Islam for Muslims

MESSENGERS AND PROPHETS


God loves His creation and as such will send down prophets and messengers to all communities to guide them to the right path.  Each of them preached Islam (ie submission to Allah) though the teaching may not be named as such then.  And each of them will tell of the coming of a final Messenger, Muhammad Rasulullah .

Islam distinguishes between a Messenger or Rasul (رسول) and a Prophet or Nabi (نبي‎). A Messenger delivers a new religious law (Syari'a) wheres a Prophet continues an old one.  As such, while all Messengers are Prophets, not all Prophets are Messengers.  All prophets are MEN.

In Islam, all Prophets preached Islam.  It only makes sense as the One God will reveal the same fundamentals.  This is mentioned in the Qur'an (42:13):
"The same religion has He established for you as that which He enjoined on Noah - the which We have sent by inspiration to thee - and that which We enjoined on Abraham, Moses, and Jesus: Namely, that ye should remain steadfast in religion, and make no divisions therein:..."

There are numerous prophets (remember, one was sent down to every community to ensure that all receive the Message, and thus cannot claim ignorance in the the Day of Judgement - it is only fair).  Some reported numbers:

Prophets or Nabi: 124,000
Rasul: 313
Rasul mentioned in the Quran: 25
'Ulul 'Azmi (the Messengers of Strong Will): 5 (Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa and Muhammad)

The 25 Rasul mentioned in the Quran are:
  1. Adam
  2. Idris (Enoch)
  3. Nuh (Noah)
  4. Hud (Eber)
  5. Saleh
  6. Ibrahim (Abraham)
  7. Lut (Lot)
  8. Ismail (Ishmael)
  9. Ishaq (Isaac)
  10. Ya'akub (Jacob)
  11. Yusuf (Joseph)
  12. Ayub (Job)
  13. Syu'aib
  14. Musa (Moses)
  15. Harun (Aaron)
  16. Daud (David)
  17. Sulaiman (Solomon)
  18. Ilyas (Elijah)
  19. Ilyasa' (Elisha)
  20. Yunus (Jonah)
  21. Zulkifli (Ezekiel)
  22. Zakaria (Zachariah)
  23. Yahya (John the Baptist)
  24. Isa (Jesus)
  25. Muhammad (referred to as Paracletos in the Bible - though Christians would refer Paracletos to the Holy Spirit+)

+Quoting from Wikipedia:

"Some Muslim commentators, such as David Benjamin Keldani, argue that the original Greek word used was periklytos, meaning famed, illustrious, or praiseworthy, rendered in Arabic as Ahmad, and that this was substituted by Christians with parakletos

Followers of Imam Almahdy in particular, argue that the Paraclete is a person who Jesus will send onto us at the end of time. Jesus said: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, The Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment." John 16: 7-8 Jesus said: "If you love Me, keep My commandments. Then I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Paraclete to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive, for it does not see Him nor know Him, but you know Him, for He is ever with you and will be in you." John 14:15-17"

Commentary: The second paragraph is the contention that the supposed Paraclete cannot be the Holy Spirit and must in fact be another Messenger sent down from God.