by The
Institute of Islamic Information and Education (III&E)
Prophethood is not unknown to heavenly revealed
religions, such as Judaism and Christianity. In Islam, however, it
has a special status and significance.
According to Islam, Allah created man for a noble purpose: to
worship Him and lead a virtuous life based on His teachings and
guidance. How would man know his role and purpose of his existence
unless he received clear and practical instructions of what Allah
wants him to do? Here comes the need for prophethood. Thus Allah had
chosen from every nation a prophet or more to covey His Message to
people.
One might ask: How were the prophets chosen and who were entitled to
this great honor?
Prophethood is Allah's blessing and favor that He may bestow on whom
He wills. However, from surveying the various messengers throughout
history, three features of a prophet may be recognized:
He is the best in his community morally and intellectually. This is
necessary because a prophet's life serves as a model for his
followers. His personality should attract people to accept his
message rather than drive them away by his imperfect character.
After receiving the message he is infallible. That is, he would not
commit any sin. He might make some minor mistakes which are usually
corrected by revelation.
He is supported by miracles to prove that he is not an impostor.
Those miracles are granted by the power and permission of God and
are usually in the field in which his people excel and are
recognized as superiors. We might illustrate this by quoting the
major miracles of the three prophets of the major world religions:
Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Moses' contemporaries were
excellent in magic. So his major miracle was to defeat the best
magicians of Egypt of his days. Jesus' contemporaries were
recognized as skillful physicians. Therefore, his miracles were to
raise the dead and cure the incurable diseases. The Arabs, the
contemporaries of the Prophet Mohammed, were known for their
eloquence and magnificent poetry. So Prophet Muhammad's major
miracle was the Quran, the equivalent of which the whole legion of
the Arab poets and orators could not produce despite the repeated
challenge from the Quran itself. Again Muhammad's miracle has
something special about it. All previous miracles were limited by
time and place, i.e., they were shown to specific people at a
specific time. Not so the miracle of Muhammad, the Quran. It is a
universal and everlasting miracle. Previous generations witnessed it
and future generations will witness its miraculous nature in terms
of its style, content and spiritual uplifting. These still can be
tested and will thereby prove the divine origin of the Quran.
Every prophet states clearly that what he receives is not of his own
but from God for the well-being of mankind. He also confirms what
was revealed before him and what may be revealed after him. A
prophet does this to show that he is simply conveying the message
which is entrusted to him by the One True God of all people in all
ages. So the message is one in essence and for the same purpose.
Therefore, it should not deviate from what was revealed before him
or what might come after him.
Prophets are necessary for conveying God's instructions and guidance
to mankind. We have no way of knowing why we were created. What will
happen to us after death? Is there any life after death? Are we
accountable for our actions? In other words, is there any reward or
punishment for our deeds in this life? These and so many other
questions about God, angels, paradise, hell, etc. can not be
answered without revelation from the Creator and Knower of the
unseen. Those answers must be authentic and must be brought by
individuals whom we trust and respect. That is why, messengers are
the select of their societies in terms of moral conduct and
intellectual ability.
Hence, the slanderous Biblical stories about some
of the great prophets are not accepted by Muslims. For example, Lot
is reported to have committed fornication while drunk, with his
daughters; or David sent one his leaders to death to marry his wife.
Prophets to Muslims are greater than what these stories indicate.
These stories can not be true from the Islamic point of view.
The prophets are also miraculously supported by God and instructed
by Him to affirm the continuity of the message.
The content of the prophets' message to mankind can be summarized as
follows:
Clear concept about God: His attributes, His
creation, what should and should not be ascribed to Him.
Clear idea about the unseen world, the
angels, jinn (spirits), Paradise and Hell.
Why has God created us? What does He want
from us and what is the reward or punishment for obeying or
disobeying Him?
How to run our societies according to His
will? That is, clear instructions and laws that, when applied
correctly and honestly, will result in a happy and ideal
society.
It is clear from the above discussion that there
is no substitute for prophets. Even today with the advancement of
science, the only authentic source of information about the
supernatural world is revelation. Guidance can be obtained neither
from science nor from mystic experience. The first is too
materialistic and too limited; the second is too subjective and
frequently too misleading.
