TERM 2 - TAWHEED ii - CLASS 4
FAITH IN THE MESSENGERS OF ALLAH
Faith in the Prophets and Messengers
This means believing in every one of the prophets and messengers Allah has named in the Qur'an, and the belief that Allah sent others besides them whose number and names only He knows. Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, says:
(And indeed We have sent messengers before you (0 Muhammad): of them there are some whose story We have related to you, and some whose story We have not related to you (Ghaafa r - Aayah 78.)
(And there never was a nation, but, a warner had passed among them (Faatir - Aayah 24.)
(And for every nation, there is a Messenger (Yunus - Aayah 47.)
The Prophets and Messengers mentioned in the Qur'an
There are twenty five prophets and messengers whose names appear in the Qur'an. They are...
Adam
Nuh (Noah)
Idris (Idris or Enoch)
Salih (Salih or Methusaleh)
Ibrahim (Abraham)
Hud (Hud or Heber)
Luut (Lot)
Younus (Jonah)
Isma'il (Ishmael)
Ishaq (Isaac)
Yaqoub (Jacob)
Yousuf (Joseph)
Ayyub (Job)
Shu'ayb (Shoaib or Jethro)
Musa (Moses)
Haroon (Aaron)
Al Yasha (Eleysha)
Dhul Kifli (Dhulkifli or Ezekiel)
Dawood (David)
Zakariyya (Zachariah)
Sulayman (Solomon)
Ilyas (Elias)
Yahya (John the Baptist)
Isa (Jesus) and
Muhammad ﷺ, Ahmed (Meaning - Praised One); May the prayers and blessings of Allah be upon them all.
(English names are mentioned in the Brackets)
Allah mentions eighteen of them when He says:
(And that was Our Proof which We gave Abraham against his people. We raise whom We will in degrees. Certainly Your Lord is All-Wise, All-knowing. And We bestowed upon him Isaac and Jacob: each of them We guided: and before him, we guided Noah, and among his progeny, David , Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron: thus do We reward those who do good: and Zakariyya and John, and Jesus and Elyas: all in the ranks of the righteous: and Isma'd and Eleysha, and Jonah and Lot: - and each of them We preferred above the Aalameen (mankind and Jinns)) [Al-An 'am - Al Aayaat 83-86.]
Others are mentioned in other verses of the Qur'an:
(To the 'Ad people (We sent) Hud, one of their own brothers), Hud - Aayah 50, Al-A'raaf - Aayah 65.
(To the Thamud people (We sent) Salih, one of their own brothers) Hud - Aayah 61, Al-A'raaf - Aayah 73.
(To the Madyan people (We sent) Shu'ayb, one of their own brothers) Al-A'raaf - Aayah 85, Hud - Aayah 83.
(Allah did choose Adam and Noah) Aal-Imraan - Aayah 33
(And (remember) lsma'il Idris, and Dhul-Ki, for all were from among those who observe patience) Al-Anbiya' -Aayah 85
(Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are severe against disbelievers, (but) merciful amongst themselves) Al-Fath - Aayah 29
We must believe in the message and prophethood of each and every one of those messengers and prophets. To deny this status to any of them is tantamount to kufr (disbelief). As for the ones who were not specifically mentioned in the Qur'an, we have been instructed to believe in them generally, bearing in mind that we must not maintain that a certain human being is a prophet or a messenger if the Qur'an and the Prophet ﷺ did not refer to him in this capacity.
Our Duty Towards The MessengerS
We should believe in all of Allah's messengers, and in the messages they communicated to mankind, as well as accept all they said without preference of one over the other. Only the disbelievers distinguish between them, accepting some and rejecting others, believing some and disbelieving others. Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, says:
(Verily, those who disbelieve in Allah and His Messengers, and wish to make distinction between Allah and His Messengers saying: "We believe in some but reject others", and wish to adopt a way in between. They are in truth disbelievers) An-Nisaa - Al Aayataan 150-151
We should also believe that every messenger has delivered the message that Allah had entrusted to him, and has expounded it clearly and satisfactorily.
