Uri Rubin. Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an. Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe. Volume 4, Brill Academic Publishers, 2003.
Prophets and Messengers
As in the New Testament, in which apostles seem to rank higher than prophets (e.g. . Cor 12:28-31; cf. Eph 3:5; 4:11), in the Qurʿan, too, rasul seems to be somewhat more elevated than nabi. This is indicated, to begin with, by the fact that whenever both titles appear together, rasul comes first, which may suggest that a messenger is more important than a prophet. Thus Q 22:52 describes Satan’s attempts to lead astray (q.v.) any apostle (rasul) or prophet (nabi) who was sent before Muḥammad. Muslim commentators say that in this verse rasul stands for a prophet having a message, a book (q.v.), which must be delivered, whereas nabi has no such message or book. More specifically, al-Bayḍawi (d. prob. 716/1316, according to van Ess; cf. Gilliot, Textes, 223-4) says that a rasul is a prophet who establishes a new shariʿa (religious law), whereas a nabi is one who continues an old one. This means, al-Bayḍawi says, that rasul is more distinguished than nabi, and therefore there were more anbiyaʿ (“prophets”) than rusul (“messengers”). Or, he adds, a rasul receives revelation from an angel, whereas a prophet experiences revelation only in dreams (Bayḍawi, Anwar, ad Q 22:52).
The titles rasul and nabi may also overlap and even refer to one and the same person, in which case rasul again comes first. This applies to Moses (q.v.), about whom it is stated that he was “an apostle, a prophet” (wa-kana rasulan nabiyyan, Q 19:51). The same is stated about Ishmael (q.v.; Q 19:54) as well as about Muḥammad (Q 7:157). The combination of the two in one person is perhaps designed to indicate that this person belongs to the messengers among the prophets.
But not every messenger of God is also a prophet. God is said to have made the angels “messengers (rusul) flying (q.v.) on wings, two, and three, and four…” (Q 35:1). As God’s messengers, the angels bring good tidings to Abraham (q.v.) about the birth of Isaac (q.v.) and Jacob (q.v.), and they also destroy the people of Lot (q.v.; e.g. Q 11:69-81). God sends angels to guard people as well as to receive their souls at the moment of death (cf. Q 6:61; 7:37). Their primary role as God’s messengers is to inspect and write down the deeds of every human being (cf. Q 10:21; 43:80).
The Qurʿan is careful to draw a clear line between God’s celestial and human messengers. Prophets can only be mortals, because angels, the Qurʿan says (Q 17:95), do not walk about on earth (q.v.) as do its ordinary dwellers — for which reason people cannot grasp their physical presence. Therefore God does not send down angels as his prophets.
Angels do, however, bring down prophetic revelations in their capacity as God’s messengers but they do not deliver them directly to the people, only to individual human prophets. The Qurʿan mentions the “word” (qawl), i.e. prophetic message, of one particular “honored messenger” (rasul karim, Q 69:40; 81:19). Some exegetes have identified this “messenger” with the angel Gabriel (q.v.) whose mission was to reveal the Qurʿan to Muḥammad. But Gabriel’s task as God’s messenger is not confined to prophetic revelations. He is also said to have been referred to in Q 19:19, in which God’s messenger comes to Mary (q.v.) to give her a son (Jesus; q.v.). Even the rasul mentioned in the story of the golden calf (Q 20:96) was said to have been Gabriel. Most qurʿanic prophets/messengers are known from the Bible, but there are also some whose origin is somewhat obscure (for details about the individual prophets see Tottoli, Biblical prophets).
The Status of the Prophets
Prophets (including the messengers among them) belong to the highest rank among various virtuous groups of human beings. These groups are listed in Q 4:69, in which their position in paradise (q.v.) is described: “And whoever obeys God and the messenger, these will be [in paradise] with the prophets and the truthful (al-ṣiddiqun) and the martyrs (al-shuhadaʿ) and the righteous (al-ṣaliḥin), upon whom God has bestowed favors.” As for the prophets, their presence among their respective peoples — for example, among the Children of Israel (q.v.) — is perceived as a sign of God’s benefaction (niʿma) unto these peoples (Q 5:20).
God started sending prophets after humankind became separated, when the initial state of righteousness was replaced by moral corruption. This, at least, is how the exegetes explain Q 2:213 in which it is stated: “The people were [united in] one nation (umma waḥida), then [they became divided, and] God sent the prophets to bear good tidings and to warn…”
The prophets emerge in succession. The Qurʿan says that they were sent “one after another” (qaffayna, Q 2:87), or “one by one” (tatra, Q 23:44). Moreover, the prophets belong to the same genealogical descent. Thus Q 19:58 reads: “These are the prophets on whom God bestowed favors, of the seed (dhurriyya) of Adam, and of those whom we carried with Noah (q.v.), and of the seed of Abraham and Israel (q.v.)….” The same idea is conveyed in Q 6:84, in which it is stated about Abraham: “And we gave to him Isaac and Jacob; each did we guide, and Noah we guided before, and of his descendants (dhurriyyatihi) David (q.v.) and Solomon (q.v.) and Job (q.v.) and Joseph (q.v.) and Moses and Aaron (q.v.)….”
The fact that the prophets are said to have been “guided” by God means that they represent a divinely chosen pedigree, as is indicated, for example, in Q 3:33-4: “Surely God chose (iṣṭafa) Adam and Noah and the house (al) of Abraham and the house (al) of ʿImran (q.v.) above all beings. [They are] the offspring (dhurriyyatan) one of the other….” The chosen prophetic lineage begins here with Adam, which indicates that he, too, is considered a prophet. The house of ʿImran stands for Moses (the son of the biblical Amram), but can also refer to Jesus, whose mother Mary is considered a member of that house.
The verb iṣṭafa, which signifies here divine election (q.v.), recurs in more verses dealing with prophets, as well as with angels. Thus in Q 22:75 it is stated that God chooses (yaṣṭafi) messengers (rusul) from among the angels and from among the people. The same verb is used to describe election of individual prophets, such as Abraham (Q 2:130), Moses (Q 7:144) and Mary (Q 3:42), as well as of kings, namely Saul (q.v.; Ṭalut, Q 2:247).
Another verb, ijtaba, also denotes divine election of prophets, such as Adam (Q 20:122), Abraham (Q 16:121), Joseph (Q 12:6) and Jonah (q.v.; Q 68:50). Less frequent is the verb ikhtara that denotes the same type of divine election (Q 44:32) and describes the election of Moses (Q 20:13). The latter’s election is also conveyed by the verb iṣṭanaʿa (Q 20:41).
