'azm Anbiya' (arch-prophets).^[50]

Jesus as an apostle

Qur'an, 4:157-159

That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of God";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-

Nay, God raised him up unto Himself; and God is Exalted in Power, Wise;-

And there is none of the People of the Book but must believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Judgment he will be a witness against them;-

—An-Nisa, Qur'an 4:157–159

Prophets and scriptures

The prophets and Muhammad

Islam views every single prophet from Adam (Arabic: ادم) to Muhammad as important. According to the Qur'an, the prophets Jesus, Moses, David, Abraham, Shelah, and Muhammad had the responsibility of ushering in their own holy scripture, given to them by God. Jesus received the Injil (Gospel), as expressed in the following verses from Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation of the Qur'an:

At length she brought the (babe) to her people, carrying him (in her arms). They said: "O Mary! truly an amazing thing hast thou brought!

"O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a man of evil, nor thy mother a woman unchaste!"

But she pointed to the babe. They said: "How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?"

He said: "I am indeed a servant of Allah: He hath given me revelation and made me a prophet;

"And He hath made me blessed wheresoever I be, and hath enjoined on me Prayer and Charity as long as I live;

"(He) hath made me kind to my mother, and not overbearing or miserable;

"So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)"!

Such (was) Jesus the son of Mary: (it is) a statement of truth, about which they (vainly) dispute.

—Maryam, Qur'an 19:27–34

However, Muslims believe that humans have altered the Injil (arguably: the New Testament or the four Gospels), therefore, the Injil now does not represent the full truth, as given by God. Musa received the Books of Moses, and Ibrahim the Books of Abraham. Dawud gave humankind the Zabur (Psalms). Saleh is responsible for the Dhikr, which is a practice that focuses on the remembrance of God. It often includes the repetition of the names of God. On the other hand, Muhammad received the Qu'ran, which Muslims regard as the purest and truest holy book of God. In Islam, tradition states that Muhammad received this scripture through divine revelation by the angel Jibreel (Gabriel). Its purpose was to perfect the beliefs of the one true God, Allah, because of the turning away of the Jews and Christians from the true religion, into dogmas and doctrines. Muslims mistrust the books followed by Christians and Jews principally because of perceived over-frequent and inaccurate translations: they suspect that personal notes of self-appointed apostles or the opinions and explanations of one person or another have crept into the original texts over time.

Islam, however, from its very beginnings, separated the word of God from the word of the Prophet, and from the words of people regarding the life of the Prophet - to avoid such a confusion. Muslims regard the words of the Holy Book "The Qu'ran" as fully accurate and unchangeable; they maintain that one cannot doubt their truth for they are the same everywhere. On the other hand, Islamic tradition separates the words of the Prophet and the stories recorded about the Prophet into several different books based on accuracy, trust of source or possible degree of inaccuracy. Not all quotations ascribed to the Prophet are necessarily true ones.

The scope of the prophetic mission

The purpose of messengers

The following list summarises the purpose of sending God's messengers:

1. God sent messengers to every nation to guide them to His path^[51]
2. messengers warned nations to follow God's commands and gave them glad tidings^[52]
3. messengers gave guidance from God, taught knowledge and provided a path to purification^[53]
4. God explained that obedience to Him and to His Messenger will earn paradise^[54]
5. and those who disobey will earn hell fire^[55]
6. God said that He will judge people only after receipt of the Message from His Messengers, judging everyone based on their own actions^[56][57][58]
7. thus those who received His message cannot claim ignorance as an excuse^[59]

The relationship between messengers, prophets, the Announcement, and the Sender

The verse about the great news reads;

Concerning the Great News,

—An-Naba, Qur'an 78:2

Nabi, Naba

The word used in this verse, naba, relates to the word nabi.

• Nabi (prophet) means: "one who informs others".
• Naba means: "news", "announcement", "information".
• Anbiya represents the plural form of nabi.

Anbiya inform others of a coming naba. The Qur'an says that the naba is not the Qur'an itself but that it comes in the future.

Rasul, Mursil

Note that the word rasul relates to the word mursil.

• Rasul means: "a messenger", "a bearer of a message".
• Mursal(een) also means: "a messenger", "a bearer of a message".
• Mursil means: "one who sends", "a sender".
• Risalat means: "messages".
• Rusul also represents the plural form of rasul.

So a mursil sends a rasul to give risalat. The Qur'an says that risalat of the mursil (God) form His kalimat. The Quran says that risalatullah cannot end.

In combination

Putting these together, we see that the mursil sent both Jesus and Muhammad (each a rasul) to act as a nabi and to inform of the naba.

