What is the difference?
A Brief Description of the Question:
What is the difference between Prophet & Messenger?
The Answer:
The people mentioned as nabi (prophet) or rasul (messenger) in the Quran are as follows: Adam, Idris (Eunuch), Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismail (Ishmael), Ishaq (Isaac), Yaqub (Jacob), Yusuf (Joseph), Lut (Lot), Hud, Salih, Shuayb (Jethro), Musa (Moses), Harun (Aaron), Ilyas (Elijah), Ilyasa (Elisha), Yunus (Jonah), Ayyub (Job), Dawud (David), Sulayman (Solomon), Zakariyya (Zacharias), Yahya (John) Isa (Jesus) and Muhammad. Nuh, Ibrahim, Ismail, Musa, Harun, Isa and Muhammad are described as both rasul and nabi; thus, it is indicated that there is no difference between a nabi and a prophet.
Allah informed all rasuls and nabis about the religious and worldly knowledge and orders through revelations and ordered the rasuls and nabis to convey them to people; they received the knowledge they had through revelation from Allah.
The terms nabi and rasul are used synonymously in the Quran but it is stated in hadiths that there are differences between a nabi and a rasul and that the number of the rasuls is 313 (or 315) and the number of rasuls is 124.000 (Musnad, V, 187, 266; Bukhari, “Tawhid”, 19); this information is regarded as an indication that those who were given a book and shari'ah were rasuls and those who were sent revelation to call people through the books of rasuls were nabis.
However, the word nabi is used in most hadiths; and Hz. Musa and Hz. Isa are mentioned as nabis in the narrations stating that the Messenger of Allah talked to prophets during the Ascension. Taking into consideration the information above, it can be said that hadiths in general do not differentiate between a nabi and a rasul.
Therefore, since the sound hadith narrations do not include information contrary to the Quran and since there is no difference between a nabi and a rasul in hadiths, it is necessary to accept that the narrations that contain different information have some problems. As a matter of fact, some scholars say those narrations are weak or fabricated. (Rashid Riza, VII, 605-606)
Prophet in the science of Kalam. In the science of Kalam, different definitions of the terms nabi and rasul are made. According to the most preferable definition, rasul is a messenger to whom Allah sent a book and a shari'ah through revelation and whom he appointed to convey them to people; nabi is a person to whom Allah sent revelation so that he would call people to believe in the book and shari'ah He sent to His rasuls and whom he appointed to convey them to people. According to Mu‘tazila kalam scholars, there is no difference between a rasul and a nabi; both of them mean a messenger to whom Allah gave a new shari'ah through revelation and whom He appointed to convey it to people.
The majority of kalam scholars found it more appropriate in terms of wisdom for Allah to send a new messenger with a new shari'ah. (Baqillani, p. 42) The Ahl as-Sunnah kalam scholars who regard the terms nabi and rasul different put forward various ideas.
1. Nabi has a more general meaning than rasul. Nabi is a person whom Allah informed regarding a certain issue through revelation; he is not obliged to convey the revelation he receives to other people. There were also women nabis who received such revelation. Rasul has a more specific meaning. Accordingly, every rasul is also a nabi but not all nabis are rasuls.
2. A nabi is a messenger of Allah to whom He did not send a book and a shri'ah. He is obliged to call people to the religion of a rasul to whom a book and a shari'ah were sent living before him or in the same age. A rasul is a person to whom Allah sent a new book and shari'ah, which can make the book and the shari'ah of the previous rasuls invalid wholly or partly.
3. A nabi is a person whom Allah sent as a messenger to believers only; but a rasul is person who is sent to call unbelievers to the true religion.
4. A nabi is a messenger whom Allah chooses among humans but a rasul can also be chosen among angels. (Maturidi, II, 79; Ibn Furak, p. 174; Abdulqahir al-Baghdadi, p. 154; Fakhraddin ar-Razi, XXIII, 49; Taftazani, II, 173)
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