Praise be to Allaah, the lord of the worlds. May the peace and blessings of Allaah be upon Muhammad, His last Messenger, his household, his companions and all those who follow him till the last Day.
In our edition of Dhul-Hijjah 1423AH, we had indicated that our discussion of one of the pillars of faith [Eemaan]-Belief in the Messengers of Allaah - was outstanding. Alhamdulillaah this edition is the fulfilment of our promise to present that discussion at the earliest opportunity. Part of the covenant of Allaah when He sent mankind to become the khaleefah [vicegerent or representatives] on earth was that He would send messengers that will bring guidance to man so that can find his way back to the pleasurable abode with his Lord [Paradise}, Allaah says:
"Get down all of you from this place (Paradise), then whenever there comes to you Guidance from Me, and whoever follows. My Guidance, there shall be no fear on them, nor shall they grieve." (Q2[Baqarah]:38)
The prophets and messengers are the bearers of Allaah's guidance to believe in all of them is obligatory and this is the true meaning of we believe in the messengers.”
The Prophets
Collectively, they are the best and noblest of mankind. They are Allaah's choice from among mankind and they received. His Speech and carry His Messages. These prophets were, not chosen on account of their race or lineage; rather Allaah chose them because Allaah knows them to be the best mankind. As He says:
"Verily, the most honourable of you with Allaah is that [believer] who has piety and righteousness. Verily, Allaah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.” (Q49 [Hujuraat]:13)
It is these men that have excelled above the rest of mankind till the end of timethat Allaah has chosen to carry the Message and the religion, since the start of the “creation" and to be the pioneers of the caravan of faith during all of its continuous stages.
The Messenger
They are more specific than the prophets. Every Messenger is a prophet, but every prophet is not necessarily a Messenger. Narrated Abu Dharr (RA): “I said: ‘o Allaah’s Messenger! What is the number of the prophets?’ he said: “One hundred twenty four thousand, three hundred and fifteen of them are Messengers." (Ahmad. Tabarani/hasan).
Some differences have been mentioned between the Prophet and the Messenger but what seems clear is that messengers are of a higher status with Allaah because they are of better piety. From theselect of messengers comes the special class of the messengers of strong will (oolul-'adhm). Allaah says:
"And [remember) when We took from the Prophets their covenant, and from you [o Muhammad], and from Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, and 'Eesaa son of Maryam. We took from them a strong covenant." (Q33 [Ahzab]:7)
These messengers of strong will are the most patient and those who had the hardest of trials. Allaah gave them a certificate for their patience:
"Therefore be patient [o Muhammad], as did the Messengers of strong will and be in no haste about them [disbelievers]..." (Q46[Ahqaaf]:35)
The followers of these great Messengers were more numerous than those of the other Messengers, and they became great leaders of nations.
The Man for All Moments
The last, the best and the most successful of the Prophets is Muhammad. Allaah says:
"Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allaah and the last [end] of the Prophets ..." (Q33 [Ahzab]:40).
And the Prophet (sallaallaahu alayhi wa sallam) said:
"There will be thirty liars' in my nation who will allege that they are Prophets, but I am the last the Prophets and there will be no Prophet after me.” (Abu Dawuud).
He is the man for all moments, the best of mankind and their leader in this world and in the hereafter Abdullaah ibn Masood (RA) said:
“Allaah looked into the hearts of the servants and found the heart of Muhammad to be the best of hearts, so He chose him for Himself and sent him with His Revelation…” (Ahmad).
And Abu Hurayrah (RA) narrated: that the prophet (sallaallaahu alayhi wa sallam) said:
“I am the Leader of the children of Adam on the Day of Resurrection.” (Ahmad)
The Belief in the Messengers
The messengers (ar-Rusul, plural of Rasool) mean the ones sent to convey a message. In the Shari'ah, the messengers are those of mankind who had Revelation and religious law sent to them and were ordered to convey it to the people. The first of the messengers was Nooh (alayhisallam) and the last of them was Muhammad (sallaallaahualayhiwa sallam). The proof of this is that Allaah says:
"We sent Revelation to you o Muhammad, just as we sent, Revelation to Nooh and the prophets after him."(Q4[an-Nisaa']:163);
then, Anas Ibn Maalik (RA) reported in the hadeeth about the Intercession, that the Prophet (sallaallaahu alayhi wa sallam) mentioned that the people will come to Aadam (alayhi sallam) to ask him to intercede on their behalf, but he will excuse himself and say to them,
"Go to Nooh, for he was the first of the messengers whom Allaah sent.."(Bukhari).