The divine election of the prophets provides them with abilities not shared by ordinary humans. This pertains mainly to knowledge of the unseen (ghayb). Thus in Q 72:26-7 it is stated that God knows the unseen and he does not reveal his secrets to anyone, except to an apostle with whom he is well pleased (irtaḍa). In Q 3:179 we are told again that God does not make people acquainted with the unseen, but he “chooses (yajtabi) of his apostles whom he pleases.”
The guided and divinely chosen prophets possess moral virtues that render them immune to sin and misbehavior. Thus, in Q 3:161 it is stated that it is not attributable to a prophet that he should act unfaithfully (yaghulla). The election of the prophets has made them belong to the righteous (mina l-ṣaliḥin), a fact stated regarding several of them, e.g. Zechariah (q.v.), John, Jesus, Elijah (q.v.; Q 6:85) and others. John is described in Q 3:39 as honorable (sayyid) and chaste (ḥaṣur) and a prophet from among the righteous (mina l-ṣaliḥin). Some of them are also described as truthful (ṣiddiq), as is Abraham (Q 19:41) and Idris (q.v.; Q 19:56). Ishmael is described in Q 19:54 as “truthful in his promise” (ṣadiq al-waʿd).
Some prophets possess unique traits that mark their singular status among the rest of the prophets. Abraham is described in Q 4:125 as one whom God took as a friend (khalil). Moses is described as pure (mukhlaṣ, Q 19:51) and as one whom God brought near in communion (wa-qarrabnahu najiyyan, Q 19:52) and with whom God spoke (kallama, Q 4:164). This is the origin of Moses’ title, kalimu llah, by which he is known in Islamic tradition. Tradition also elaborates on Moses’ communion (munajat) with God.
Later tradition has provided Muḥammad with a title of his own, namely, ḥabibu llah “God’s beloved,” which together with the previous prophets, completes the unique group of prophets having an intimate relationship with God. In fact, Muslim tradition has elaborated on Muḥammad’s honorific titles and produced long lists of them.
The existence of distinguished groups among the prophets is a fact that the Qurʿan declares openly. Q 17:55 states that God has made some of the prophets to excel others and in Q 2:253 the same statement is repeated, alongside names of some of the excelling prophets:
We have made some of these apostles to excel the others, among them are they to whom God spoke (kallama), and some of them he exalted by [many degrees of] rank; and we gave clear arguments (bayyinat) to Jesus son of Mary, and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit (q.v.)….
In Q 33:7 some prophets are singled out as those with whom God made a special covenant (q.v.; mithaq): “And when we made a covenant with the prophets and with you [Muḥammad], and with Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus son of Mary, and we made with them a firm covenant.”
A special group of God’s messengers is mentioned in Q 46:35, being called “those endowed with constancy (ulu l-ʿazm).” The Qurʿan says that they have borne patiently (the hardships of their mission) and Muslim exegetes are not unanimous as to who they were. Some say that they were those who established a law (shariʿa) among their nations, like Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, as well as Muḥammad. Others hold that they were those who suffered the hardest trials or the deepest remorse. In the latter case, they include Jacob, Joseph, Job and David, in addition to the five prophets already mentioned. But in spite of divine election, the prophets always remain God’s servants (ʿibad; e.g. Q 37:171), for which reason people are not servants to them but to God (Q 3:79).
Modes of Prophetic Revelation
Various verbs convey the idea of prophetic revelation, the most frequent being those derived from the root n-z-l, namely, nazzala and anzala. They denote an act of bringing down, which means that the prophetic revelation is perceived as being sent down from heaven. Occasionally, the revelation itself is described as descending (nazala, tanazzala), without specifying the agent that causes it to come down. A common name of the qurʿanic revelation is tanzil (e.g. Q 20:4; 26:192; 32:2, etc.), i.e. a “bringing down.” A less common name is amr, “affair,” which in Q 65:12 is said to have been descending (yatanazzalu) through the seven heavens. Muslim exegetes explain that the “affair” stands here for divine revelation that is being brought down from heaven to earth.
Revelation originates in God, as is indicated in verses in which God speaks in the first person: “I have sent down [the Qurʿan]” (Q 2:41), and more often: “We have sent down [the Qurʿan]” (e.g. Q 44:3; 76:23; 97:1). But revelation does not come down directly to the prophets. The intermediate agents are the angels. God sends them down with the revelations, as is implied in Q 16:2 : “He sends down (yunazzilu) the angels with the spirit (q.v.; al-ruḥ) by his commandment on whom he pleases of his servants….” Muslim exegetes hold, however, that only Gabriel is meant here, the angel who was commissioned to bring down prophetic revelations, or the “spirit,” to Muḥammad. In Q 16:102 the agent bringing down (nazzalahu) the qurʿanic revelation is himself called “the Holy Spirit” (ruḥu l-qudus), which is again interpreted as an epithet of Gabriel. The same applies to Q 26:193, in which the revelation is brought down (nazala bihi) by the “faithful spirit” (al-ruḥ al-amin). Similarly, the exegetes say that it is Gabriel who says to the Prophet in Q 19:64: “We do not descend [with revelations] but by the command of your lord (q.v.).”
As far as Muḥammad’s own prophetic experience is concerned, the process of sending down revelations ends at the Prophet’s heart (q.v.; ʿala qalbika) and Gabriel is mentioned explicitly as the one who brings it down to him (Q 2:97). The Qurʿan provides specific, though not entirely coherent, details of the time when the revelation began coming down to Muḥammad. This took place either on a “blessed night” (Q 44:3) or on laylat al-qadr (Q 97:1) or during the month of Ramaḍan (q.v.; Q 2:185). The exegetes explain that all passages refer to one and the same night, namely laylat al-qadr that falls in Ramaḍan.
There are various terms denoting the actual revelation that is being brought down. Most often it is called “signs” (q.v.; ayat), which commentators on the Qurʿan have identified with the qurʿanic verses (q.v.; e.g. Q 57:9, etc.). Elsewhere, what God sends down is called sura (q.v.; Q 9:86, etc.), a term that came to be identified with the qurʿanic chapters and, most obviously, the term qurʿan, too, stands for something which God sends down (Q 76:23). Another locution standing for a whole unit of revelations being sent down is kitab, a “book, scripture” (e.g. Q 7:2). Specific scriptures, namely the Torah (q.v.) and the Gospel (q.v.), are also described as being sent down by God (Q 3:3-4), which implies that all monotheistic scriptures represent the same divine revelation. Metaphorical terms are also used to describe a descending revelation, one of which being the somewhat obscure title furqan (Q 3:4). Some exegetes have explained it in the sense of a scripture distinguishing between truth and falsehood. Light (q.v.; nur) is also a name for the guiding revelation that God has sent down (Q 64:8).