Now one might ask: How many prophets has God sent
to humanity? We do not know for sure. Some Muslim scholars have
suggested 240 thousand prophets. We are only sure of what is clearly
mentioned in the Quran, that is, God has sent a messenger (or more)
to every nation. That is because it is one of God's principles that
He will never call a people to account unless He has made clear to
them what to do and what not to do. The Quran mentions the names of
25 prophets and indicates that there have been others who were not
mentioned to the Prophet Mohammed. These 25 include Noah, the man of
the Ark, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad.These five are the
greatest among God's messengers. They are called 'the resolute'
prophets.
An outstanding aspect of the Islamic belief in
prophethood is that Muslims believe in and respect all the
messengers of God with no exceptions. Since all the prophets came
from the same One God, for the same purpose - to lead mankind to God
- belief in them all is essential and logical; accepting some and
rejecting others has to be based on misconceptions of the prophets'
role or racial bias. The Muslims are the only people in the world
who consider the belief in all the prophets of God an article of
faith. Thus the Jews reject Jesus Christ and Muhammad; the
Christians reject Muhammad and in reality reject Moses because they
do not abide by his laws. The Muslims accept them all as messengers
of God who brought guidance to mankind. However, the revelation
which those prophets brought from God has been tampered with in one
way or the other. The belief in all the messengers of God is
enjoined on the Muslims by the Quran.
"Say (O Muslims): we believe in Allah and that which is revealed to
us and that which was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael, and Isaac and
Jacob, and their children, and that which Moses and Jesus received
and that the prophets received from their Lord. We make no
distinction between any of them and unto Him we have surrendered."
(2:136)
The Quran continues in the following verses to
instruct the Muslims that this is the true and impartial belief. If
other nations believe in the same, they are following their own
whims and biases and God will take care of them. Thus we read:
"And if they believe in what you believe, then they are rightly
guided. But if they turn away, then they are in disunity, and Allah
will suffice you against them. He is the Hearer, the Knower. This is
God's religion and Who is better than God in religion?" (2:137-38)
There are, at least, two important points related
to prophethood that need to be clarified. These points concern the
roles of Jesus and Muhammad as prophets who are usually
misunderstood.
The Quranic account of Jesus emphatically rejects
the concept of his 'Divinity' and 'Divine Sonship' and presents him
as one of the great prophets of God. The Quran makes it clear that
the birth of Jesus without a father does not make him son of God and
mentions in this respect Adam who was created by God without a
father and mother:
"Truly the likeness of Jesus, in God's sight, is as Adam's likeness;
He created him of dust, then said He unto him, 'Be', and he was."
(3:59)
Like other prophets Jesus also performed miracles. For example, he
raised the dead and cured the blind and lepers, but while showing
these miracles he always made it clear that it was all from God.
Actually the misconceptions about the personality and mission of
Jesus found a way among his followers because the Divine message
that he preached was not recorded during his presence in the world,
rather it was recorded after a lapse of about hundred years.
According to the Quran he was sent to the children of Israel; he
confirmed the validity of the Torah which was revealed to Moses and
he also brought the glad tidings of a final messenger after him.
"And when Jesus son of Mary said, 'Children of Israel, I am indeed
the Messenger to you, confirming the Torah that is before me, and
giving good tidings of a Messenger who shall come after me, whose
name shall be the PRAISED ONE." (61:6) (The capitalized portion is
the translation of Ahmad which is Prophet Muhammed's name.)
However, the majority of the Jews rejected his
ministry. They plotted against his life and in their opinion
crucified him. But the Quran refutes this opinion and says that they
neither killed him nor crucified him, rather he was raised up to
God. There is a verse in the Quran, which implies that Jesus will
come back and all the Christians and Jews believe in him before he
dies. This is also supported by authentic sayings of the Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH)
The last prophet of God, Muhammad, was born in
Arabia in the sixth century C.E. Up to the age of forty, people of
Makkah knew him only as a man of excellent character and cultured
manners and called him AL-AMEEN (the trustworthy). He also did not
know that he was soon to made a prophet and receiver of revelation
from God. He called the idolaters of Makkah to worship the only one
God and accept him as His prophet. The revelation that he received
was preserved in his life-time in the memory of his companions and
was also recorded in pieces of palm leaves, leather etc...
Thus the Quran that is found today is the same that was revealed to
him; not a syllable of it has been altered as God Himself has
guaranteed its preservation. This Quran claims to be the book of
guidance for the whole humanity for all times, and mentions Muhammad
as the last Prophet of God.
III&E Brochure Series; No. 3. Published by The
Institute of Islamic Information and Education (III&E).