The Qur'an itself even states that the messages (risalat) — by definition the kalimat (words) of God — remain inexhaustible.^[60] Therefore the naba which the anbiya (plural of nabi) announced must itself precede more risalat (messages).

If or when the naba appeared, no further need exists for any more nabi (who give the news of the naba). What about rusul (messengers) and risalat (messages)? Does the mursil stop sending rusul to give his risalat? The Qur'an says "no".

Note that the sender of messages and messengers (mursil) functions as a rasul if he gives the risalat himself. And note that the mursil can send rusul who are not anbiya.

Summary

To summarize, we have four words: nabi, naba, rasul, and mursil.

• Some rusul (plural of rasul) rank as anbiya (prophets) if sent (arsala) before the naba.
• Some rusul are not anbiya if sent after the naba.
• The naba itself is a risalatun.
• The Qur'an associates the naba with the mursil.
• Risalat cannot be exhausted.
• The mursil sends rusul to give risalat even after naba.
• Nothing prevents a mursil giving risalat himself (and acting as a rasul).

The reception of the prophets

R. Joseph Hoffmann compares the different Abrahamic prophetic traditions and attitudes to prophecy:

... Like Christianity, [Islam] claimed to be a common heir of the Abrahamic traditions. Unlike Judaism, it taught that much of that tradition had been corrupted by false prophets and evildoers. Like Christianity, it claimed a continuum with the prophets of old; unlike Christianity it made little use of any specific passages of the Hebrew bible, did not incorporate it into its own sacred library, and did not regard the finality of Muhammad’s prophethood to be based on any adumbration in the books of the Jews or Christians.... Islam alone found error not merely in interpretation but in the sources themselves. The idea of error was both tied to and a consequence of the doctrine of finality: Muhammad is the prophet of God in a conclusive and indubitable sense. What is contained in the book revealed to him is true beyond question.

—R. Joseph Hoffmann^[61]

Mohd Nuri Al-Amin Endut et al. note the role in Islamic philosophy of prophetic wisdom in counterpoint to the role of reason.^[62]

Table of prophets in the Qur'an

The following table lists the prophets mentioned in the Qur'an. Biblical versions of names also appear where applicable:

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. It was not (possible) for any messenger to bring a sign except by the leave of Allah: but when the Command of Allah issued, the matter was decided in truth and justice, and there perished, there and then those who stood on Falsehoods.

—Ghafir, 40:78

Other prophets

The Qur'an mentions only 25 prophets by name but also tells that God sent many other prophets and messengers. 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. ..."^[69]
• "For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger, ..."^[51]

Historic narratives suggest there existed a prophet named Khaled bin Sinan in pre-Islamic Arabia.

Most Muslims regard the following figures as prophets:

• Jeremiah
• Isaiah
• Uzair, often identified with the Jewish Ezra
• Samuel
• Seth^[70]
• Joshua

The Qur'an mentions Luqman in the sura named after him, but does not clearly identify him as a prophet or a wali. The most widespread Islamic belief views Luqman as a wise man, not as a prophet or as a wali. Legend recounts that Luqman had a dream, and in that dream he faced the choice between becoming a King and a wise man, and he chose the second.

Numerous other historical figures may rank as prophets, but debate and contention surround this matter. Such figures include:

• Zoroaster
• Gautama Buddha
• Socrates^[71]
• Laozi
• Mani
• Confucius^[72]
• Krishna,^[73]
• Rama
• Akhenaten

Muslims will argue that one cannot identify these personages as prophets for certain, since the Qur'an does not mention them by name. Those in favour of counting such men as prophets often argue that they came with the word of God, but that it later became corrupted, which accounts for the differences between Islam and the various religions and philosophies associated with each man.

The Ghurabiyya Shia sect regarded Ali as a prophet at the same time as Muhammad, seeing his prophethood as ended when Muhammad died. However, they believed that Ali should have become the sole Prophet, but that the angel Gabriel mistakenly gave the divine message to Muhammad.

Maryam mother of 'Isa

A few scholars (such as Ibn Hazm)^[74] see Maryam as a nabi and a prophetess, since God sent her a message via an angel. The Qur'an, however, does not explicitly identify her as a prophet. Islamic belief regards her as a holy woman, but not as a prophet. The Qur'an usually refers to 'Isa as 'Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus, son of Mary), the matronymic indicating that Jesus had no father.

The world of Islam sees Maryam as a very holy and important woman. She alone of all the women in all of Islam has a sura attributed to her: Sura Maryam, the nineteenth sura of the Qu'ran.

See also

• Ilah
• Major prophets in the Bible
• Minor prophets in the Bible
• Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament
• Names of God
• Nevi'im (Prophets in Judaism)
• Nubuwwah
• Table of prophets of Abrahamic religions
• Tawhid
• Termagant

Notes