Another widely used verb denoting the act of providing revelation is awḥa, with waḥy as the noun denoting the revelation itself. The verb means to “prompt, inspire, suggest” but it is not confined to prophetic revelations. Occasionally it simply means to “instruct,” or “command,” as in Q 8:12 in which God instructs (yuḥi) the angels to support the believers. In Q 99:4-5 God instructs (awḥa) the earth to tell its story on the day of resurrection (q.v.), and in Q 16:68 he instructs (awḥa) the bee to make hives in the mountains, etc. Even when prophets are addressed, the verb awḥa can be a request to act rather than imparting a text for recitation. Thus in Q 23:27 God instructs (awḥayna) Noah to make the ark (q.v.) and in Q 7:117 God prompts (awḥayna) Moses to cast his rod (q.v.). An act designated as awḥa can also be performed by humans. In Q 19:11, for example, Zechariah signals (awḥa) to his people that they should glorify God in the morning (q.v.) and evening. In most cases, however, awḥa stands for an act performed by God himself, as in Q 41:12. Here God reveals (awḥa) the “affair” (amr) of the seven heavens, i.e. enjoins his commandment on the heavens. But what God reveals mostly as waḥy is the prophetic inspiration itself. This is the case in Q 42:52 in which God reveals (awḥayna) a “spirit” (ruḥan) to his prophet. The spirit is interpreted here as standing for the qurʿanic revelation. This accords with Q 53:4-5, in which the Qurʿan is explicitly described as a revelation (waḥyun) that is revealed (yuḥa). In Q 35:31 it is the “book” that has been revealed as waḥy.
The revelation (waḥy) can be a prolonged process, as is the case with the revelation to Muḥammad. He is advised not to make haste before the process is completed (Q 20:114). When the reception of the waḥy is completed the Prophet is supposed to recite it in public (Q 29:45). The same process of waḥy was experienced also by previous prophets, as stated in Q 4:163: “Surely we have revealed (awḥayna) to you as we revealed to Noah, and the prophets after him, and we revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and Jesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomon….”
The waḥy does not always come directly from God to the prophets. An angel acting as God’s messenger may deliver the divine waḥy to them. This comes out in Q 42:51, in which it is stated: “It is not for any mortal that God should speak to them, except by inspiration (waḥyan) or from behind a veil (q.v.; ḥijab), or by sending a messenger (rasul), to reveal (fa-yuḥiya) by his permission what he will.” As was mentioned above, the exegetes say that the messenger delivering the waḥy is Gabriel.
As for the contents of what is being revealed as waḥy, in some cases it consists of the sheer idea of monotheism. Thus in Q 21:108 it is stated: “Say: It is only revealed (yuḥa) to me that your God is one God.” In other cases the waḥy revolves around specific legal obligations. God reveals (awḥayna) to the previous prophets “the doing of good and the keeping up of prayer (q.v.) and the giving of alms” (Q 21:73). The Qurʿan repeats several times the injunction given to the Prophet to follow (ittabiʿ) what has been revealed (yuḥa) to him (e.g. Q 10:109; 33:2, etc.).
In Q 17:39 the content of the waḥy is defined as “wisdom” (q.v.; ḥikma), which seems to refer to moral lessons which must be derived from the history of past generations (q.v.). This is confirmed by the fact that in Q 11:49 the waḥy consists of “accounts of the unseen” (anbaʿ al-ghayb), i.e. stories of the history of past generations which are now being revealed to the Prophet. The stories deal with sinful nations that God punished and destroyed because they had rejected their prophets.
There are also other, less frequent, terms of prophetic revelation, one of which being to “cast” (alqa), as in Q 40:15. Here God is said to have cast (yulqi) “the inspiration (ruḥ) by his command upon whom he pleases of his servants.” In Q 28:86 it is the book that has been cast unto the Prophet, while in Q 77:5 some unspecified persons are mentioned who are described as “casting the reminder” (fa-l-mulqiyati dhikran). The exegetes say that the “reminder” signifies the prophetic inspiration and that those who cast it are the angels who deliver it to God’s prophets and messengers.
“To give” (ata) may also signal prophetic revelation, as is the case in Q 2:87, in which God “gives” Moses “the book.”
Another verb, alhama (from l-h-m), also denotes divine inspiration but not specifically prophetic. Thus in Q 91:8 it is indicated that God has inspired (fa-alhamaha) the human soul to understand what is right and wrong for it.
Dreams (ruʿya) may also function as prophetic visions. Abraham found out by such a dream that he had to sacrifice (q.v.) his son (Q 37:105) and Muḥammad knew from his own dream that he was about to enter Mecca (q.v.) safely (cf. Q 48:27). Another vision of the Prophet, which is mentioned in Q 17:60, was interpreted as referring to his nocturnal journey and ascension (q.v.; israʿ/miʿraj).
The Qurʿan is also aware of false revelations that seem prophetic but come from Satan, which means that only a thin line separates genuine divine inspiration from satanic temptation. This is demonstrated in the common vocabulary that the Qurʿan uses for the divine as well as the satanic spheres. Thus satans (shayaṭin), like God, can deliver waḥy (Q 6:112, 121) which is deceiving in its varnished outward appearance. But the more common verb denoting satanic inspiration is waswasa, to “whisper” (e.g. Q 7:20; 20:120). Satan also casts (alqa) his own verses into genuine revelations received by every prophet “but God annuls that which Satan casts” (Q 22:52). Moreover, the satans can be God’s messengers but he sends (arsalna) them against the unbelievers (Q 19:83).
The distinction between a true prophet and other persons endowed with unique spiritual powers is also stated very clearly, in passages stressing that Muḥammad’s prophetic message is not the words of a “soothsayer” (kahin), nor of a poet nor a majnum, i.e. a madman possessed by demons (cf. Q 52:29; 69:41-2; 81:22).
Imposters are severely denounced. Q 6:93 states: “And who is more unjust than he who forges a lie (q.v.) against God, or says: It has been revealed (uḥiya) to me; while nothing has been revealed to him, and he who says: I can bring down (sa-unzilu) the like of what God has brought down (anzala) ?” The exegetes say that this passage refers to persons like Musaylima (q.v.) and others who pretended to receive revelations similar to those of Muḥammad.
Signs and Miracles
God not only provides his messengers with the prophetic inspiration but he also stays with them when they deliver his message, as is formulated in Q 72:27-8: “For surely he makes a guard to march before [his messenger] and after him, so that he may know that they have truly delivered the messages of their lord….” The “guards” accompanying the prophets are said to be the angels and elsewhere it is asserted that God is always aware of what his apostles are doing (Q 23:51). God’s presence renders his apostles immune to dangers (Q 27:10) and his help (naṣr) is always ensured for them (Q 12:110; cf. 40:51).
