TOPIC: THE BELIEVE IN PROPHETS

1) THE MEANING OF PROPHETS

The Islamic definition of a prophet is someone who has been chosen and favoured by Allah
(God) to convey his message to the people on earth and to bring them to believe in and worship
him alone. In Islam there are two types of prophets; one is the Nabi who regular prophets are
sent to do as mentioned. The second type is the Rasool who are high Prophets or messengers as
they were sent a revelation in the form of a holy book they are obviously higher in status. Islam
has 124000 prophets. It is mentioned in Quran explicitly 25 prophets of them. The prophets
Muhammad was the final and greatest of them.
Prophets in Islam (Arabic: ) are those people who Muslims believe were assigned
a special mission by God to guide humans. Islamic tradition holds that the 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.











2) THE PURPOSE EXISTENCE OF PROPHETS

We can identify the following main reasons for existence of prophets:

Guiding humanity from the worship of created beings to the worship of their
Creator, from being in a state of servitude to the creation to the freedom of
worshipping their Lord.
Clarifying to humanity the purpose of creation: worshipping God and obeying
His commands, as well as clarifying that this life is a test for each individual, a
test of which its results will decide the type of life one will lead after death; a
life of eternal misery or eternal bliss. There is no other definite way to find the
true purpose of creation.
Showing humanity the right path that will lead them to Paradise and to
salvation from Hellfire.
Establishing proof against humanity by sending prophets, so people will not
have an excuse when they will be questioned on the Day of Judgment. They
will not be able to claim ignorance to the purpose of their creation and life after
death.
Uncovering the unseen world which exists beyond the normal senses and the
physical universe, such as the knowledge of God, existence of angels, and the
reality of the Day of Judgment.
Providing human beings practical examples to lead moral, righteous, purpose-
driven lives free of doubts and confusion. Innately, human beings admire
fellow human beings, so the best examples of righteousness for humans to
imitate are those of Gods prophets.
Purifying the soul from materialism, sin, and heedlessness.
Conveying to humanity the teachings of God, this is for their own benefit in
this life and in the Hereafter.




3) HOW PROPHETS HAS BEEN CHOOSEN?

Prophet Hood is Allahs 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 role 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. This
is not to mean that Prophets did any, as they were of the highest conduct among the
people and thus were prepared to receive the message. A Prophet might make some
minor mistakes- not out of desire or for personal goals; rather, out of keenness on
achieving some benefits in the favor of the message he came to convey. Such minor
mistakes were usually corrected by revelation.

He is supported by miracles to prove that he is not an imposter. Those miracles are
granted by the power and permission of Allah and are usually in the field in which his
people excel and are recognized as superiors.

Every Prophet states clearly that what he receives is not from his own, but from Allah
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 that 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 Allahs 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? These and so many other
questions about Allah, angels, paradise, hell, and more, cannot be answered without direct



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 elite 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, Prophet Lot is reported to have committed incestuous
fornication while drunk. Prophet Daawood (David) is alleged to have sent one of his
leaders to his death in order to marry his wife. Prophets, to Muslims, are greater than what
these stories indicate. These stories cannot be true from the Islamic point of view.
The Prophets are also miraculously supported by Allah and instructed by Him to affirm
the continuity of the message. The content of the Prophets' message to mankind can be
summarized as follows:
a) Clear concept of Allah: His attributes, His creation, what should and should not be
ascribed to Him.
b) Clear idea about the unseen world, the angels, jinn, Paradise and Hell.
c) Why Allah has created us, what He wants from us and what rewards and punishments
are for obedience and disobedience.
d) 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 smoothly functioning, harmonious
society.
Now one might ask: who are the Prophets according to the Islamic Faith? The answer is,
many of the same Prophets found in the Old Testament, New Testament, and some
Prophets which are mentioned in the Quran that you may not be familiar with.
According to Islam, some Prophets were given the message to deliver to their people (e.g.
Prophets Aadam (Adam), Nooh (Noah), Lot and others, may Allah exalt their mention)



and others were given books (e.g. Prophets Ibraaheem (Abraham), Moosaa (Moses),
'Eesaa (Jesus), Muhammad and others, may Allah exalt their mention.
Prophets in Islam are revered, respected individuals who were chosen by Allah to bring
His Divine Message to their people.
In the case of Prophet Muhammad he was chosen to give his Message to all mankind.
Every Prophet came to relay the same message to their people, which was to worship
Allah alone, associating no partners with Him.
Islam is the final message for mankind, complete in every way, as Allah Says (what
means): "This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon
you and have approved for you Islam as religion." [Quran 5:3]
When Muslims mention the name of any Prophet, out of respect, they supplicate for them
asking that Allah exalt their mention and bestow His Peace and Blessings upon them.
Another way in which Muslims show respect for the Prophets and Messengers of Allah is
that they neither draw pictures of them nor approve of actors portraying Prophets in
movies. Muslims believe that it is disrespectful to any Prophet of Allah for an actor to
portray them.