Revelations & Prophets

What are REVELATIONS (WAHYU)?

Revelation from the very beginning of Adam (a.s) and Hawwa (a.s).
Allah created Adam (a.s) and Hawwa (a.s) under the concept of worshiping the One God and submitting to Him. What is submitting to Him means? Obeying and surrender your will and desire to the will of Allah, i.e. obeying and executing what Allah wants and refrain from what He forbids. 

Adam (a.s) and Hawwa (a.s) never knew of the concept of any other gods except Allah. Even after they were sent to earth and having children, they were upon the path of submission to One God, i.e. the Religion of Adam (a.s).
A person who submits to the One God is called a Muslim. Adam was a Muslim of his time.

[Al-Baqarah 2:37]

"Then Adam was received words ˹of prayer˺ by his Lord, so He accepted his repentance. Surely He is the Accepter of Repentance, Most Merciful."

Adam (a.s) received revelations guiding him towards Allah and also laws (sharia) for him and his family to practice. The ways of how to worship Allah, how to live life according to the commands and prohibitions of Allah is called a religion.

Khaleefah

Humans are a type of creature called Khaleefah. (Quran 2:30 - pg. 6).
-> ˹Remember˺ when your Lord said to the angels, “I am going to place a KHALEEFAH on earth.” 

Khaleefah is a species that breed from one generation to another generation, meant to populate and manage the earth. To manage earth you need knowledge.
After multiple generations, the concept of One God to be worshiped and the concept of a single religion for mankind got corrupted into multiple religions.

The beginning of corruption to the Religion

After Adam (a.s) had passed away, there were five people who were known for their righteousness.
When they passed away, the people started making idols to represent them. After another generation, the people started to worship these idols. The monotheistic religion became corrupted into idol worshiping.

The five idols were mentioned in the Quran [Surah Nuh: 71:23] :

وَقَالُوا۟ لَا تَذَرُنَّ ءَالِهَتَكُمْ وَلَا تَذَرُنَّ وَدًّا وَلَا سُوَاعًا وَلَا يَغُوثَ وَيَعُوقَ وَنَسْرًا
".. urging ˹their followers˺, ‘Do not abandon your idols—especially Wadd, Suwâ’, Yaghûth, Ya’ûq, and Nasr."

The need of Messengers with Divine Revelations

Adam (a.s) taught the revelations to his believing (Mu'min) family. After he passed away, the population grew into a nation and they had become Disbelievers. 

A "Kafir" (singular) is one who buried the truth and rebelled against the truth = A Disbeliever
"Kuffar" (plural) = Disbelievers

(Note: In the context of the Quran, there is a difference between a Disbeliever and a Non Believer.)

Allah appointed Nuh (a.s) as a Prophet and Messenger

Evidences in the Quran and Hadith that Nuh was the first Messenger sent to a Disbelieving nation. All other Prophets and Messengers came after him and not before him:

(1) Hadith reported by al-Bukhari : "Then, they come to Nuh and say: 'O Nuh you are the first Messenger to the Dwellers of Earth and Allah called you a thankful servant …'" .

(2) ‘Verily, We have inspired you (O Muhammad) as We inspired Nuh (Noah) and the Prophets after him’ [4:163].’

(3) ‘And indeed, We sent Nuh (Noah) and Ibrahim (Abraham), and placed in their offspring Prophethood and Scripture’ [57: 26].

Nuh (a.s) received divine revelations from Allah. He was the first Messenger of Allah and this was the beginning of a long chain of Messengers. He was to preach to his people and bring them back to worshiping Allah. His people were the only community of people in the whole world and they have corrupted the religion.

The Angel Jibril (a.s)

The Quran and Hadith state that the Angel Jibril (a.s) was tasked to bring revelations to Prophets and Messengers.
In the timeline of human history, revelations were given to a long line of numerous Prophets and Messengers of Allah.

Differences between Prophets and Messengers

Evidence of the distinctions between Messengers & Prophets: [Qur'an 22:52]
"And We did not send before you any messenger or prophet except that when he spoke, Satan threw into it [some misunderstanding]."

All Messengers are Prophets but not all Prophets are Messengers.
Prophets started with Adam (a.s) and Messengers started with Nuh (a.s).