God also provides his prophets with concrete means designed to increase their power of persuasion. These are called bayyinat, i.e. clear “proofs” or “arguments.” Occasionally the exegetes interpret this term as “miracles”. For example, in Q 2:87 (see also Q 2:253), God provides Jesus with the bayyinat and strengthens him with the Holy Spirit. The exegetes say that the latter stands for Gabriel and that the bayyinat are miracles which Jesus performed. Such miracles are described in Q 3:49, where Jesus says to the Children of Israel:
I have come to you with a sign (aya) from your lord, that I create (akhluqa) for you out of dust like the form of a bird, then I breathe into it and it becomes a bird with God’s permission, and I heal the blind and the leprous, and bring the dead to life with God’s permission, and I shall inform you of what you eat and what you have stored in your houses….
But miracles do not render the prophets divine, as is stressed especially with respect to Jesus. The Qurʿan insists that he is “only an apostle (rasul) of God and his word (kalimatuhu) which he cast (alqaha) unto Mary, and a spirit (ruḥ) from him. Believe therefore in God and his apostles, and say not: Three” (Q 4:171).
Other prophets also brought such bayyinat to their own nations, alongside of revealed scriptures, but they were rejected (Q 3:184; 35:25). Muḥammad, too, has brought (unspecified) bayyinat to his people but they have discarded them as sheer magic (q.v.; Q 61:6). The term burhan, “proof,” is also used to signal what Muḥammad has brought to his audience (Q 4:174).
The listeners, however, not only reject the bayyinat but demand to receive a “sign” (aya) of their own choice (Q 2:118; 21:5, etc.). Often they request, for instance, to see an angel being sent down with Muḥammad (Q 23:24; 25:7, etc.), or a treasure descending upon him (Q 11:12), or a fountain being made to gush forth from the earth for them (Q 17:90). The Qurʿan responds to such demands by asserting that God’s messengers can only produce signs with God’s permission (Q 40:78) and that they are just mortals (Q 14:11). They may even have wives and children (Q 13:38). Elsewhere it is stressed that they are merely humans (rijal) receiving revelation (e.g. Q 12:109; 16:43, etc.), and that they eat food and go about in the markets (q.v.; Q 25:20).
But God may at times send a sign (aya) in response to a specific request. This was the case with the prophet Ṣaliḥ (q.v.) who was sent as a warner to Thamud (q.v.). They asked him for a sign, and he produced a she-camel (naqa). They were ordered to share their water with her at appointed intervals (Q 26:154-5) or, according to another version (Q 11:64), to leave her to pasture on God’s earth and not harm her. But Thamud slaughtered the she-camel (Q 11:65), for which reason God no longer sends signs on demand (Q 17:59).
Nevertheless, Moses, too, brought a sign (aya) in response to the demand of Pharaoh (q.v.; Q 7:106; 26:31). The sign was that the rod of Moses was turned into a serpent and his hand became “white to the beholders.” The audience denied the double sign as evident magic (Q 7:107-9; 26:31-4). But these two signs were given to Moses in advance, upon his first encounter with God (Q 20:17-23; 27:10-2; 28:31-2). They formed part of nine (not ten, as in the Hebrew Bible) signs which God gave to Moses and they are therefore not just ayat but rather ayat bayyinat (Q 17:101; cf. 28:36) as well as burhan, “proof” (Q 28:32). Elsewhere a list of all the signs, i.e. the calamities, is provided (Q 7:130-5).
Prophets and Scriptures
The core of the prophetic revelation consists in revealed scriptures that are sometimes (e.g. Q 3:184) referred to as zubur (sing. zabur) or ṣuḥuf (sing. ṣaḥifa). The latter term signifies “scrolls” (q.v.), as, for example, in Q 87:19, in which the scrolls (ṣuḥuf) of Abraham and Moses are mentioned.
The most frequent name for a revealed scripture is kitab, namely, something written down, or simply a “book.” A kitab is always of high solemnity. It may stand for the written list of deeds which determines the destiny of all people on the day of resurrection (e.g. Q 39:69) or the pre-existent divine book in which the pre-ordained law of God has been recorded. This is, at least, how Muslim exegetes explain the locution “book of God” in Q 33:6 (also Q 30:56), which, so they hold, is identical with the “guarded tablet” (lawḥ maḥfuẓ) mentioned in Q 85:22. The Qurʿan is said to have formed part of this tablet (Q 85:21), so that this revealed book is actually a reflection of a celestial text. Another locution which is taken to refer to the original celestial version of the universal book is umm al-kitab mentioned in Q 43:4. Here it is stated that the Qurʿan is in the umm al-kitab “with us, truly elevated, full of wisdom.” The exegetes maintain that it is another name for the tablet, the origin of all revealed books.
The divine origin of the qurʿanic revelation comes out in the idea that no one can alter God’s words as revealed to Muḥammad: “Recite (utlu) what has been revealed (uḥiya) to you of the book of your lord; there is none who can alter his words…” (Q 18:27). God sent down the book to Muḥammad without any “crookedness” (ʿiwaj, Q 18:1), so that the revealed Qurʿan has remained faithful to the original message of the divine book. In other words, the book was sent down to Muḥammad “with the truth (bi-l-ḥaqq)” (e.g. Q 39:2). It has also been sent down as a “blessed” (mubarak) book (e.g. Q 6:155; 38:29) and as a book “conformable” (mutashabih) in its various parts (Q 39:23). Not just the Qurʿan but any other revealed book is of the same divine origin, for which reason the Qurʿan recognizes the authenticity of previous revelations, saying that previous messengers (rusul), too, brought their peoples “clear arguments (bayyinat), scriptures (zubur) and the illuminating book” (al-kitab al-munir, Q 35:25; see also Q 3:184; 57:25).
Being an essential component of the prophetic message, the term kitab often appears side by side with the term nubuwwa, “prophethood,” and both are perceived as components of a divine legacy that runs in a genealogical line of a chosen pedigree. Thus in Q 29:27, the prophethood (nubuwwa) and the book are said to have remained in the seed (dhurriyya) of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The same is said of the offspring of Noah and Abraham (Q 57:26). The book is therefore a divine legacy that God has bequeathed (awrathna) to whom he chose of his servants (Q 35:32). Of the previous prophets, Moses in particular is mentioned as one to whom God gave the book (Q 2:87). His book is described as “a light and a guidance to the people” (Q 6:91).
Apart from the term kitab, previous scriptures are also mentioned by their individual titles, such as the Torah (tawrat) of the Israelite prophets (Q 5:44), David’s Psalms (q.v.; zabur, Q 4:163; 17:55) and Jesus’ Gospel (injil). About the latter it is stated that it was full of guidance and light (Q 5:46).
