The concept of prophet hood in Islam 

Is there a need for prophets ?

Let’s imagine children going to school for the first time. It’s the first day and no one knows anything about school yet! Will they be able to find their way to classes alone? Will they be able to know why they are at school and what they should do to pass without any guidance? Will they be able to learn everything by themselves??????

Of course not!

It’s the same here! The school is this life, we are the students and the prophets are the teachers who were sent to us

 According to Islam, Allah created man for a noble purpose: to worship

Him and lead a virtuous life based on His teachings and guidance.

We have no way of knowing:

· Why were we created?

· Is there any life after death?

· Is there any reward or punishment for our deeds in this life?

· So many other questions about God, angels, paradise, hell, etc.

All that can not be answered without revelation (wahy) from the Creator and Knower of the unseen.

 Here comes the need for prophethood. Thus Allah had chosen from every nation a prophet or more to covey His Message to people.

A) How were the prophets chosen? How can we tell that someone was actually a prophet?

Prophethood is Allah's blessing and favor that He may give to whom He wills. However, from surveying the various messengers throughout history, three features of a prophet may be recognized:

1.       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.

  A common misconception!  Do prophets commit sins?

 In Islam we believe that after receiving the message, the prophet becomes infallible (ma3soom), that  he wouldn’t commit any sin.  He might make some minor mistakes (of choosing the good over the better) Those are corrected by the revelation.

Hence, the rude Biblical stories about some of the great prophets are not accepted by Muslims.  For example

 - Lot is reported to have committed fornication (illicit sexual intercourse) 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.

2. He is supported by miracles to prove that he is not fake.

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.  

Another misconception… The role of the prophet… Misunderstood!

 The Quran rejects the concept of a prophet’s 'Divinity' and 'Divine Sonship'. The Quran makes it clear that performing miracles doesn’t make the prophet a God! On the contrary.. every prophet admitted that each miracle was done by Allah’s leave (be izn Allah)

3. Every prophet confirms what was revealed before him and what may be revealed after him. So the message is one in essence and for the same purpose.  Therefore, it should not be different from what was revealed before him or what might come after him.

B) The content of the  prophets'  message  to  mankind

aa)Clear concept about God: His attributes, His creation, what should and should not be ascribed to Him.

 b) Clear idea about the unseen world, the angels, jinn  (spirits), Paradise and Hell.

 c) Why has God created us?  What does He want from us and what is the reward or punishment for obeying or disobeying Him?

 d) How to run our societies according to His will?

C) 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 (7esab) 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, MUSA (pbu), Jesus, and Muhammad. These five are the greatest among God’s messengers. They are called  ‘the resolute’ prophets.

D) An outstanding aspect of the Islamic belief in prophethood:

    · Muslims believe in and respect all the messengers of God with no exceptions. Because 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.

       ·The Muslims are the only people in the world who consider the belief in all the prophets of God as an article of faith.

The Jews reject Jesus Christ and Muhammad; the Christians reject Muhammad and in reality reject MUSA (pbu) because they do not follow 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 ordered to 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 MUSA (pbu) 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)