Definition of Nabi & Rasool
Definition of Nabi & Rasool
What will be the Definition of Nabi & Rasool
Last edited by razinizar on Sat Dec 23, 2006 2:45 pm, edited 3 times in total.
The following are useful definitions given in Cyril Glasse's "The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam".
Prophets (Ar. sing, nabi, pl. anbiya'). The Prophets are divided into two classes according to their missions:
1. Rasul (lit. "Messenger", "Envoy, pl. rusul; the Koran, moreover, frequently refers to al-mursalun, "those who are sent"). A Prophet who brings a new religion or a major new revelation. This category include Adam, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Moses, Lot, Salih, Hud, Shu'avb, Jesus, Muhammad. The Koran calls some of the mursalun the "possessors of constancy" (Ar. ulu-l-'azm; 46:35); the Koran does not name them, but commentators have proposed their candidates.
2. Nabi(lit. "Prophet"). A Prophet whose mission lies within the framework of an existing religion. A Prophet is also called bashir ("he who brings glad tidings") and nadhir ("a warner") according to the nature of the message they bear; but most are both bringers of glad tidings as well as warners, since the Mercy and the Rigor of God, which these categories respectively reflect, are complementary, as are Beauty and Majesty.
The Koran says that there is no people to whom a Prophet has not been sent (10:48) and HadTth literature puts the number, symbolically, at one hundred and twenty-tour thousand, that is, a number so large that humanity cannot claim it was not adequately warned of the universal Judgement. (The Prophets in their inner nature are one: "We make no distinction between any ot His Messengers" (2:135-140 and 2:285) and: "And those who believe in God and His Messengers and make no division between any of them, those We shall surely give them their wages" (4:152).)
The Koran mentions four Arab Prophets, or Prophets sent specifically to the Arabs: Salih, Hud. Shu'ayb, and Muhammad. In addition, Abraham is equally the patriarch of both Arabs and Jews.
In the Nihayat al-Iqdam fi ilm al-Kalam ("Limits Prowess in Theology") Shahrastani says: "By my life, the Prophet's soul and temperament must possess all natural perfections, excellent character, truthfulness and honesty in speech and deed before his appointment to the office, because it is by virtue ot these that he has deserved Prophetic mission and has come into contact with Angels, and received revelation."
The following are the Prophets mentioned by name in the Koran: Adam, Alyasa' (Elisha), Ayyub (Job), Da'ud (David); Dhu-1-Kifl (Ezekiel), Hud, IbrahTm (Abraham), IdrTs (Enoch), Ilyas (Elijah,Elias), Isa (Jesus), Ishaq (Isaac), Isma'Tl (Ishmael). 1uqman (Aesop?), Lut (Lot), Muhammad, Musa (Moses), Nuh (Noah), Salih, Shu'ayb (Jethro), Sulayman (Solomon), Yunus (Jonah), Uzair (Ezra). Yahya (John the Baptist), Ya'qub (Jacob), Yusuf(Joseph). There are also possible references to others, such as Isaiah. Also mentioned by name are Azar (father of Abraham, Terah in the Old Testament, a transformation through the form Athar), Dhul-l-Qarnayn (Alexander the Great), Harun (Aaron), Maryam (Mary), Zakariyya (Zacharias. father of John the Baptist), and others.
Prophets (Ar. sing, nabi, pl. anbiya'). The Prophets are divided into two classes according to their missions:
1. Rasul (lit. "Messenger", "Envoy, pl. rusul; the Koran, moreover, frequently refers to al-mursalun, "those who are sent"). A Prophet who brings a new religion or a major new revelation. This category include Adam, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Moses, Lot, Salih, Hud, Shu'avb, Jesus, Muhammad. The Koran calls some of the mursalun the "possessors of constancy" (Ar. ulu-l-'azm; 46:35); the Koran does not name them, but commentators have proposed their candidates.
2. Nabi(lit. "Prophet"). A Prophet whose mission lies within the framework of an existing religion. A Prophet is also called bashir ("he who brings glad tidings") and nadhir ("a warner") according to the nature of the message they bear; but most are both bringers of glad tidings as well as warners, since the Mercy and the Rigor of God, which these categories respectively reflect, are complementary, as are Beauty and Majesty.
The Koran says that there is no people to whom a Prophet has not been sent (10:48) and HadTth literature puts the number, symbolically, at one hundred and twenty-tour thousand, that is, a number so large that humanity cannot claim it was not adequately warned of the universal Judgement. (The Prophets in their inner nature are one: "We make no distinction between any ot His Messengers" (2:135-140 and 2:285) and: "And those who believe in God and His Messengers and make no division between any of them, those We shall surely give them their wages" (4:152).)
The Koran mentions four Arab Prophets, or Prophets sent specifically to the Arabs: Salih, Hud. Shu'ayb, and Muhammad. In addition, Abraham is equally the patriarch of both Arabs and Jews.
In the Nihayat al-Iqdam fi ilm al-Kalam ("Limits Prowess in Theology") Shahrastani says: "By my life, the Prophet's soul and temperament must possess all natural perfections, excellent character, truthfulness and honesty in speech and deed before his appointment to the office, because it is by virtue ot these that he has deserved Prophetic mission and has come into contact with Angels, and received revelation."
The following are the Prophets mentioned by name in the Koran: Adam, Alyasa' (Elisha), Ayyub (Job), Da'ud (David); Dhu-1-Kifl (Ezekiel), Hud, IbrahTm (Abraham), IdrTs (Enoch), Ilyas (Elijah,Elias), Isa (Jesus), Ishaq (Isaac), Isma'Tl (Ishmael). 1uqman (Aesop?), Lut (Lot), Muhammad, Musa (Moses), Nuh (Noah), Salih, Shu'ayb (Jethro), Sulayman (Solomon), Yunus (Jonah), Uzair (Ezra). Yahya (John the Baptist), Ya'qub (Jacob), Yusuf(Joseph). There are also possible references to others, such as Isaiah. Also mentioned by name are Azar (father of Abraham, Terah in the Old Testament, a transformation through the form Athar), Dhul-l-Qarnayn (Alexander the Great), Harun (Aaron), Maryam (Mary), Zakariyya (Zacharias. father of John the Baptist), and others.