The Prophets and Muḥammad
The revelation of the book was a new experience for Muḥammad (Q 42:52) and the Arabs (q.v.), too, never had messengers sent to them before him, nor had they any revealed books (cf. Q 34:44). This means that as an Arab, Muḥammad did not have any genealogical relationship to the previous prophets. The gap between him and them was also a chronological one, as is indicated in Q 5:19, in which it is stated that the qurʿanic Prophet emerged “after a cessation (fatra) of the [mission of the] apostles (rusul) ….”
Nevertheless, the Qurʿan quite easily includes Muḥammad in the honorable group of prophets. The most straightforward way to achieve this is simply to declare Muḥammad to be “one of the apostles” (mina l-mursalina, e.g. Q 2:252). This universalized perception of Muḥammad’s mission leads to the conclusion that he is actually not the first of the messengers (rusul) on earth (Q 46:9) and that apostles already passed away before him (Q 3:144). This means that Muḥammad is a link in the same chain of prophets to which prophets like Jesus also belong. Before the latter other messengers had already passed away (Q 5:75).
As for Muḥammad’s own revealed book, the Qurʿan, it is indeed an Arabic scripture (Q 12:2; 13:37) but is nevertheless perceived as closely related to previous scriptures. Time and again the Qurʿan stresses that Muḥammad’s book confirms, or verifies (muṣaddiq), what was revealed before it. For example, in Q 3:3-4 we read: “He has sent down to you the book with truth, verifying that which is before it, and he brought down the Torah and the Gospel aforetime….” This means that all scriptures represent identical links in the same successive chain of revelations. This idea recurs in the qurʿanic description of Jesus who is said to have verified the Torah that was revealed before him (Q 5:46). Since the Qurʿan itself verifies the Torah as well as the Gospels, the Jews and the Christians alike, whom the Qurʿan addresses as the “People of the Book” (q.v.), are commanded on their part to believe in the Qurʿan (Q 4:47; see also Q 2:41).
The equality of all scriptures as links in the same successive chain of revelations entails that true believers are only those who believe in all the revealed books, without exception. This idea, which is encountered already in the New Testament (in Acts 24:14 Paul believes in all things which are written in the Torah and in the books of the prophets), is stated explicitly several times. For example, Q 2:136 says:
Say: We believe in God and [in] that which had been sent down to us, and [in] that which was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and [in] that which was given to Moses and Jesus, and [in] that which was given to the prophets from their lord, we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to him do we submit.
The same is repeated in several other places in which it is stressed that true righteousness is based on belief in the previous prophets and in their books as well as in the angels and in the last day (e.g. Q 2:177, 285; 4:136). At the last judgment (q.v.) people will be asked about their belief in the messengers who had come to them (Q 28:65; 39:71). The previous revelations have remained relevant to the Muslims, as is implied in Q 3:194. Here an Islamic prayer is addressed to God, imploring him to “grant us what you have promised us by your apostles.”
The conviction that one should believe in all the revealed books means that one should also believe in Muḥammad’s Qurʿan. Therefore those who only believe in some books, like the Jews who denied the Qurʿan, are not true believers and they are denounced in Q 2:85 as it is commonly understood. Moreover, the duty to believe in Muḥammad’s own revelation has become the core of the religion of all prophets. This finds expression in the notion that God already commanded all the previous prophets to believe in Muḥammad. In Q 3:81 we read:
And when God made a covenant (mithaq) with the prophets: Surely, the book and the wisdom that I have given you — then an apostle comes to you verifying that which is with you, you must believe in him, and you must aid him. [God] said: “Do you affirm and accept my compact in this [matter]?” The [prophets] said: “We do affirm.” [God] said: “Then bear witness, and I [too] am of the bearers of witness with you.”
The exegetes explain that the apostle in whom the prophets are commanded to believe is Muḥammad. The Arabian messenger of God has thus become the peak of the prophetic chain of revelations and this is also demonstrated in his title: “Seal (khatam) of the prophets” (Q 33:40).
The prophets were not only required to believe in Muḥammad, but some were also familiar with his titles, which were included in their own revealed scriptures. Thus in Q 7:157 it is stated that Muḥammad was mentioned as a “gentile” (ummi) in the Torah and the Gospel. Jesus, it is said in Q 61:6, announced the appearance of an apostle who would come after him, his name being Aḥmad. This quest for universal legitimacy is found already in the New Testament (Matt 2:23), where prophets predict that Jesus will be called the Nazarene.
Since belief in Muḥammad has always been at the core of the religion of the previous prophets, it comes as no surprise that the Israelite prophets to whom the Torah was revealed are described as “those who were Muslims” (alladhina aslamu, Q 5:44). Furthermore, the religion that was enjoined upon the prophets was the same as the one given to the Muslims, a fact stated in Q 42:13: “He has enjoined upon you (sharaʿa) for religion what he prescribed to Noah and that which we have revealed to you and that which we enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus….”
The uniformity of the religion of the prophets, however, is abandoned in several passages in which Abraham’s religion is set apart from the rest of the prophets and a direct line is drawn between him and Muḥammad. Such passages seem to have been designed to highlight the Arabian identity of the qurʿanic revelation and to dissociate its message from that of the Jewish and the Christian scriptures. The dissociation is achieved by insisting that Abraham was neither Jew nor Christian but rather a ḥanif (q.v.). As a ḥanif he has become a model for Muḥammad, whom God commands to follow Abraham’s religion (Q 2:135; 4:125; 16:123, etc.).
The Scope of the Prophetic Mission
The prophets are sent each to his own nation (umma) or people (qawm). This notion is expressed in verses asserting that each nation has its own prophets sent to it (Q 10:47; 16:36) and that every apostle was only sent “with the language (lisan) of his people” (qawmihi, Q 14:4). Thus Moses, for example, says to his people (li-qawmihi) that he is God’s messenger to them (Q 61:5). Moreover, some prophets are described as the “brothers” of the peoples to whom they were sent (Q 26:106, 161, etc). This is again an appropriate precedent for Muḥammad, the Arabian prophet who has brought to his nation an Arabic Qurʿan (e.g. Q 12:2). His Arabic Qurʿan was revealed to him that he may warn “the mother of cities” (umm al-qura, Q 42:7; see also Q 6:92), which is Mecca, according to the exegetes.
But unlike the previous prophets, Muḥammad appears in some other passages as a universal prophet whose mission goes beyond ethnic boundaries. In Q 4:79 he is said to have been sent “to mankind (lil-nas) as an apostle,” and in Q 21:107 he is sent with mercy “to the worlds (lil-ʿalamin).” His audience includes the jinn (q.v.; Q 46:30), to whom messengers of their own kind were also sent (Q 6:130).