We must also obey the messengers completely. Doing so is part of obedience to Allah. Allah says:
(He who obeys the Messenger (Muhammad), has indeed obeyed Allah) An-Nisaa - Aayah 80
We must also believe that, among men, the messengers are the most perfect in knowledge and deed, the most honest and the most perfect of character, that Allah has blessed them with excellent attributes unequalled before or since. We must believe that He has guarded them against sins and misdeeds, placed them above lying, treachery, holding back or neglect in communicating their message and delivering their trust. Though they might have made mistakes: small errors in comparison to their high status, such as happened to Adam when he absent-mindedly ate the fruit of the tree'. The messengers did not persist in their sins and have always repented.
We should also believe that all the messengers were human and male. They were not angels, nor female. Allah says:
And We sent not before you (0 Muhammad) but men to whom We inspired Al-Anbiya' - Aayah 7
We should believe that Allah bestowed no non-human attributes upon His messengers. He, the Mighty and Glorious, chose them from among men. They ate and drank, walked in the markets, slept, laughed, married and had children, were subject to harm and oppression by the unjust among their people. They died, perhaps murdered unjustly, fell ill, and so on. They had normal human lives, a fact that does not in any way reduce their high status among mankind. Allah says:
(Muhammad is no more than a Messenger, and indeed many Messengers have passed away before him. If he dies or is killed, will you then turn back on your heels (as disbelievers)? If any did turn back on his heels, not the least harm will he do to Allah) Aal-Imraan - Aayah 144
(The Messiah (Jesus), son of Mary, was no more than a Messenger; many were the Messengers that passed away before him. His mother (Mary) was a Siddiqah (that is, she believed in the Words of Allah and His Books). They both used to eat) Al-Ma'idah - Aayah 75
The Prophet ﷺ said: "... But I observe fast and also do not observe fast, I offer prayer, and I also sleep and I also marry women." (Reported by Al-Bukhaaree in "the book of Wedlock"). He ﷺ used to fall ill, suffer pain, heat, cold, hunger, thirst, experience anger, annoyance, fatigue, and other human weaknesses that do not in any way detract from his status.
We must also believe that the messengers do not enjoy any of the characteristics of Allah. They do not have any control over the universe, nor do they possess any power of benefit or hurt, not do they effect any changes on Allah's Will. They do not have the knowledge of the Unseen (Ghaib) except that which Allah has revealed to them. Allah says:
(Say (0 Muhammad): I possess no power of benefit or hurt to myself except as Allah Wills. If I had the knowledge of the unseen, I should have secured for myself an abundance of wealth, and no evil should have touched me. I am but a warner, and a bringer of glad tidings to those people who believe Al-A'raaf - Aayah 188
(He alone is the All-knower of the Unseen, and He reveals to none His -, unseen, except to a Messenger whom He has chosen) Al-Jinn - Al Aayataan 26-27
Allah has only bestowed upon the messengers characteristics, standards and morals that qualified them for receiving revelation and carrying the burden of the divine message, as well as to be an example for their people to follow in both religion and temporal matters.
We must believe that the messengers are safeguarded against any faults that adversely effects their faith and obedience to Allah, or their ability to communicate the message entrusted to them.
Allah says:
(They are those whom We gave the Book, Al-Hukm (understanding of the religious laws), and Prophethood But if these disbelieve therein, then, indeed We have entrusted it to a people who are not disbelievers therein. They are those whom Allah had guided. So follow their guidance) Al-An'am - Al-Aayataan 89-90
Allah has given the messengers the perfection of trustworthiness, honesty, insight and other qualities necessary for the completion of the mission and delivery of the burden He put in their hands. Allah, the Glorious and Exalted, attested to their truthfulness in the Qur'an in references, among others, to Ismail and Abraham.
Allah says:
(Also mention in the Book (the story of) Ismail: He was (strictly) true to what he promised, and he was a messenger (and) a prophet) Maryam - Aayah 54
(Mention in the Book (the story of) Abraham: He was a man of Truth. A prophet) Maryam - Aayah 41
We must believe that Allah gave the messengers dazzling miracles and clear proofs to support the truth of the messages they delivered to mankind. Miracles are supernatural acts given by Allah to His messengers and prophets and carried out by the messengers. The miracles are used to challenge people. Our conviction should include every one of those miracles mentioned in the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.
