Belief in the prophets and messengers

In a minute

Muslims believe God has never left humanity without guidance. To every people, at different times, He sent prophets: good, truthful human beings chosen to teach that there is one God, to show by example how to live, and to warn and bring good news. The first was Adam; the last was the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon them all). In between came Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and many more. A Muslim must believe in all of them. To reject one is to reject the message they share.

What it is and how it's lived

Prophets and messengers

A prophet (nabi) receives revelation from God.
A messenger (rasul) is a prophet sent with a mission or a scripture to a people.

Every messenger is a prophet, but not every prophet is a messenger. A hadith in the collection of Imam Ahmad gives the number of prophets as 124,000, of whom about 315 were messengers (Musnad Ahmad 22288 ). Scholars discuss its strength; the Qur'an itself says some were named and some were not (40:78).

Twenty-five named in the Qur'an

Adam · Idris (Enoch) · Nuh (Noah) · Hud · Salih · Ibrahim (Abraham) · Lut (Lot) · Isma'il (Ishmael) · Ishaq (Isaac) · Ya'qub (Jacob) · Yusuf (Joseph) · Ayyub (Job) · Shu'ayb · Musa (Moses) · Harun (Aaron) · Dhu'l-Kifl · Dawud (David) · Sulayman (Solomon) · Ilyas (Elijah) · al-Yasa' (Elisha) · Yunus (Jonah) · Zakariyya (Zechariah) · Yahya (John the Baptist) · 'Isa (Jesus) · Muhammad

Most will be familiar to readers of the Bible. Five are honoured as the "resolute" or "stout of heart" messengers (ulu'l-'azm, 46:35): Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.

What Muslims believe about the prophets

They were human, not divine. They ate, slept, married and died.
They were chosen and protected by God, truthful and trustworthy, kept from major sin, and faithful in passing on the message.
They all taught the same core message: worship God alone (21:25).
Respect for all: Muslims say "peace be upon him" ('alayhi's-salam) after every prophet's name. For the Prophet Muhammad, they say sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, written ﷺ.
No pictures: Islam does not depict any prophet, out of reverence and to keep worship for God alone.

Jesus ('Isa) in Islam

Muslims love and honour Jesus as one of the greatest messengers. They believe in his virgin birth to Mary (Maryam), who has a whole chapter of the Qur'an named after her. They call him the Messiah (al-Masih) and believe in his miracles, by God's leave. Muslims also believe that he was a human messenger and not divine, that he was raised up to God, and that he will return before the end of time. Christians believe Jesus is the Son of God, crucified and risen. This is a real difference, and each faith explains it in its own words.

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him)

He was born in Makkah around 570 CE and orphaned young. He was known as al-Amin, "the trustworthy", before revelation began when he was about 40. He preached in Makkah for 13 years, often under persecution. Then he migrated to Madinah in 622 CE (the Hijrah, which begins the Islamic calendar), where he led a community until his death in 632 CE. Muslims believe he is the Seal of the Prophets (33:40), sent as a mercy to all the worlds (21:107), and the best example of how to live (uswah hasanah).

Its inner meaning

Belief in the messengers says that guidance is human-shaped: God teaches through people we can follow. It also makes Muslims part of one long family of faith reaching back to Adam. It means Muslims cannot speak ill of Moses or Jesus without speaking against their own faith.

Key verses

"Say (O Muslims): We believe in Allah and that which is revealed unto us and that which was revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and that which the prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered." (Qur'an 2:136, Pickthall)

Arabic (closing words of 2:136): لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍۢ مِّنْهُمْ وَنَحْنُ لَهُۥ مُسْلِمُونَ

"And verily We have raised in every nation a messenger, (proclaiming): Serve Allah and shun false gods." (Qur'an 16:36, Pickthall)

"And messengers We have mentioned unto thee before and messengers We have not mentioned unto thee; and Allah spake directly unto Moses;" (Qur'an 4:164, Pickthall)

"We sent thee not save as a mercy for the peoples." (Qur'an 21:107, Pickthall)

Arabic: وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَٰكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةًۭ لِّلْعَٰلَمِينَ

From the Prophet (peace be upon him)

My example and that of the prophets before me is like a man who built a beautiful house, complete except for one brick in a corner. People walked round it, admiring it, and asked: why has this brick not been put in? I am that brick, and I am the last of the prophets (paraphrased; Sahih al-Bukhari 3535, Sahih Muslim 2286).
The prophets are brothers with different mothers and one religion, and I am the closest of people to Jesus son of Mary (paraphrased; Sahih al-Bukhari 3443, Sahih Muslim 2365).

Common misunderstandings, answered gently

"Muhammad founded a new religion." Muslims believe he renewed the one religion of all the prophets, the surrender to God taught by Abraham, Moses and Jesus.
"Muslims don't believe in Jesus." Belief in Jesus as a prophet and the Messiah is part of Muslim faith. A Muslim who denied him would leave Islam.
"The word 'Mohammedan'." Muslims do not use this, because they do not worship Muhammad. The word is "Muslim".

Sunni and Shia

Shia Muslims hold prophethood (Nubuwwah) as a root of religion, and add Imamah: the belief that God appointed twelve Imams from the Prophet's family, beginning with Ali, to guide the community after him. Shia Muslims believe the Imams are not prophets: prophethood ended with Muhammad.

Reflection

Which prophet's story speaks to you most right now: Noah's patience, Abraham's trust, Joseph's forgiveness, Jonah's turning back?

In the other traditions

Judaism: The Hebrew Bible's prophets (nevi'im) include Moses, the greatest of them, and Samuel, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah and others. Maimonides' principles include belief in prophecy and in the unique prophecy of Moses.
Christianity: Christians honour the prophets of the Old Testament and believe Jesus is more than a prophet: the Son of God and Saviour, the fulfilment of the prophets' hopes.

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