The Aims of the Prophetic Mission
The purpose for which the qurʿanic prophet has been sent is to make God’s religion, i.e. Islam, prevail over all religions (Q 9:33; 48:28; 61:9). This may involve waging war (q.v.) on the infidels, as is stated about the preceding prophets in Q 3:146: “And how many a prophet has fought (qatala), and with them were many worshippers of the lord; so the [prophets] did not become weak-hearted on account of what befell them in God’s way, nor did they weaken, nor did they abase themselves; and God loves the patient.” But in other qurʿanic passages the religious campaign is based on preaching and is focused on the mere idea of monotheism and on the refutation of polytheism (shirk). Several times the previous prophets are described as imploring their respective peoples to “serve nothing (alla taʿbudu) but God…” (e.g. Q 41:14). God also tells Muḥammad himself that this was the main mission of the prophets who were sent before him (Q 21:25, etc.), and he himself says to his audience: “I am only a mortal like you; it is revealed to me that your God is one God, therefore follow the right way to him and ask his forgiveness; and woe to the polytheists” (waylun lil-mushrikina, Q 41:6; see also Q 18:110).
On the other hand, the mission of the prophets has also a grimmer aspect, namely, to warn stubborn unbelievers of their fate in hell, in case they do not repent. But the warning usually goes hand in hand with good tidings of paradise for those who believe. Thus Q 6:48, for example, asserts that God’s messengers were sent as “announcers of good news and givers of warning (mubashshirina wa-mundhirina), then whoever believes and acts aright, they shall have no fear (q.v.), nor shall they grieve” (see also Q 4:165; 18:56, etc.). The same twofold message was entrusted to Muḥammad (Q 33:45, 48:8).
The messengers are not responsible for the success or failure of their message and the Qurʿan repeatedly asserts that nothing is incumbent upon the apostles except a “plain delivery” (al-balagh al-mubin, e.g. Q 16:35). Furthermore, the apostles are not even capable of changing the fate awaiting the unbelievers: “It is not [fit] for the Prophet and those who believe that they should ask forgiveness (q.v.) for the polytheists, even though they should be near relatives, after it has become clear to them that they are inmates of the flaming fire” (Q 9:113; cf. 9:80, 84).
On the last judgment, believers and unbelievers will realize that the apostles had spoken the truth about their respective fate in paradise or hell (Q 7:43, 53; 36:52). The prophets themselves will be present on the scene of judgment and will act as witnesses (shuhadaʿ, sing. shahid) as to who is righteous and who is a sinner (e.g. Q 4:41; 7:6; 16:84, 89). But according to Q 5:109, the messengers will not dare testify and God himself will know what the people were doing.
But mercy (q.v.; raḥma) is also a significant component of the prophetic message and emanates mainly from the guidance that is inherent in the revealed book. This is stated in Q 16:89: “We have revealed the book to you explaining clearly everything, and a guidance (hudan) and mercy and good news for those who are Muslims.” Being the ultimate source of guidance, some prophets are occasionally described as imams who guide the people by God’s command (Q 21:73) and their revealed book, too, is called “imam and mercy” (Q 11:17; 46:12). Guidance is achieved by the actual teaching of the book and therefore Muḥammad is often described as a messenger teaching “the book and the wisdom” (e.g. Q 2:129, 151; 3:164).
A prophet is not only a spiritual guide but a judge as well, whose adjudication is based on the revealed book. This was the case among the Jews for whom the prophets judged according to the revealed Torah (Q 5:44; 2:213) and the same is said about Muḥammad to whom God revealed the book “that you may judge between people by means of that which God has taught you” (Q 4:105).
The Reception of the Prophets
The nations to whom prophets have been sent are expected to receive them with consent and obedience (q.v.). As Q 4:64 puts it: “And we did not send any apostle but that he should be obeyed (li-yuṭaʿa) by God’s permission….” But the prophets were received with anything but obedience. They were mocked (e.g. Q 15:11) and called liars (e.g. Q 3:184; 22:42; 23:44; 35:25), and their message was denied (Q 11:59), and denounced as “medleys of dreams” (aḍghathu aḥlam, Q 21:5). The prophets were rejected mainly on account of their being ordinary human beings (sing. bashar, e.g. Q 14:10; 17:94; 36:15; 64:6), and were accused of being mere poets (sing. shaʿir), magicians (sing. saḥir) and madmen (sing. majnun; e.g. Q 21:5; 51:52). Some of them were received with skeptical questions (Q 2:108), and above all, their audience expressed devotion to the tradition of the ancestors (Q 43:23).
Prophets have also suffered actual persecution, such as the threat of expulsion (e.g. Q 14:13), and also death at the hands of their own peoples, as was the fate of the Israelite prophets (e.g. Q 2:61, 91). The sufferings of the previous prophets are recounted to reassure Muḥammad that his own distress resembles that of his precursors. As stated in Q 41:43: “Nothing is said to you but what was said indeed to the apostles before you….” Not only humankind but also the satans rose as enemies to the prophets. In Q 6:112, God says: “And thus did we make for every prophet an enemy, the satans from among humans and jinn….” Satan’s enmity is seen in this that he makes rebellion (q.v.) look attractive to nations to whom apostles were sent (Q 16:63). Rejection is met with retribution. Time and again the Qurʿan describes how nations that disobeyed their prophets were punished by severe calamities, a motif recurrent mainly in the “punishment stories” (q.v.). Rejection of messengers renders retribution inevitable, as stated in Q 7:94: “And we did not send a prophet in a town but we overtook its people with distress and affliction in order that they might humble themselves.” The divine logic that comes out here is that God is enemy to anyone who is “the enemy of God and his angels and his apostles and Gabriel and Michael” (cf. Q 2:98). Retribution is the direct result of the fact that God has promised to protect the prophets (cf. Q 14:47), and is defined as God’s way (sunna, q.v.) with respect to those who persecute the prophets (Q 17:76-7). Destruction is never arbitrary or unjust, and is only inflicted on towns that have been warned in advance by their prophets (Q 17:15; 28:59). The prophets and their close entourage are always saved from the collective disaster (Q 10:103, etc.).
Stories of Prophets
Apart from general declarations about the prophets, the Qurʿan provides stories about individual ones. These stories always form part of the discourse between God and Muḥammad. God tells Muḥammad about them or requests Muḥammad to tell his audience about them. This literary structure stems from the idea that the prophetic revelation experienced by the previous prophets is the same as that of Muḥammad and that all of them are sent to fulfil the same mission among humankind. Therefore, the allusions to the previous prophets are essentially designed to provide a legitimizing as well as an encouraging precedent for Muḥammad’s own prophetic challenge. Many of the stories draw on biblical themes. Some appear in a condensed form, while others, such as those of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, are given in elaborate detail and even with subtle revisions of the biblical accounts. Elements not known from the Bible appear mainly in the punishment stories.