Those advantages have been enjoyed by all the messengers, though Allah was more generous with some than others. Allah says:
(Those messengers! We preferred some to others; to some of them Allah spoke (directly); others He raised to degrees (of honour); and to Jesus, the son of Mary, We gave clear proofs and evidences, and strengthened him with Ruhul Qudus (Gabriel) Al-Baqarah - Aayah 253
We believe that the best of all creation was the Prophet, Muhammad Ibnu Abdullah ﷺ. Some early scholars interpreted Allah's saying (others He raised to degrees (of honour)) to be reference to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Further evidence to this view is to be found in a number of Ahaadeeth, including the one narrated by Abu Hurayrah who reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "I am the master of the sons of Adam on the day of judgement, the first to appear from the grave, the first interceder, and the first to be the subject of intercession" (Reported by Muslim and others).
Also the Hadith reported by Waathilah Ibnu al-As qaa (R.A.) who heard the Prophet ﷺ said:"Allah chose Kinaanah from among the children of Isma'il, He chose Quraysh from Kinaanah, and from them He chose Banee Haashim, and He chose me from among the latter" (Reported by Muslim and Tirmidhi). These Ahaadeeth and others indicate that Muhammad ﷺ is the best of all creation
Faith In The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
We must also believe that Muhammad ibnu Abdullah ﷺ is the Prophet and Messenger of Allah, His servant and chosen one; that he ﷺ never worshipped idols, nor associated anything with Allah for one single moment, nor committed a single sin or vice of any kind`.
We must also believe the he ﷺ is the seal of the prophets. This is explicitly mentioned in the Qur'an in the verse:
(Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets) Al-Ahzaab - Aayah 40
It is also attested by the Ahaadeeth of the Prophet ﷺ who said: "My similitude in comparison with the other prophets before me, is that of a man who has built a house excellently and beautifully, except for a place of one brick in a comer. The people went around about it and wondered at its beauty and said: `Would that this brick would be put in its place!' So I am that brick, and I am the last of the Prophets" (Muslim).
We firmly believe that there is no prophethood following that of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that any person claiming to be a prophet is a perverted liar. The Prophet ﷺ said: "The Hour will not be established till about thirty Dajjaals (liars) appear, each claiming to be a prophet. I am the seal of the prophets; there is no prophet after me" Muslim
We also believe that the Prophet ﷺ is the Imam of the pious, their guide to all good and virtue, and that he ﷺ alone is worthy of following and emulating - the ideal model. Allah says:
(Say (0 Muhammad to mankind): "If you (really) love Allah, then follow me: Allah will love you Aal-Imraan - Aayah 31
We must believe that the Prophet ﷺ was sent by Allah to all of mankind and the jinn, with the Truth and Guidance. Allah says in the Qur'an:
(0 our people! Respond to Allah's Caller (Muhammad), and believe in him: He (Allah) will forgive you your sins, and will save you from a painful torment Al Ahqaaf - Aayah 31
We must put our love for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ before love of self, parents or offspring. Anas (R.A.) reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: "None of you is a true believer unless I become more dear to him than his own father, his son and all the people” Agreed upon.
We must also believe that Allah, Glorious and Exalted is He, has provided the Prophet ﷺ with miracles which clearly support everything he communicated to his fellow human beings. The Qur'an itself is his most prominent miracle. Allah challenged mankind to produce anything like it or even similar to parts of it. Allah says:
(And if you are in doubt as to what We have sent down (the Qur'an) to Our slave (Muhammad), then produce a Surah of the like thereof; and call your witnesses besides Allah, if you are truthful. But if you do it not, and can never do it, then fear the Fire whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers. (Al-Baqarah - Al-Aayataan 23-24.)
We must believe that Allah has supported the Prophet ﷺ with tangible miracles, which were mentioned in the authentic Ahaadeeth. For example: the splitting of the moon, the stones greeting him, the crying of the stem of the date-palm tree in the Prophet's mosque, the flowing of the water from his finger, the increase in the amount of food for his Companions, Allah's answering to his invocation, and so on. Those 'tangible miracles give extra support to the truthfulness of the Prophet ﷺ.
We must also believe that Allah supported the Prophet ﷺ with strong arguments and clear evidence, embodied in his character, his attributes and his moral disposition. We believe that Allah bestowed upon the Prophet ﷺ a constitution and appearance that made his prophethood and truthfulness clear to anyone looking at him.
