PROPHETHOOD (RISALAT)
Meaning and concept
MEANING
Risalat is the Arabic word which means’ Apostleship’
Two terms have been used for the above assigned task.
• Nabi
• Rasool
Nabi means prophet, reviver
Rasool means messenger ,Informer or harbinger.
• The messenger( Rasool) is one who brought the new Sharia
(code of life) like Moses, Jesus and Muhammed (S.A.W)
• Where as the Nabi is one who revived the Sharia of the
previous prophet.
َو َلَقْد َأْر َس ْلَنا ُرُس اًل ِّم ن َقْبِلَك ِم ْنُهم َّم ن َقَص ْص َنا
َع َلْيَك َو ِم ْنُهم َّم ن َّلْم َنْقُص ْص َع َلْيَك
NEED FOR PROPHETHOOD
The aim of man's creation and the responsibility assigned
to him by Islam is that he should worship Allah and
submit to Him.
Submission is made to injunctions. Man becomes curious to
know the injunctions of His master which he is required
to know. The question arises as to how we come to know of
His injunctions and will.
Following are few of the means to achieve it:
1- REASON
2- INTUATION
3- COLLECTIVE CONTEMPLATION
Cont:
Above all means are not enough to guide man to the true
injunctions of Allah. Some external arrangement had to be
made by Allah for his guidance.
A person through whom Allah done this arrangement is
called Prophet.
It is abundantly clear that man can not learn divine
injunctions without prophet hood.
In the absence of prophet hood we would even fail to know
Allah and after life, what to say of divine guidance.
NATURE OF PROPHETHOOD
The designation of prophethood is not something that can
be achieved by practicing virtue and gaining piety. It is
solely a gift (WAHABE) not earned(KASABI). Allah has
clearly indicated in the Holy Quran:
‘ Allah knows best with whom to place his message’
ُهَّللا َأْع َلُم َح ْيُث َيْج َع ُل ِر َس اَلَتُه
Testimony of scientists
Keith Moore, head of the department of anatomy, at the University of
Toronto, was shown verses of the Qur’an dealing with the microscopic
stages of the human embryo. He was so surprised at what he found that
he went back and revised the history of embryology in his standard
texts on the subject. The books that Keith Moore authored are used at
prestigious institutions like Yale and at universities all around the world.
He stated, after being unable to provide an explanation on how
microscopic details of the embryo could be accurately described in a
book written before the discovery of the microscope:
"It is clear to me that these statements (in the Qur’an on embryology)
must have come to Muhammad from God. This proves to me that
Muhammad must have been the Messenger of God." (Rehaili 1995)
8
The ‘Big Bang’ theory
Qur’an:
َأَو َلْم َيَر اَّلِذ يَن َك َفُروا َأَّن الَّس َم اَو اِت َو اَأْلْر َض َك اَنَتا َر ْتًقا َفَفَتْقَناُهَم ا
"Do not the unbelievers see that the Heavens and the
earth were joined together, then We split them apart."
Professor Alfred Kroner, chairman of the Department of Geology
at the Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenburg University,
Mainz, Germany stated about this verse in the Qur’an: "Somebody
who did not know something about nuclear physics 1400 years ago
could not, I think, be in a position to find out from his own mind
for instance that the earth and the heavens had the same origin,
(Rehaili 1995)"
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Sir George Bernard Shaw
‘The Genuine Islam,’ Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936
“I have studied him – (Prophet Muhamned S.A.W) the
wonderful man – in in my opinion far from being an
anti-Christ he must be called the Savior of Humanity. I
believe that if a man like him were to assume the
dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in
solving the problems in a way that would bring much
needed peace and happiness.
I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it
would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is
beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today.”
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Rev. Bosworth Smith
“Mohammed and Mohammedanism”, 1874
“By a fortune absolutely unique in history, Mohammed
is a threefold founder; of a nation, of an empire and of a
religion.
He was Caesar and Pope in one, but he was Pope
without the Pope’s pretensions and Caesar without the
legions of Caesar: without a standing army, without a
bodyguard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue,
if ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by
right Divine, it was Mohammed, for he had all the
powers without its instruments and without its
supports.”
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UNIVERSALITY OF PROPHETHOOD
Prophets have been sent to every nation: Quran says:
َو ِاْن ِّم ْن ُاَّم ٍة ِااَّل َخ اَل ِفْيَها َنِذ ْيٌر
“and there is not a nation but a Warner had passed among
them”
The reason is that men all over the world are equal. They have
been created with one purpose.
It may be noted here that when we claim that a prophet was
sent to every nation it means that he was sent in a certain
generation of a nation
POSITION OF PROPHETS
1- EXPOUNDER OF THE BOOK OF ALLAH
ِلُيَبِّيَن َلُهْم
2- AUTHORIZED DIVINE LAW GIVER
َو َم ٓا ٰا ٰت ىُك ُم الَّرُس ْو ُل َفُخ ُذ ْو ُهۤ َو َم ا َنٰه ىُك ْم َع ْنُه َفاْنَتُهْو ا
3- JUSTICE AND ABSOLUTE ARBITRATOR
ِاَذ ا َقَض ى ُهّٰللا َو َر ُس ْو ُلٓٗه َاْم ًر ا َاْن َّيُك ْو َن َلُهُم اْلِخ ـَيَر ُة ِم ْن َاْم ِر ِهْم
4- TEACHER OF THE BOOK AND WISDOM
َيْتُلْو ا َع َلْيِھْم ٰا ٰي ِتٖھ َو ُيَز ِّك ْيِھْم َو ُيَع ِّلُم ُھُم اْلِكٰت َب َو اْلِح ْك َم َة
5- SHOULD BE OBEYED
َو َم ٓا َاْر َس ْلَنا ِم ْن َّرُس ْو ٍل ِااَّل ِلُيَطاَع ِبِاْذ ِن ِهّٰللا
6- NOT TO BE DENIED AS IT IS A DISBELIEF
َو َم ْن َّيْع ِص َهّٰللا َو َر ُس ْو َلٗه َفَقْد َض َّل َض ٰل اًل ُّم ِبْيًنا
SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LAST PROPHET
Chastity, trusteeship, humanness, and teachings from Allah
are the common characteristics of all the prophets.
Following are the only special characteristics related with
our Holy Prophet:
UNIVERSALITY OF THE MESSAGE
COMPLETION OF THE DEEN
FINALITY OF THE RELIGION
FINALITY OF THE PROPHETHOOD
Mirza Gulam Ahmed Qadyani
Birth 13 Feb 1835
Qadyan distt Gurdaspur India
1864 got employment in district courts at Sialkot.
1882 claimed to have received wahi to be mamoor
manallah.
1890 claimed to be misl-e- Maseeh
1901 claimed to be zilee Nabi
Died in 1908 and declared his follower to be the only
true Muslims
Mirza Masroor Ahmad
born 15 September 1950) is the current and fifth
leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. His
official title within the movement is
Fifth Caliph of the Messiah . He was elected on 22
April 2003, three days after the death of his
predecessor Mirza Tahir Ahmad