The Qurʿan itself is aware of the affinity between the stories about the prophets and the biblical literature, for which reason the Jews and the Christians are called upon to confirm the truth of the qurʿanic allusions to the previous prophets. This is at least how Muslim exegetes explain the meaning of Q 16:43 (see also Q 21:7) which says: “And we did not send before you any but humans to whom we sent revelation, so ask the people of the reminder if you do not know.” The exegetes say that the “people of the reminder” (ahl al-dhikr) are scholars well versed in the Torah and the Gospel, which means that they know best about the history of the prophets from their own scriptures.
“Reminder” is also the label used for the qurʿanic stories about the prophets which Muḥammad recites to his audience, as with the story of Dhu l-Qarnayn (Q 18:83). Nevertheless, the term is also the name of the entire revelation (Q 16:44, etc.), probably because it alludes quite frequently to stories of past generations. In fact, the injunction udhkur fi l-kitab, “mention in the book,” is frequently used in passages prompting the qurʿanic Prophet to remind the audience of stories about previous prophets (Q 19:16, 41, etc.).
Narrative units about prophets, which Muḥammad is expected to recite, are also called nabaʿ (pl. anbaʿ), “report, tidings”. For example, the Prophet is instructed to recite (utlu) the nabaʿ of the two sons of Adam (Q 5:27), the nabaʿ of Noah (Q 10:71) and of Abraham (Q 26:69). These units are also being “related” (naquṣṣu) to him upon being revealed (Q 7:101; 11:100, 120; 18:13; 20:99). They are also referred to as anbaʿ al-ghayb, “stories of the unseen” because they happened long ago and the Prophet did not witness them in person (Q 3:44, of Mary; Q 11:49, of Noah; Q 12:102, of Joseph). The information labeled as nabaʿ/anbaʿ is imparted to Muḥammad “to strengthen your heart therewith” (Q 11:120) as well as to teach the audience the bitter lesson of disbelief and disobedience which already led ancient towns to destruction (Q 7:101; 9:70). But the listeners are not responsive, and they discard the qurʿanic message as “tales (asaṭir) of the ancients” (al-awwalina, Q 16:24).
The list of prophets mentioned in the Qurʿan is not complete, in the sense that some of them were left out on purpose. This is stated in Q 40:78 (see also Q 4:164): “And certainly we sent apostles before you: there are some of them of whom we related (qaṣaṣna) to you and there are others of whom we have not related (lam naqṣuṣ) to you….” The exegetes explain that the prophets were too numerous to mention, and according to some, God sent 8,000 prophets, 4,000 of whom were Israelites.
Prophets in Extra-Qurʿanic Sources
The prophets form an essential element in the Islamic perception of the past and they are treated not only in the Qurʿan but also in ḥadith collections as well as in historiographical works. Compilers of ḥadith dedicated special sections (kitabs) to traditions about them, one of the earliest examples being al-Bukhari’s (d. 256/870) Ṣaḥiḥ, in which the kitab no. 60 is called: aḥadith al-anbiyaʿ, “Traditions about the prophets.” There are also independent collections of traditions about the prophets; perhaps the best known is al-Thaʿlabi’s (d. 427/1035) ʿAraʿis al-majalis or Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyaʿ.
The interest in the prophets taken by Muslims was focused on the need to define the relationship between Muḥammad and the previous prophets, which signaled the relationship between the Islamic umma and the non-Muslim communities. Many of the traditions place Muḥammad over and above the rest of the prophets. For example, one tradition states that the lords of the prophets are five and Muḥammad is the lord of the five: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muḥammad. This statement was circulated as a tradition of the Companion Abu Hurayra (Ḥakim, Mustadrak, ii, 546. On the other hand, there are also traditions in which the status of the prophets is in no way inferior to that of Muḥammad (cf. Andrae, Person, 245 f.; Wensinck, Muslim creed, 113 f.). In one of these traditions, Muḥammad prohibits the believers to say that he was better than Moses (Bukhari, Ṣaḥiḥ, iii, 158 [44:1]). Even a less prominent prophet like Jonah was not inferior to Muḥammad, as is indicated in Muḥammad’s reported utterance: “No prophet is allowed to say: ‘I am better than Jonah the son of Amittai’” (Abu Dawud, ii, 521 [39.13]). Such traditions seem to have been designed to retain the qurʿanic idea that one should not make any distinction among God’s prophets and messengers.
The historiographical sources also retain the qurʿanic idea that all the prophets represent links in a universal chain of successive revelations. But there is no agreement about where this chain begins. In some traditions, the first person ever to be sent by God to warn his people is Noah (Ṭabari, Taʿ rikh, i, 183-4). Enoch, too, is described as a prophet in traditions identifying him with Idris, who is said to have been the first man to whom prophecy was given (Ibn Hisham, i, 3.). Alternately, Enoch/Idris is said to have been the first to be sent as a prophet after Adam (Ibn Saʿd, Ṭabaqat, i, 40, 54). In another tradition, Seth is the first prophet after Adam (Ibn Qutayba, Maʿarif, 26) and Adam himself, so a tradition tells us on the authority of no other than Muḥammad, was the first prophet God sent (Ibn Saʿd, Ṭabaqat, i, 32, 54). Thus, Adam and Muḥammad became the two ends of the universal chain of prophets. This correlation between them has been noted in a tradition of the Yemenite scholar Wahb b. Munabbih (d. 110/728) on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbas (d. ca. 68/686). Wahb declares that Adam was the first of God’s messengers and Muḥammad the last (Ibn Qutayba, Maʿarif, 26).
Islamic historiography has understood the prophets as bearers of a successive religious legacy that is being passed on from generation to generation in a hereditary line. The earliest description of the transmission of the prophetic legacy from generation to generation is found in passages quoted by al-Ṭabari (d. 310/923) in his famous History (Taʿrikh al-rusul wa-l-muluk) from Ibn Isḥaq (d. 150/768). The latter was one of the first systematic biographers of Muḥammad. Most of Ibn Isḥaq’s material about the prophets is derived from Jewish sources whom Ibn Isḥaq often calls “people of the first book” (ahl al-kitab al-awwal), i.e. the Torah (e.g. Ṭabari, Taʿ rikh, i, 139-40). Ibn Isḥaq describes how the various prophets, beginning with Adam, bequeathed their religious legacy and administrative authority (q.v.) to their descendants. They appointed them to be their heirs (waṣi) and put them in charge of their subjects. The legacy included revealed scriptures (ṣaḥifa), which were handed down from generation to generation. Each bearer was considered as God’s chosen leader upon earth, and defended the sacred legacy against change and corruption. Such perception of the role of the antediluvian ancestors is discernible already in Flavius’ Antiquities (for details see Rubin, Prophets and progenitors).
