PROPHETHOOD Divine Guidance

is a man, just like any other human being: his uniqueness resides solely in his also being a messenger of God. A messenger is not an ‘inspired’ person in the simple sense of the word. By Islamic tenets, prophethood is dependent not on inspiration, but on divine revelation. Inspiration is a common psychological phenomenon, of the kind experienced by a poet, whereas revelation is direct divine communication. It was consciously sent and also consciously received by the Prophet. The Prophet’s uniqueness resides solely in his also being a messenger of God. The Prophet’s responsibility was to communicate the divine message to humanity. In doing so, if he received a negative response from the people, or even in extreme cases was persecuted, nevertheless, he had to follow a strict policy of avoidance of confrontation, and had unilaterally to adopt the path of patience and forbearance. He was responsible only in so far as the conveying of the message was concerned. As for the response to, or acceptance of the message, that was entirely dependent on the addressees. But clearly, the greater the number who accepted the message, the greater the sphere in which a practical system of guidance sent by God became established. God’s messengers came in every age and to every region. According to a Hadith (words of the prophet)—starting with Adam and ending with the Prophet Muhammad—1,24,000 messengers were sent to different nations, time and again, to guide the people to the right path. The prophets mentioned by name in the Quran are about twenty four in number. The five well known prophets who came before Muhammad were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. The Prophet Muhammad, the last in this long line of prophets, was known as the ‘Seal of the Prophets’. All the prophets, according to Islam, brought the same basic truth: that there is only one God and that all human beings are accountable to God for their actions; On the Day of Judgement, they will be judged according to their good and bad deeds. Those who believe in God and His Prophet and do good deeds shall be rewarded in the next world. In contrast, those who disbelieve and do bad deeds shall be punished in the next world. The prophets who were given divine revelations in the form of books were called rasul, while those who did not were called nabi. Of the