The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, and so do the believers. They believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, and His messengers. (They proclaim) “We make no distinction between any of His messengers.” And they say, “We hear and obey. (We seek) Your forgiveness, our Lord! And to You (alone) is the final return.” (Al-Baqara 2: 286)Alhamdulillah, Summa
Alhamdulillah, today I have
chosen to talk about the messengers of Allah. First of all, when we talk about
the Messengers of Allah, it is very important that we are aware that the
Islamic conception regarding the role and function of the prophets is different
from the conception of the Jews and Christians. In Islam, the word “Nabi”
(prophet) or even “Rasul” (Messenger) is not reserved for only the
Elects of Allah who have received divine revelations as divine laws to share
with their peoples. When we talk about prophets before the coming of Hazrat
Muhammad (pbuh), we are talking about prophets whose message was limited to
their own people, while Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) and all those who come and will
come as his followers-prophets, will be prophets who cannot bring any new law,
where they must base themselves only on the Holy Quran and the information of
the Ghayb (Invisible) that Allah shows them.
And so, this brings us to the question, can a prophet come after Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh)?
Of course
yes, because the word “Nabi” is not reserved for the prophets before
Hazrat Muhammad, and as well as for Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) himself, but this
title designates that such a person receives information from Allah on things
that the rest of humanity is not aware of or that has a hypothesis about it,
but they are not sure about it, while the information that an Elect of Allah
receives, such information that he receives from the Ruh’il Quddus (Holy
Spirit), then it brings this person to the level of Prophet.
You should know that Hazrat Jibreel, the Chief of the Angels of revelation, is not the only one to give revelation to people. There are many people who receive divine revelation, but it is not necessarily that they receive these revelations from Hazrat Jibreel (as) himself. There are some cases where Hazrat Jibreel (as) descends on people very close to Allah, whom Allah is extremely pleased with, but most of the time he descends on the prophets of Allah, those who have a high status in the eyes of Allah to receive information from Him, in order to warn people, either, as a warning from Him (Allah) or as good news. But the one who receives the title of “Rasul” (Messenger), he must also share these revelations with others, and therefore his mission is more profound than a “Nabi” (prophet). There are the Elects of Allah in the past who have received the title of “Nabi” only, which means they have that rank in the eyes of Allah, and they have a mission to warn people of things of the unseen, about what they are seeing and to bring them back to the worship of Allah.
So, here Allah is
comparing the similarity of Hazrat Musa (as) and Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh).
Moreover, this is reinforced in the Holy Quran where Allah says: “We have raised from among you a Messenger like the
Messenger We sent to Pharaoh.” (Al-Muzzammil 73: 16)
What is striking in the
Holy Quran is that Hazrat Isma’il (as) also received the title of “Nabi”
and “Rasul”, and yet he is not the bearer of any new law, but he has
only received revelations to bring people to follow the Abrahamic Laws (which
came down to Hazrat Ibrahim (as)), while Hazrat Ishaq (as) was only given the
title of “Nabi”. And yet, both have not received any Book of Divine Laws
on themselves, just as Hazrat Nuh (as) [Noah], and their father (Ibrahim)
received, and similarly they have not received a Book of Law like their descendants
[in their biological and spiritual lineage] received, i.e. Hazrat Musa (as) and
Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh). And what is extremely enriching and a point of honour
for us, Muslims, is that Allah has sent Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) for all the Aalameen
(worlds), while Hazrat Musa (as) came only for the Children of Israel
(Hazrat Yaqub (as)).
Allah says that Isma’il
(as) was a “Rasul” and “Nabi” (in Surah Maryam Verse 55). Allah
says: “Rasulan Nabiyan”.
We see that the status
of Hazrat Isma’il (as) is higher than Hazrat Ishaq (as). Allah has rewarded Isma’il’s
sacrifice with a very great favour where he was not only a Nabi and Rasul,
but he is the direct descendant of Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh), the greatest Nabi
and Rasul of all time.
And so, this leads us
to understand that a “Nabi” is not necessarily the one who has received
a Book of Law from Allah. These are the points of honour, the stage that Allah
reserves for His Elect, otherwise Hazrat Ishaq would also be a “Rasul” since
he is the direct son [the own blood] of Hazrat Ibrahim (as) and that he follows
the Abrahamic Law. And yet, only his elder brother, Isma’il (as) received that
honour.
The era we are living in nowadays is bloodier than in the past. Today the world has become ONE through globalization. Today I am in Mauritius and I am able to know what is happening around the world through technology. But let me also tell you that the media mask a lot of truth and they try to put forward such information that is against Islam and in favour of wrong beliefs, which is far from the pure monotheism that Allah has established since the first creation of man on earth. But Allah through His revelation clearly shows where the lie is. They seek to propagate lies as truth, but Allah reveals the truth.
Today it is a blessed time of Divine Manifestation that we are living. And I invite the whole world to Islam and peace. I invite you all to the One God (Allah), Who has no partner. I invite you to self-reformation. This reform does not come at once, but gradually. I invite you to this path of reform so that the Islam that all the prophets and messengers have preached take life again in our time, and in each of us. Insha-Allah, Ameen.
----Friday Sermon of