Also Allaah says about Muhammad (sallaallaahu alayhi wa sallam):
"Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allaah and the last of the prophets." (Q33 [al-Ahzaab]:40)
The messengers were human and created beings, they had no share at all of Lordship nor any right to a share of worship or divinity. Allaah says about His Prophet Muhammad (sallaallaahu alayhi wa sallam), and he was the best of all Messengers and had the highest standing amongst them with Allaah:
"Say, o Muhammad, it is not within my power to bring benefit to myself nor to keep away harm - except as Allaah wills: and if I knew what the future holds I could amass a great deal of wealth and harm would not befall me, but I am just a messenger from Allaah sent by Him to warn those who disobey of His punishment, and to give glad tidings of His reward for those who truly believe in Him are obedient to Him." (Q7[al-A'raaf]:188).
So they experience, just like the rest of mankind, illness, death, the need for food and drink, and so on. Ibraaheem (alayhisallam) described his Lord with the saying:
"He is the One who provides me with food and drink, and if I become ill then it is He who cures me; and He is the One Who causes me to die when He wills, then when He wills He will resurrect me to life." (Q26 [ash-Shu'araa]:79-81).
The Prophet (sallaallaahualayhi wa sallam) said,
"I am just a human like yourselves, I forget just as you forget. So if I forget, then remind me"(Muslim)
Slaves of Allaah, sent to all Nations
Furthermore Allaah has described them as being slaves of His, and this is at the height of their honour and also their praise. He described Nooh (alayhi sallam) with:
"He was indeed a thankful slave of Allaah."(Q17[al-lsraa]:3),
also 'Eesaa ibn Maryam (alayhi sallam):
"Eesaa is not but a slave of Ours whom we blessed with guidance and faith, and we made Him a sign to the children of Israa'eel." (Q43[az-Zukhruf]:51)
and finally He says,
"Exalted is He who sent down the Criterion (i.e the QUR'AAN) between truth and falsehood, in stages, to His slave Muhammad, so that he should be a Warner to men and jinn ..." (Q25[al-Furqaan]:1)
There was no nation that was left without a messenger sent by Allaah with a special prescribed law for his people, or a prophet sent to revive prescribed laws given previously. Allaah says:
''We sent a messenger to every nation, ordering that they should· worship Allaah alone and that they should avoid everything worshiped besides Allaah." (Q16[an-Nahl]:36)
All messengers are from the same source [Allaah] and they came with the same essential message [worship Allaah alone and worship none other besides Him]. Mankind must have faith in all the messengers without exception; otherwise faith in some and not in others means lack of faith in any of them.
Faith [Eemaanl in the Messengers Means:
To believe that they were truly messengers sent by Allaah: So whoever disbelieves in one messenger has disbelieved in all of them. Allaah says:
"The people of Nooh denied the messengers." (Q26 [ash-Shu'araa]:105).
So Allaah declares them to be deniers of all the messengers, even though they had no other messenger sent to them besides Nooh (alayhi sallam), because of this the Christians who deny Muhammad (sallaallaahu alayhi wasallam) and do not follow him are also denying 'Eesaa ibn Maryam (alayhi sallam) and are not following him either especially since he gave them the news Muhammad's coming (Q61:6).
It is obligatory to have belief in the messengership of Prophet Muhammad (sallaallaahu alayhiwa sallam) for he said:
"By Him [Allaah] in Whose Hand Muhammad's soul is, there is none from amongst the Jews and Christians who hears about me and then dies without believing in the Message with which I have been sent but he will be from the dwellers of the Fire" (Muslim)
To believe in each of them in particular whose name we know, such as Muhammad, Ibraaheem, Moosaa, 'Eesaaand Nooh, ('alayhimus-sallam') and the other twenty or so Prophets that Allaah mentions in His Book as well as those whose names we do not know. We have general and comprehensive belief in all of them. Allaah says;
"And We sent down messengers before you, 0 Muhammad: We I have narrated to you the stories of some of them, and We did not narrate to you the stories of others."(Q40 [Ghaafir]:78)
To affirm and believe whatever is narrated authentically from their reports.
To act in accordance with the Revealed Law of the Messenger who was sent to all of mankind: And he is Muhammad (sallaallaahu alayhi wa sallam), the last of them and he was sent to all people. Allaah says:
"Say (o Muhammad): 'Obey Allaah and the Messenger [Muhammad].' But if they turn away, then Allaah does notlike the disbelievers. "(Q3[aal-lmraan]:32).
Thus, Allaah has termed turning away from the shari'ah of Muhammad
(sallaallaahu alayhi wa sallam) and disobedience to him as disbelief or lack of faith. May Allaah save us from disbelief
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited