What is a Prophet?
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Topic: What is a Prophet?
Posted By: Jazz
Subject: What is a Prophet?
Date Posted: 19 August 2005 at 5:27pm
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What is a prophet? What qualities, traits and virtues would be required to be considered a prophet? What qualities, traits or virtues would render a person not qualified to be considered a prophet? I have difficulty understanding why is it that in the faith through Islam, one must believe that Mohammed was a prophet, for one to be considered a true believer in God, and those who don't believe Mohammed's claims of being a chosen prophet are considered to be of lesser faith or on the wrong "path". I just don't get it...........why is that? |
Replies:
Posted By: Deus
Date Posted: 19 August 2005 at 6:19pm
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I think it's a matter of definitions and creed. Let me explain my point of view on this (good question by the way). The first step to becoming a Muslim is to establish a faith in the existence of a god. So from non-belief (atheism) one becomes a believer. Next, he/she must believe in the oneness of God, that there is no god but the supreme God who sends prophets to this word in order to guide them. So far, this person can be either a Christian, Jew or a Muslim, so we have to add more criteria. After having established belief in the one GOD, a Muslim must believe that Muhammad is also a prophet and a messenger of the one God. Thus, a Muslim is one who believes in the one God and that Muhammad is the messenger of God (this is what defines a Muslim). So from the Muslim�s perspective, if someone rejects the prophethood of Muhammad then he is also rejecting God�s doctrine and is therefore �on the wrong path.� On the other hand a Christian, for example, would consider a Muslim �on the wrong path� because Christianity denies that Muhammad is a prophet of God. I hope that answered part of your question. What qualities, traits and virtues would be required to be considered a prophet? Well, this is a matter of definitions as well. A prophet would be one who has received inspiration/revelation from God. However, God would choose a righteous person with good virtues (e.g. truthfulness, morality, etc.) to be a prophet. |
Posted By: Jazz
Date Posted: 23 August 2005 at 1:36am
Thanks Deus, This part (in bold) is the part that I have difficulty with. How do you know what God does?.......how do you know God sends "prophets"? Anyone
can claim to be a "prophet" or anyone can claim that someone is a
"prophet" sent by God.........how does one ascertain whether such
people are telling the truth? Out
of interest, is there any report from ancient history that you know of
that shows Jesus claimed to be a prophet?........I am already aware
that there are reports that he said he was "sent" by his
"Father"......but nothing that suggests that he claimed being a prophet. When
one compares the guidances and reported behaviour of Mohammed to that
of Jesus, which man, based on your own sense of morality and human
decency would you deem to be worthy of being prophet-material?
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Deus wrote:Posted By: Tasneem
Date Posted: 23 August 2005 at 5:58am
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Jazz wrote: "When one compares the guidances and reported behaviour of Mohammed to that of Jesus, which man, based on your own sense of morality and human decency would you deem to be worthy of being prophet-material?" Mohammed (PBUH) was a human being and so was Jesus (PBUH). Muhammed (PBUH) displayed all the qualities of a human being in every sense whereas Jesus (PBUH) while being a human being abstained from certain human characterstics such as remaining celibate, putting up with oppression & torture etc. Both were given the power by God to perform miracles though the miracles of Jesus were more overt or pronounced such as he was of virgin birth, he spoke in his cradle, healed the leper and gave sight to the blind. These characteristics that were a gift from God were construed to be God Himself and Jesus began to be worshipped as God and the concept of the trinity came in. So the true message of Jesus was corrupted by giving him a divine status whereas God is free of any need and is in no way like the human being who has biological needs. Mohammed (PBUH) was sent to humankind by God as an ordinary human being. Unlike Jesus who spoke in his cradle and was of virgin birth, Mohammed received his first revelation at the age of 40. Before that he displayed exemplary charateristics and was called "al-amin" by his people including Jews (meaning trustworthy). He did not ask anything for himself eventhough people from Mecca offered him everything materially possible to be one of them (idolator), but he refused. On more than one occassion his companions were able to see Angel Gabriel among them which itself was a proof that he was receiving revelations. Also when you read the Quran and his message it contains everything eg oceanography, gynaecology, geology,etc everything of which has been scientifically proved to be true and further there is greater elucidation of the knowledge that came before via the Gospel or the Torah. But according to the Quran he was illiterate and the above knowledge was not known at all during that time. God in His own wisdom bestowed upon human beings a prophet who showed all the characterstics of a fine human being and but for him most of todays Muslims would probably have associated others with God and fallen into blasphemy. This is the reason why Muslims follow Prophet Mohammed and acknowedge the great favour that was bestowed upon mankind via Mohammed (PBUH) the last prophet. |
Posted By: Jazz
Date Posted: 23 August 2005 at 10:04am
Thanks Tasneem,
How do you know that God gave power to perform miracles to Jesus and Mohammed? How do you know God even sent any prophets? Anyone can claim to be or claim that someone is a prophet, why should this be believed? What were the miracles that Mohammed allegedly performed?