A Prophet

• Given divine revelations by Allah.

• Did not bring Laws to the people but he himself followed the Sharia (Laws) brought by the Messenger before him.

• A Prophet’s task was to guide & lead the Believers. He was not tasked to spread the message to a disbelieving nation. Non believers who interacted with the Prophet will get to hear the divine knowledge and becoming believers.

• Examples of Prophets: Khidr, Sam'un, Uzair, Yūsha‘, etc.

A Messenger

• He must be appointed from among the Prophets. Tasked to spread the divine message to his disbelieving nation. He has to go out and spread the message to everyone within his nation whether he personally knew them or not.

• Allah sent a Messenger to every nation throughout human timeline.
  
  [Qur'an 15:10] (O Muhammad), certainly We did send Messengers before you among the nations which have gone by and whenever a Messenger came to them, they never failed to mock him. 

• They introduced Sharia (Laws) to the people who became his believers.
  Rules, commands and prohibitions in a Religion is called Sharia. 

• Each Messenger was given Sharia that differed a bit from one another. Not all nations have the same strength and weaknesses. The Sharias were catered individually for the nation that were being preached. Hence the religious laws and the ways to worship Allah has slight differences.  

[Quran 5:48]

لِكُلٍّ جَعَلْنَا مِنكُمْ شِرْعَةً وَمِنْهَاجًا ۚ

 "To each of you (the messengers) We have ordained a code of law and a way of life."

  Surah Al-Hadid, [57:25],
  "Indeed, We sent Our messengers with clear proofs, and with them We sent down the Scripture and the balance ˹of justice˺ so that people may administer justice. .. " 

• All the Messengers of the past were assigned to their own unique nation and not to the whole world except the final Messenger.

• The final Messenger (Muhammad s.a.w) was given the largest task to spread the Message to all nations of the world.

Adam (a.s)

• Adam (a.s) was a Prophet since Allah spoke to him and taught him knowledge (Quran 2:31 & 33). 

• He received Laws for him and his believing family to practice. 

• Even though he received Laws, however he was not a Messenger since he do not have to deal with a disbelieving nation.  

Number of Prophets and Messengers

Hadith indicating that there were numerous numbers of Prophets and Messenger :

[Reported in Musnad Ahmad, Tabarani and ibn Hibban]
Abu Dharr said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, how many prophets were there? He said: “One hundred and twenty four thousand.” I said: O Messenger of Allah, how many of them were Messengers? He said: “Three hundred and thirteen, a good number.” I said: O Messenger of Allah, who was the first of them? He said: “Adam.”

[From a Shaih Hadith in Tirmidhi 3076]
Paraphrasing another hadith .. Allah told Adam (a.s) about a man that Adam (a.s) pointed out among his progeny .. :
'This is a man from the latter nations of your offspring called Dawud.'  

If Dawud (a.s) belongs to the latter nations from the children of Adam (a.s), then between Adam (a.s) and Dawud (a.s) will be a tremendous amount of generation gap. Between Dawud (a.s) and the final Messenger (s.a.w) spans several more generations. The appointment of the final Messenger s.a.w was the closest thing to the end of the world and we are now living 1,400 years after the final Messenger s.a.w. So you can imagine the large numbers of Prophets and Messengers and the vastness of human timeline.

25 Names of Prophets mentioned in the Quran

The Quran only mentioned the names of 25 Prophets who were also Messengers. Adam a.s was vaguely considered as a Messenger. He was given laws like the Messengers but he did not preach to a disbelieving nation.

5 out of the 25 names were of “Ulul-‘Azmi”  (firm determination) Or Arch-Prophets (Chiefs of the Prophets)
(1) Nuh, (2) Ibrahim, (3) Musa, (4) Isa, and (5) Muḥammad are called the “Ulul-‘Azmi”. 

[Quran 46:35] “So endure patiently, as did the Messengers of Firm Resolve/ Determination (Ulul Azmi).”

The Chart below showing Prophet Idris (a.s) as number 2 right after Adam (a.s). This is not correct but this type of chart has already been viral among the common people. Refer to the discussion on why this is not correct - here.  

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