Ibn Isḥaq describes the course of the legacy till Noah, but does not delineate an uninterrupted hereditary legacy during the generations between Noah and Abraham. The reason seems to be that Abraham is regarded as opening a new era, being a believer born to pagan ancestors who could not act as bearers of any legacy of righteousness. Al-Ṭabari himself has recorded traditions from other sources that mention the transmission of the legacy through later generations of Israelite prophets. They describe, for example, the transition of the waṣiyya from Jacob to Joseph and from Joseph to Judah his brother (Ṭabari, Taʿ rikh, i, 413). A detailed description of a successive authority running along the generations since Adam, and continued through the Israelites, is provided by the Shiʿi author al-Yaʿqubi (d. 283/897). His Taʿrikh abounds with quotations from the Bible and other Jewish and Christian sources, and they form the axis around which his account of pre-Islamic history revolves. Some further traditions focus on individual links in the universal chain, for example, David and Solomon, who constituted the first links in the house of David. A tradition recorded in the Mustadrak by al-Ḥakim al-Naysaburi (d. 405/1014) relates that God chose David to be his prophet and messenger and he gathered for him light and wisdom and revealed to him the zabur (the Psalms), adding it to the scriptures already revealed to previous prophets. When David was about to die, God commanded him to bequeath the light of God (nur Allah), as well as the hidden and the revealed knowledge, to his son Solomon, and so he did (Ḥakim, Mustadrak, ii, 587).
Muslims paid special attention to the relationship between the last Israelite prophet, namely Jesus, and Muḥammad. Chronologically speaking, Jesus was the closest Israelite prophet to Muḥammad and this temporal closeness was understood in Islam as a blood relationship. This is the intent of a tradition transmitted by one of the Prophet’s Companions, Abu Hurayra (d. 57/677), in which Muḥammad declares: “I am the closest person (awla l-nas) to Jesus the son of Mary in this world and in the world to come.” When asked how this could be, the Prophet went on, explaining: “The prophets are brothers born to fellow-wives (ʿallat), i.e. their mothers are various and their religion is the same. There is no prophet between me and him” (Ibn Ḥibban, Ṣaḥiḥ, xiv, no. 6194). The prophets are likened here to sons of the same father by various mothers. The father stands for the one unchanging religion of God that unites them all and this makes them brothers in the same religion. Among them Jesus and Muḥammad are the closest pair. Their various mothers, so it was explained by some Muslim scholars, represent their various types of shariʿa, i.e. the distinctive religious laws which differ from one monotheistic community to the other (Ibn Ḥajar, Fatḥ al-bari, vi, 354).
Just as Muḥammad was said to have been the closest person to Jesus, he was also presented as the closest one to Moses. This comes out in traditions recounting the history of the ʿAshuraʿ day. In some of these traditions a relationship between this day and the Jewish Day of Atonement is implied. It is related that when Muḥammad came to Medina after his emigration (hijra) from Mecca, he found out that the Jews of that city used to fast on the day of ʿAshuraʿ. He asked them to tell him the reason for that and they told him that this day was a holiday because on it God delivered the Children of Israel from their enemies and therefore Moses had fasted on this day. Then Muḥammad said to the Jews: “I am more worthy of Moses than you are” (ana aḥaqqu bi-Musa minkum) and thereupon he started to fast on the day of ʿAshuraʿ and ordered the Muslims to follow suit (e.g. Bukhari, Ṣaḥiḥ, iii, 57 [30.69]). This means that the Islamic umma rather than the Jews are the most authentic bearers of the legacy of Moses.
In further traditions the concept of the unchanging divine legacy that transmigrates through the generations from Adam to Muḥammad has been combined with the idea of Muḥammad’s pre-existence (for which see Rubin, Pre-existence). The successive legacy has been identified with Muḥammad’s own pre-existent entity. The prophets have thus become mere vessels carrying the pre-existent Muḥammad. Traditions reflecting this notion can easily be identified by recourse to the commentaries on Q 26:219. This verse deals with the Prophet’s movement (taqallub) among those who prostrate themselves (al-sajidin). A tradition of Ibn ʿAbbas as recorded by Ibn Saʿd (d. 230/845) says that the Qurʿan speaks here about the transmigration of Muḥammad “from prophet to prophet and from prophet to prophet, till God brought him forth as a prophet” (Ibn Saʿd, Ṭabaqat, i, 25; cf. Rubin, Pre-existence, 80 with note 78).
Shiʿis, Umayyads, and Prophets
The notion of a universal chain of prophets bearing a successive divine legacy was adapted to the specific needs of various groups who vied for predominance in Islamic society. Each group tried to gain for its leaders recognition as Muḥammad’s exclusive heirs, from whom they inherited the universal legacy that had reached him from the previous prophets. Among these groups the best known are the Shiʿis. They have developed the doctrine according to which the line of transmission was continued after Muḥammad through their own imams. The latter were described as legatees of the prophets and as bearers of a divine light that they had inherited from the prophets. This doctrine was designed to establish the status of the Shiʿi imams as agents of divine inspiration and guidance (for details see Rubin, Prophets and progenitors).
The Umayyad caliphs, too, considered themselves links in a chosen pedigree originating in the biblical prophets. Their views on this claim are revealed in a letter sent to the garrison cities on behalf of the Umayyad caliph Walid II (r. bet. 125-6/743-4) concerning the designation of his successors (for details see Crone and Hinds, God’s caliph, 26-8; Rubin, Prophets and caliphs).
Qurʿanic Prophets and Modern Scholarship
Modern scholars have tried to detect an evolution in the qurʿanic prophetology, which they reconstructed according to the assumed chronology of revelation. The “punishment stories,” for example, have been explained as reflecting Muḥammad’s situation in Mecca, before the hijra, the emigration (q.v.) to Medina (q.v.), when he suffered rejection. The description in these stories of the rejection of previous prophets was interpreted as designed to encourage Muḥammad during this difficult period (Tottoli, Biblical prophets, 7). The idea of one religion common to all prophets as well as the notion of the religion of Abraham, was explained as stemming from the polemical encounter with the Jews of Medina (Tottoli, Biblical prophets, 8-9). The usage of the terms rasul and nabi was also connected with Muḥammad’s life and it was argued that Muḥammad began to use nabi as his own epithet only during the later Medinan period (Tottoli, Biblical prophets, 74-5). In view, however, of doubts expressed by some scholars who have been of the opinion that not all parts of the scripture stem from Muḥammad’s own time, the history of the link between the qurʿanic prophetology and Muḥammad’s personal experience is no longer clear.