How does whether Jesus was considered to be divine or not corrupt his true message? Why should a person's status in terms of divinity necessarily corrupt the guidances or message they delivered? It
seems it was Mohammed who ignored the true message of Jesus, some of
the most important of which were to love one and other, do to others as
one would have them do to you, love your neighbour, forgive and love
your enemy, etc. Are you saying these good guidances were not from Jesus or are corrupted? Mohammed
claimed that God wanted mankind to do much the opposite to what Jesus
guided people to do, cruel inhumane things like to kill, raid and
ambush, punish, dismember, flog, enslave, plunder, loot, crucify, beat
one's wife. How can two alleged prophets sent by God be so opposite in their guidances? Aside from stories of trinity, divinity and resurrection, what exactly are the corruptions of the true message of Jesus?
How do you know that God sent Mohammed as a prophet? Like I said, anyone can claim to be a prophet or claim that someone else is a prophet, it does not make it true. Whether
someone is considered to be trustworthy by a few people does not
necessarily qualify the person as a prophet........I know lots of
trustworthy people who display exemplary characteristics.
Would
you cite the evidence of Mohammed's companions seeing an
angel?...............if they did actually see someone, how do you know
what they saw was an angel? How
did Mohammed know that he was visited by an angel?........it could have
been a demon............how do you know he was not lying and actually
saw nothing at all? It
seems it was Waraqa who suggested to Mohammed that he was visited by an
angel, before that Mohammed thought he was possessed by a
demon.......why should Waraqa be correct in his guess?
I
have read much about the retro-fitting of modern day scientific
discoveries to Quran and find most attempts are flawed and a stretch of
the imagination
According
to sahih ahadith, some narrated by Aisha, Mohammed was not
illiterate........even if he was it does not qualify him as a prophet
and most of what was allegedly "revealed" about the "scientific
knowledge" in Quran was already known by people hundreds of years
before Mohammed's time or was quite simply observable by anyone at the
time.
There is no proof or even any evidence that God sent any prophets or angels. Sahih hadith attest that Mohammed was far from being the "fine human being" by normal standards. I suggest it was Jesus who was an example of a "fine human being"
and his message and guidance of love, mercy, tolerance, kindness and
forgiveness is evidence of this by comparison to Mohammed's claims of
God seeking to have inhumane atrocious acts carried out upon fellow
humans, such as killing, enslaving, cruel punishments, crucifying,
oppression, raiding, ambushing, looting, dismembering, flogging, beat
one's wife out of paranoia, etc. |
Posted By: Tasneem
Date Posted: 23 August 2005 at 4:43pm
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011.025:We sent Noah to his people (with a mission): "I have come to you with a Clear Warning: 011.026:"That ye serve none but Allah: Verily I do fear for you the penalty of a grievous day." To me Jesus (PBUH) is as important as Mohammed (PBUH). You have the choice to believe in whatever you wish, I will not be held accountable for what you do and you will not be held accountable for what I do. The above verses stand true for all the messengers. But history repeats itself when man is blinded by his arrogance and thinks he is all sufficient. Whatever you have claimed in the last two sentences of your post are a deliberate slight on the character of the prophet either from ignorance or from reading material designed to taint Islam as a false religion as believed by those to whom books were sent earlier. Thankfully we don't impose our religion on anyone such as what has been going on for centuries by others through either force or bribe. Yet, those who are guided are moving to Islam everyday of their own free will and no one can harm Islam in the least by their attempts to demonise it as false. But for sure they harm themselves. |
Posted By: mouhssine4
Date Posted: 06 September 2005 at 2:49pm
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if you beleive the message than you will beleive in the messenger try to study the message that Mohammed(pbuh) brought to us unlike other religions islam asks us to focus on the message not the messanger as he the messanger is only a human and what is the message then there is no Creator, no God, no mercifull but God the only One He is the first and the last, and He is the One that can do anything |
Posted By: Jazz
Date Posted: 07 September 2005 at 4:02am
This is not logical and in my opinion is not a good advice. What if I had a message in the mail, it appealled to me as good and I believed it?..........it makes no sense that I should also believe everything the mail-man says or delivers or even believe the message was from who the mail-man said it was from.....he could have written it himself. Now if the mail-man were to say "I have brought you one good message, therefore you must believe everything I deliver, and I am the only mail-man who delivers good messages nowadays, there will never, ever be another mail-man who delivers good messages"........would you really commit to believing that every message the mail-man delivered was good?............if so.........why? Would you believe that the mail-man was good in everything he did beside deliver messages.........he might be a liar, a cruel, murdering thief who delivers messages in his spare-time. A good advice........ "Watch out for false prophets (or mail-men/messengers). They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves." � |
Posted By: beloved
Date Posted: 07 September 2005 at 6:52am
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Jazz, you have put an interesting discussion. But after reading
the replies, I did not find the answer for your fundamental question
which is
How do you know what God does?.......how do you know God sends "prophets"?  Tasneem has quoted Holy Quran, but did not answer it. 
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Posted By: Deus
Date Posted: 07 September 2005 at 2:56pm
[sarcasm] While we're at it, we might as well as ask: How do you know God exists? [/sarcasm] |
Posted By: beloved
Date Posted: 07 September 2005 at 8:24pm
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[sarcasm] While we're at it, we might as well as ask: How do you know God exists? [/sarcasm] This question can be easily answered by a follower of "True Religion". |
Posted By: Jazz
Date Posted: 08 September 2005 at 1:37am
Dear Deus, Please let's keep on focus, this thread is about people who call themselves or are considered as "prophets, chosen by God" Why not start another thread about "How do you know God exists"? Here is something to think about when it comes to the question of "prophets" Mind-Manipulating Groups: The
following statements, compiled by Dr. Michael Langone, editor of Cultic Studies
