The Prophethood and Messengership

The reader, as one finds in cases with certain prophets, Allah can bring about direct knowledge of Himself, His Essence, His Names, His Attributes and all of His commands all at the same time in the hearts of His worshipers without an intermediary, and one recalls the words of Allah that say, "It does not belong to any human that Allah should speak to him except by Revelation." [Surah Ash-Shura, 42:51]. However, it is permitted that knowledge of such matters can reach them by means of an intermediary who transmits His words to them. The intermediary may or not be human, as in the case of prophets they can be angels, or prophets to their nation. Intellectual proof dictates that this is not forbidden, since it is permissible and not impossible.

The Messengers brought miracles that clearly show that they are truthful and thereby necessitate their being confirmed in all they brought because miracles are, for the most part, accompanied by a challenge from the respective prophet. This is rooted in the words of Allah, "My worshiper has spoken the truth, therefore obey him and follow him." From this quotation we are made aware that Allah is in fact testifying to the truthfulness of the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him). To say more would be to go beyond the purpose of this reference. Whosoever wishes to discover more details will find the subject covered in the Islamic references of our imams.

The Arabic root word for prophet "naba'a", written with the letter "hamza" means "to give news, or to report". The meaning of this has been explained that Allah imparted knowledge of the Unseen to His prophets, and taught each one that he had become His Prophet. With this knowledge they were themselves informed, and therefore able to inform and proclaim to others that with which Allah had sent them. Those who read it without the letter "hamza" explain it as derived from the root meaning "that which rises from the earth", which is an indication that prophets have a noble rank and exalted position with their Lord, and both these meanings are applicable to all of the prophets.

The Arabic word for "messenger" is "Rasul", which means someone who is sent. By being sent he is commanded by Allah to convey the message entrusted to him to his people. "Rasul" is a word derived from succession, in other words one who succeeded another. A messenger bears the obligation to convey the message entrusted to him and also the obligation upon his people to accept and follow him just as it had been obligatory upon previous peoples to follow their current messenger.

There is a difference of opinion about whether "prophet" and "messenger" are one of the same, or are different in their meaning. There are scholars who are of the opinion that they are the same and their root is from "news" and therefore this means "inform". Those who adhere to this opinion quote the verse "Never have We sent a Messenger or a Prophet before you." [Surah Al-Hajj, 22:52 this verse affirms that both messenger and prophet are sent. Prophet Mohammed (peace and blessing be upon him) said, "The Prophet is a Messenger and the Messenger is a Prophet." It has been said that there is one matter in which they are different, however, both entail that of the rank of prophet, and this is that they inform people of the Unseen and teach them about the rank of prophethood so that they are able to recognize their exalted rank and follow them. The difference of opinion arises in that a Messenger is entrusted with a message, which is the command to warn and teach and the proof of this opinion is also extracted from the same verse on account of the two titles being kept separate and if they both bore the same meaning then the question is asked what is the point of repeating them?

Those adhering to this opinion interpret the meaning of this verse as being, "Never have We sent a Messenger to a nation or a Prophet." Some say that Messengers were those who brought a new Law and that those who did not were Prophets, but not Messengers. The consensus is that the authentic position is that all the Messengers were Prophets but not every Prophet was a Messenger. The first Messenger was Adam and the last Mohammed, peace be upon all them. Abu Dharr reported that the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) informed his Companions that there were approximately 124,000 prophets of whom there were 313 messengers, and that the first messenger was Adam. Peace be upon all the prophets and messengers of Allah.

The Arabic word for revelation is "wahy", and its root means "to hasten". When Allah sends a matter quickly to His prophet it is called Revelation, and consists of three types. The one with the challenge which is the Quran, which is the Word of Allah without human voicing and letters, the second is the Divine quotations which is the meaning from Allah expressed in the words of the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) in which he reports "As Allah said", the third is the revelation of the Prophetic quotations which is inspiration to the Prophet in his own eloquent, unique words. A further explanation of "revelation" is from the root words "al-waha" meaning "quickly". It can also mean secrecy and concealment and because of this simple inspiration has been called revelation. Allah says, "We revealed this to Moses' mother" [Surah Al-Qasas, 28:7] - cast in her heart. Allah also says, "It does not belong to any human that Allah should speak to him except by Revelation." [Surah Ash-Shura, 42:52 this is that which He casts into the heart without an intermediary.