The Prophet in the Quran

The Prophet of Islam and other Prophets We find from the Quran and Hadith that a large number of God’s messengers were sent to different nations and regions. The majority of these Prophets are unknown from the historical point of view. It is because the books written by these messengers’ contemporaries make no mention of them or their work. It is as if to these chroniclers the prophets and the incidents connected with them were not worthy of being mentioned. For instance, Prophet Abraham was born in Iraq, Prophet Moses was born in Egypt, and Prophet Christ was born in Palestine, yet the ancient histories of the respective countries make no reference to them. This was the case with all the past prophets. These messengers were believed in as a matter of creed, without their ever having been established as personalities from the historical standpoint. Some of these prophets find mention in the Bible. But in a sacred book this goes by belief and not according to historical records. The characters of Muhammad’s predecessors have been presented in such a distorted way that, if biblical statements were taken to be correct, it would be hard to believe that they were indeed God’s apostles. According to the picture painted in the Bible, they were not superior models, especially from the ethical point of view. One very important feature of the Quran is that it has restored those chapters in the lives of the past prophets, which had been lost to the people, because they had gone unrecorded. Without doubt the prophets are examples of the loftiest human character. But because of the unscientific methods of history-writing which prevailed in their times only events connected with kings, royalty and generals were considered worthy of being recorded, thus depriving posterity of precious details of the lives of the prophets. The Quran opened this closed chapter for the first time in history. But to what end? It might seem that a recital of the facts relating to the life and mission of the Prophet of Islam would have sufficed. But there was a very good reason for making frequent mention of these prophets individually, and also testifying to their having received God’s guidance, a blessing which exalted them above all other creatures. It was so that the Prophet of Islam and his Ummah might learn valuable lessons from the ways in which these prophets dealt with their circumstances and the situations in which they found themselves. In the Quran, the Prophet of Islam is thus addressed: These are whom God guided aright, so follow their guidance. (The Quran, 6:90) Everyone of them was an upright man guided by God along a straight path and as such was superior to all others. Chapter 6 mentions a number of these prophets by name. They are: Ibrahim (Abraham), Ishaaq (Issac), Yaqub (Jacob), Nuh (Noah), Dawood (David), Sulaiman