Journal, often characterize manipulative groups. Comparing these statements
to the group with which you or a family member is involved may help you
determine if this involvement is cause for concern. Place a checkmark beside
all items that characterize the group in question. If you check many of these
items, and particularly if you check most of them, you might consider examining
the group more closely. � |
Posted By: beloved
Date Posted: 08 September 2005 at 6:39am
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Jazz, The
following statements, compiled by Dr. Michael Langone, editor of Cultic Studies
Journal, often characterize manipulative groups. This one does not matter. No one will ever read it. No one is interested in it. |
Posted By: pilot
Date Posted: 11 September 2005 at 11:39pm
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Jazz, look in this link may be you will find the answer from your own bible: http://www.aslamt.com/research/21.html - http://www.aslamt.com/research/21.html |
Posted By: Jazz
Date Posted: 13 September 2005 at 1:51am
Thanks Pilot, It's not my own bible..........I don't accept bibles as being anything more than stories and records of past times. I am particularly interested tho' in Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and the reported sayings of Jesus. From my own analysis it seems Jesus never claimed to be the only son of God, never claimed godly divinity or to be God, never claimed to be a Jew, never claimed that YHWH was God or was his father. Jesus in fact denounces YHWH, Abraham and Moses. Jesus never said to create, join or follow any religion, or to engage in ritual, group worship. Jesus never claimed that he would die for man's "salvation". Jesus never claimed to be celibate (i.e. not have sex relationship) What do you think? � |
Posted By: Israfil
Date Posted: 14 September 2005 at 4:21pm
Well to quote the famous Jewish Philosopher (whose book I'm currently studying now for Grad studies) Moses Maimonides said that a prophet is one who like the rest of us are born with the faculties to receive spiritual revelation. It is such that like our own individuality it is different from person to person. Though it is a common faculty not all people can be prophet's because the other half is by the will of God. In addition its not only those faculties and the will of God, it is also a combination of being wise and one who morally compatible to receive revelation. Muhammad not only possessed the common faculty that we all have but he was also morally compatible and naturally, a distinct human being than from most humans in his time just like prophets before him. What he possessed was a faculty that no scientist perhaps can empirically study nor a psychologist can examine. Of course this is a matter of faith but if you wanted a more in depth approach to this then here is my understanding of it. |
Posted By: IssaEl999
Date Posted: 19 March 2011 at 3:50pm
The Word Was Made Fleah And Dwelt Amongst Us --John 1 ; 14 , The prophet were the bearers of the Word's Of The Most High .
He shall not speak of himself ; But whatsoever he shall Hear , That shall he Speak ... John 16 ; 13 . Elyown Elyown El has sent his chosen ones Specially endowed with Right Knowledge and OverStanding far beyond the Capabilities of ordinary men so that they may be example and give Guidance and Direction . Adam / Noah / Abraham / Ishmael / Moses / Yashu'a / Muhammad Word manifested in the flesh , To whom the word was sent . These men were Elevated in rank by the decree of Elyown Elyown El ...Because they marked a generation of change in the life of Man , Women / Children .... Holy Qur'aan 2 ; 253 We have made some of these Apostles / Prophets to excel others . Among them are they to who Allah spoke . And somr of them he exalted by ( Many ) Degrees of ranks . Excelling by rank has nothing to do woth Distinction amongst the Chosen of Elyown Elyown El . For he also says ; '' Not To Make Distinction Between Any Of Them . Holy Qur'an 2 ; 136 . All of them are to be respected as those sent by Elyown Elyown El . As exaples of Righteousnees and are not to be exalted one above the other as the Christian do with Yashu'a , And the Muslim's do with the prophet Muhammad . Each of the Prophe's / Apostle's had a specific Duty which made them different as in the the days of Elijah who walked into the realm of Elyown Elyown El . There were no Prophet / Postles or Prophet / Postles placed above other . The missions of some of them had made a generation of change as previously discussed ; hence , They are Titled '' Major '' . Otherwise none are any higher then the other , All of Elyown Elyown El . Prophet / Postles because of genuine sensitivity and perception far above the capabilitles of ordinary men . Appealed directly to The Spirit Of Man . They lived the Truth , Which they set before man and exhorted them to follow it , Not Out Of Force , But Of Freedom And Spirit , Which was good and the will of Elyown Elyown El . The qualities of those chosen by Elyown Elyown El . As teachers and examples were piety and truth . Inspired by Elyown Elyown El . They conveyed His Messages and Commands to all Men / Woman / Children . The meaning from Webster's Dictionary is as follows ;