Furthermore, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was extremely generous. He was also ascetic towards worldly possessions, content with very little, and he never saved or hoarded anything. He was eloquent, patient, forgiving, angered only for the sake of Allah, humble with the believers, seeing only Allah, fighting in His way and relying on Him.
The Prophet ﷺ was the perfect example in each of his excellent attributes and characteristics. The coming together of all those great qualities is not possible in any single human being, except those whom Allah protects.
Also among those who were impressed by the reputation of the Prophet ﷺ was Caesar who, upon receiving the letter in which he ﷺ invited him to embrace the faith of Islam, called to his presence all the Arabs that were in his country at the time. Abu Sufyaan and a number of merchants from Quraysh were in Syria on business at the time and they were all summoned to the royal court. Caesar asked them, through an interpreter, about the Prophet ﷺ. What he heard lead him to a clear conclusion: that what he learned about Muhammad ﷺ, his circumstances, characteristics and life were ample proof to his sincerity and to the truth of his prophethood - that he was indeed a Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
The conversation that took place between Caesar and Abu Sufyaan was reported by al-Bukhaaree as follows: Ibn Abbas narrated that Abu Sufyaan bnu Harb had told him that when he was with a number of merchants from Quraysh, while in Syria during the period of the truce between the Prophet ﷺ and the disbelievers of Quraysh, Caesar asked for him. They met him in Ilia and he invited them into his court where the Roman notables were gathered. He brought his interpreter and asked:; "Which one of you is the closest relative of this man who claims to be a prophet?" When Abu Sufyaan said that it was he, Caesar said: "Bring him (Abu Sufyaan) over to me and bring his companions to stand behind him." Then he told the men of Quraysh: "I shall interrogate this man, so expose him if he lies to me." (Abu Sufyaan later said that had he not feared the embarrassment of being branded a liar he would have surely lied to Caesar)
Caesar said: "What is his (the Prophet's) lineage among you?"
Abu Sufyaan replied: "He is of fine lineage."
Had any of you before said as he is now saying?"
"No."
"Do the honourable among you follow him or do the weak?"
"The weak."
"Are they on the increase or are they decreasing?"
"They are increasing."
"Do any of them turn back on their faith in disillusionment after having embraced it?"
"No."
"Did you used to accuse him of lying before he started saying what he is now saying?"
"No."
"Is he treacherous?"
"No. We have a truce with him, but we do not know what he will do about it." (Abu Sufyaan later said that this was the only opportunity he had for lying.)
"Have you fought him?"
"Yes we have."
"How is the war between you and him?"
"It is equal. We beat him and he beats us."
"What does he command you?"
"He tells us to worship only Allah, not to associate anything with Him, and to abandon the faith of our fathers. He commands us to perform prayers, to be sincere and sanctified and to maintain our ties of kinship."
Caesar then said: "I have asked you about his lineage and you said it was noble, and messengers are indeed sent from among the noble of their people. I asked you if any of your people had made similar claims and you said no, but if your answer had been 'yes' I would have assumed he is merely repeating old claims. I asked you if any of his ancestry had been a king and you said no, but if your answer had been 'yes' I would have thought he was merely claiming his royal heritage. I asked you if you used to accuse him of lying before this and you said no, and I know he couldn't be lying to God while refraining from lying to his fellow man. I asked you if the noble among you follow him or . is it the weak who do so and you said it was the weak, and they are indeed the followers of the prophets. I asked you if their numbers were increasing or decreasing and you said they were on the increase, and this is verily the condition of a new faith. I asked you if any of them turns away from him in disillusionment and you said no, and this is exactly what happens when the light of faith mingles with the heart. I asked you if he was treacherous and you said no, and same is true of all the prophets. I asked you what he is telling you and you said that he commands you to worship Allah, associating nothing with Him, forbids you from worshipping idols and instructs you to perform prayers, be truthful and sanctified. If all what you say is true, he will possess the land on which I stand now. I had known he was going to come forth, but I never suspected he will be from among you. If I knew I would be faithful to him I would have wanted to meet him, and if I were with him I would have washed his feet"
(BUKHARI)
★ STUDY TAFSIR | TAWHEED | FIQH | HADEETH ★
A Free online Islamic Course starting 10th Feb.
Get a Certificate signed by a Sheikh Yasir Al Jabri
Available through Facebook, Whats-app & Email
HOW TO JOIN / FAQs : -
www.learn-islam.org/terms-intro