One Message

Assalaamu alaikum [peace be to you],

In Islam, faith is based on six articles called "the articles/pillars of faith". they are:
1- belief in the one true God,
2- belief in his prophets and messengers,
3- Belief in all the scriptures and revelations of the God (original Torah, original Psalms, original Gospel and the Qur'an)
4- belief in the Angels of the God.
5- belief in the Day of Judgment.
6- believe in the divine decree.

today, I'd like to talk a little about the prophets and messengers of the God.



Yeah, We have Fitrah, but ...

Islam teaches us that a natural instinct, called فطرة fitrah in Arabic, was imprinted in the human soul by the God at the time of creation. Having natural instinct, an ordinary individual can, at least to some extent, distinguish between good and bad, between moral and immoral. However, this ethical conscience is not sufficient Due to the complexities of life. the fitrah alone cannot help the human define the correct attitude to every problem. Moreover, a person does not live in a vacuum, but is affected by outside influences which may corrupt the ability to choose between good and evil. Outside influences include customs, personal interests, and prevailing concepts concerning one's surroundings.


Here come the prophets...

In order to help man to overcome his shortcomings, the God sent prophets and messengers to mankind: Prophets are human beings chosen by Allah, the God, to guide human beings. A prophet is referred to as نبي (Nabi) in the Qur'an. Out of respect for prophets of the God Muslims always follow the name of any prophet with the words "peace be upon him".

Allah has sent prophets throughout history. The first nabi/prophet was Adam -peace be upon him- and the last prophet was Mohammed -peace be upon him-. Some prophets received revelations which were documented in some form (scripture). Prophets who received scriptures are referred to as رسول (Rasool) messengers. Each prophet came at a particular period in history to guide his people. Only the last prophet, Mohammed -peace beupon him-, came as a universal messenger to all mankind.

As Muslims, we believe in all the prophets and messengers of Allah and we respect all of them.
25 prophets are mentioned in the Qur'an. There are many others who are not mentioned. Among those who are mentioned are the following: Adam, Idris (Enoch), Nooh (Noah), Hud, Saleh, Ibrahim (Abraham), Isma'el (Ishmael), Is'haaq (Isaac), Lut (Lot), Ya'qoob (Jacob), Yusuf (Joseph), Shu'ayb (Jethro), Ayyub (Job), Musa (Moses), Harun (Aaron), Dhul-kifl, Dawud (David), Sulayman (Solomon), Ilyas, Al-Yasa', Yunus (Jonah), Zakariya (Zechariah), Yahya (John the Baptist), Eesa (Jesus) and Mohammed -peace and blessings be upon them all-.


Some had scriptures...

The followings were prophets as well as messengers:
- Noah -peace be upon him-.
- Abraham -peace be upon him- who received the Suhuf (Scrolls).
- Moses -peace be upon him- who received the Torah.
- David -peace be upon him- who received the Zaboor (Psalms).
- Jesus -peace be upon him- who received the Injil (Gospel).
- Mohammed -peace be upon him- who received the Qur'an.

The Qur'an was the final revelation sent by the God to the final prophet Mohammed -peace be upon him-. The Qur'an is the only revelation of Allah that has remained in its ORIGINAL form and is read in its ORIGINAL language. It has been preserved in memory by hundreds of thousands of memorizers of the Qur'an (called Hafiz). All the Qur'ans in the world are the same and the language of the Qur'an (Arabic) is still a living and a spoken language of the world. Arabic is the 5th most commonly spoken language in the world at present. it's also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.


JUST ONE MESSAGE:

After the creation of Adam, just one original message has been repeatedly delivered to mankind throughout the history of humanity. Thus, the goal of the prophets and messengers was to remind people about this message and bring them back on track. the message was:
The true God is only one. worship him ALONE and keep his commandments.
anyone who understands this message and submits his will to the will of the God (in the way the God decreed) is automatically a "Muslim". since Islam means "Submission to the will of the God". so basically all the prophets of the God -peace be upon them- taught Islam. of course, those prophets didn't use the Arabic word "Islam". they used equivalent from their languages that describes "total submission to the will of the God".


As good Muslims we must follow the examples of the prophets because they were the best among human beings and they were guided by Allah to show us the Straight Path.

I hope this was beneficial for you


<sup>references:
- ebook "Just One Message" by Dr. Naji I. Al-Arfaj
- "Prophets In Islam" from muslimbridges.org: [link]</sup>



IN THE DRAWING
explanation of the difficult words (they are transliterated Arabic words):
* Khaleelullaah خليل الله = the friend of Allah. a title given to Abraham -peace be upon him-.
* Zabeehullah ذبيح الله = the sacrificed one. a title given to Ismael, since the God ordered Abraham to sacrifice his son Ismael -peace be upon them both-
* Kaleemullaah كليم الله = the one who talks to Allah. title given to prophet Moses. since, unlike other prophets, he talked to Allah almighty without the intermediary of the Angel. but he didn't see the God.
* Saahibul-hoot صاحب الحوت = the companion of the whale, title given to the prophet Yunus (Jonah) -peace be upon him- since he stayed in the belly of the whale...



More about the prophets and Islam :



For more reading (outside of DA):
A Quick Introduction To Islam [link]
Prophethood in Islam: [link]
Stories of the prophets of Islam: [link]



If I am right, it's from Allah. if I am wrong, it's from myself.