Nora Demarchi

 

 

 

The assertion that Muhammad is the prophet of God is the second part of the Islamic profession of faith, immediately after the proclamation that there is only one God. This demonstrates the importance of the prophet in Islam.

 

The Qur'an distinguishes between two types of prophets: those who God has called to inspire, encourage and warn Mankind are called “prophets” (nabi) while those who are “sent” (rasul), as well as doing what prophets do, also proclaim revealed messages, showing a “way” (shari'a), a legislation, to the people to whom they are sent.

 

The process of prophesy happens through divine revelation, generally through the intermediary of an angel announcing to a human that he has been sent by God and has a mission to fulfil. Throughout history God has sent prophets to all peoples, always from their own kind (17.7, 35.24), tirelessly reminding a forgetful humanity of the Revelation of God, urging them to obey the duties He has imposed on them and bring them back to His way when they have erred.

 

Basically, the prophets without exception repeat a single message: “there is no God but me, serve me!” (25, 21). This proclamation is for all peoples; its universality will not tolerate any restriction, because no nation has been deprived of a prophet: “In every community someone has arisen in the past to warn the people.” (35, 24, 16, 36, 13, 7). Without altering in the least its universal identity, the prophetic message has always been delivered in a mode of expression, a linguistic form, a style that God has adapted to the specificities of each recipient, to the particular circumstances of their time and to the conditions of their existence, so as to call and affect men in their real situation.

 

In a fundamental way, the Qur'an recognizes all the prophets who, each in their time, have taught their countrymen and contemporaries the revelations with which God entrusted them. The number of prophets who have taught the law of God, the ulu al-'Azm (“men of decision”) has been limited to six: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. According to the Qur'an (33, 40), Muhammad is the final seal of this series of prophets (al-Khatim nabiyyin).

 

The end point and high point of prophetic history, Muhammad occupies a privileged place. Although his mission follows in the wake of earlier prophets his message is the same as theirs'. He is also the last and final link of this long chain of prophetic tradition which summarizes the previously revealed scriptures, whose validity was only temporary, and hands down the definitive divine revelation, which from this point on will be the only valid one.

 

 

 

Hagemann, L. 1995 : Prophète (s) dans : AA. VV. Dictionnaire de l’islam : histoire, idées, grandes figures, Brepolis.

Ali Amir-Moezzi M. (a cura di) 2007: Dizionario del Corano, Milano,Arnoldo Mondadori Editore.

Arnaldez, R. 1975 : Mahomet. La prédication prophétique, Paris.

Rahman, F. 1958: Prophecy in Islam, G. London, Allen and Unwin.