1 . A person who speaks for the Lord , or as though under divine guidance . 2 . A religious teacher or leader regarded as , Or claiming to be , Divinely Inspired . 3 . A spokesman for some cause , group , movement , Etc , A person who predicts future events in anyway . The Roget's Thesaurus's defintion is as follows ; 1 . A Prophet is a Predicter , Forecaster , Foreteller , Seer , Forseer , or a Soothsayer . They were also known in a Biblical sense by name such as ; Buddha ( Buddism ) , Confucius , ( Confucian ) , Ram Mohan Ray (Brahms Samaj ) .. In Hebrew the word prophet means . 1 . Actuated by a divine afflatus , or spirit , either rebuked the conduct of Kings and nations , Or predicted future events . 1Kings 22 ; 7 That the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel which said unto them , Thus saith the Lord Allah of Israel , I brought you up from Egypt , And brought you forth out of the house of Bondage . In Arabic the word for prophet breaks down as follows ; A prophet one who acquaints or informs men , Or who is acquainted or informed respecting Elyown Elyown El , And the unseen these two words signify Elevation .. Is considered a less special meaning and range than Rasuwl for a -- Is a Rasuwl but every Rasuwl is not a , To be exalted , To announce .. News , An announcement , message , account or A Story . Nabiy = Prophet is one who has received direct inspiration Wahy = By means of a Angel , Or by the Inspiration of the Heart he has seen the working of Elyown Elyown El In A Dream . A Prophet was primarily a person who played a leading or active part in instilling the belief and morality that is expected by Elyown Elyown El in the hearts of the people . They were known to foresee disater and also to console the people . He may bring new laws and interpret them or forefill old laws and guide men into the light of Goodness and Righteousness . There were 124, 000 Prophet Of Elyown Elyown El . In Webster's Unabrighed Dictionary We Find The Word '' Apostle '' Defined As ; --- One sent on a special Mission ---- An advocator or leader of a new principle or movement . In Arabic we can break the word '' Apostle '' down as ; Rasuwl , meaning '' One Sent '' Emissary , Envoy , Delegate , Referring to Mustafa Muhaamed Al Amin . . Messenger , Runner Apostolic Delegate . Mail Iitem , Letter , Epistle , Message . Sending , Forwarding , Dispatch . Consignment , Shipment Expedition , Mission . Correspondent Reporter . Sent , Forwarded , Dispatched , Delegated . With the article Al = The added on to Rasuwl , Especially appllied to Muhammad it is one who carries on by consecutive progressions . The relation of the tidings of him who has sent him . . In Luke 6 ; 13 , And when it was day , He called unto him his disciples ; And of them he chose twelve . Whom also he named Apostles . The word used for Disciples is '' Tilaamydh . This is plural form of '' Tilmydh '' ( the femi - nine form is '' Tilmydhat '' Which means '' Puplils '' , or Disciple '' . Thess words come from the word . '' Tilmadh '' , Which means '' he became a pupil or a disciple '' . Yashu'a called his disciple '' Apostles '' because they were sent out to spread the truth which he taught them . Mark 6 ; 30 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus and told him all things , Both what they had done , And what they had taught , An Apostle literally means '' One Sent '' Who has a special mission which has been entrusred to him explaining '' Prophecies '' . ( There Were 315 Apostles ) ------------- El's Holy Qur'aan , States In Chapter 17 ; 81 , '' And Say ; Truth Has ( Now ) Arrived , And Falsehood Perished ; For Falsehood Is ( By Its Nature ) Bound To Perish (81 ) . |
Posted By: e-zine
Date Posted: 27 March 2011 at 6:42am
| Will I still be technically classed as an infidel because I refuse to believe in Muhammeds teachings but only in Ibrahim, Musa, IIyas and Al-Yasa's teachings? |
Posted By: e-zine
Date Posted: 27 March 2011 at 6:44am
| This is very interessting. Could you please tell me of where in the bible I can find cross references to this. Thanks you. |
Posted By: IssaEl999
Date Posted: 27 March 2011 at 11:01am
What Was The Teaching Of ( Ibrahim / Musa ) According To Scripture ? ------------- El's Holy Qur'aan , States In Chapter 17 ; 81 , '' And Say ; Truth Has ( Now ) Arrived , And Falsehood Perished ; For Falsehood Is ( By Its Nature ) Bound To Perish (81 ) . |