I find it difficult to believe that God won't eventually send another prophet to clean up our mess. And when I say prophet I mean a major one as there do seem to be smaller figures also sent to us by God to guide us but they are not as significant as say Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad (Peace be upon them). An example of someone that I think was aided by God to teach us but wasn't on the "level" of these men would be Ghandi, Buddha, Martin Luther King. People who made a significant impact in the improvement of man, but not to the same level as the prophets mentioned above.
Its rather easy to accept that another Ghandi might show himself. Ghandi did not bring with him a religion or words from God or even ask for a following of people. He tried to save the people and teach the world about being a good person. I guess this is sort of like the concept of a Saint or the family of the prophet. But what if God eventually decided we've screwed up so significantly that he needs to send another prophet to show us the way? Think of it this way:
The Jews start having issues with practice. They were doing their duties but weren't living the teachings of God. Thusly, in comes Jesus to show them the way to being good people and following the path of God.
Few hundred years later the Christians start doing all sorts of things and loose sight of the teachings of Jesus, just like the Jews. In comes Muhammad to re-iterate the path that God wants for the world.
We seem to need a constant reminder of how to be good people. So for me, its rather easy to think that God may eventually send someone else to remind us before the end of the world. Could be Jesus returning at that point or it could be someone else if that person came before the final moments of our world.
But here is the other issue for me personally: Do I have to believe that Muhammad will be FOREVER the last prophet? Right now I can say yes he is but I can't with conviction say no one else will ever show up. That is putting a limit on God which I do not have the right to do.
What do you all think? Do you think eventually another prophet may come to remind us of God's message for us?
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Personally, I don't believe there have been any prophets since John the Baptist, but that's neither here nor there.
ReplyDeleteI was under the impression that Islam taught that Mohammed was the 'Seal of the Prophets' - that he was the last prophet, for all people and all time. That there wasn't going to be a prophet after him. So, if that's true, then I'd have to say anyone showing up claiming to be a new prophet under Islam (or anything else for that matter), would have to be rejected.
And if you *do* leave the door open for more prophets, how do you discern which one is authentic? 'Prophets' are a dime a dozen these days. So which one is the latest? Joseph Smith? Jim Jones? David Koresh? Wayne Bent aka Michael Trevasser? That guy standing on the corner over there? Mirza Ghulam Ahmad? Marhsall Applewhite?
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ReplyDeleteThere will not be another Prophet or Messenger after Muhammad (saw). In Surah 33 Ayah 40 of the Qur'an, ALLAH says that Muhammad is "the seal of the Prophets". I looked up proof that Muhammad (saw) was the last prophet, and this explanation came up. Basically, there are two types of people designated by ALLAH: Prophets and Messengers. “A Prophet (Nabi) is one to whom Allaah reveals (yanbi’uhu) something, and he passes on what Allaah has reveals to him. If he is sent with that to those who go against the commandments of Allaah, to convey a message from Allaah to them, then he is a Messenger. But if he follows a sharee’ah that came before him, and is not himself sent to anyone to convey the message from Allaah to them, then he is a Prophet and not a Messenger…” (al-Nubuwwaat, p. 255). Messengers are associated with receiving divine texts, such as the Torah, the Gospel, and the Qur'an. Therefore, Moses (as), Jesus (as) and Muhammad (saw) were all Messengers, while Job (as), Joseph (as), and Jonah (as) were all Prophets. Every Messenger is a Prophet, but not every Prophet is a Messenger because they aren't all commanded to spread the message nor do they receive divine texts. The Qur'an says that Muhammad (saw) was the seal of the Prophets. If it said that he was the seal of the Messengers, this could mean that there would be more Prophets in the future. But because it said Prophets and not Messengers, and not all Prophets are Messengers, this means that there will be no other Prophets nor Messengers after Muhammad (saw). Even though there will be no more Prophets or Messengers, we can still look forward to Jesus (as) coming to Earth again and ruling, and tradition says that this will be a time of universal peace and justice. :)
ReplyDeleteI can definitely agree with both of your statements. And Anne thank you for the clarification between Messenger and Prophet. For some reason I couldn't think of it at the time.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually NOT thinking of someone bringing a new book or message from God, just someone coming to re-iterate what has been taught. So I suppose that would be a prophet not a messenger. I guess I just find it weird that God will be all "Ok I tried, I gave you 3 messengers and a slew of prophets but you still dont get it so now you are on your own" without any sort of reminder. Yet I suppose the reminder is in all the good that people do and all the brightness in the world that shows above the dark. In that way, God is always reminding us.
It seems weird to me that Abraham is considered a rasool even though there is no record of any book ascribed to him, but Isaiah and Jeremiah are considered only nabi, but came with very long books of prophecy. I suppose this is maybe because they are considered as still existing under the Torah of Moses. Jesus is considered a rasool even though he said that he did not come to replace the Torah or the Prophets in Matt 5:17
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly kind of off the topic of the post. I do believe that God can give someone a gift of prophecy today to speak his word though.
Wow, interesting topic! I've never thought about it so I don't really know, but I find it interesting that you said that a Prophet may come to clean up our mess...we definitely need that!
ReplyDeleteBut I know in Islam the Prophet Muhammad was said to be the last.
Cool topic! I believe God can give the gift of prophecy to people now if He wants. But I don't believe all these people claiming to be prophets truly are. :)
ReplyDeleteOff topic, but I was wondering why people put "saw" after Muhammad's name, but "as" after all the other people's name. I'm looking at Banana Anne's comment and noticed that. What's the "s" for?
Susanne: Sorry, I should be clarifying what I'm writing. Otherwise it's just a bunch of strange mumbo-jumbo!
ReplyDelete"as" in parenthesis means "alayhi salaam", or "peace be upon him". It is said as a blessing after mentioning the names of Prophets. "saw" stands for "salla Allahu alayhi wasalaam", which means "peace and blessings of ALLAH be upon him". This is said after mentioning the name of Prophet Muhammad; it's a little something extra to signify the importance of Muhammad. Some people simply write in English "peace be upon him" after the names of all the Prophets, including Muhammad. After other people important in Islamic history, but who were not Prophets, you may see people write "ra" after their names, which translates to "May ALLAH be pleased with him/her". People that have "ra" after their names are people like Mary the mother of Jesus (as), Khadijah, Aisha, Ali, Abu Bakr, Umar, Husayn, and Hassan.
Stacy aka Fahiima: I think that in Islamic belief, Ibrahim (as) did receive scriptures. Check out this link for more details about it: http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/126004
This website is Salafi and tends to have very strict interpretations that I don't always agree with, but they are just one interpretation out of many, and they seem to answer this question well.
I don't really see our world being able to handle another prophet. I mean, when people claim to have divine guidance today most just dismiss them as crazy. I don't know how most of the world would react to someone saying they were from God and had messages for them, you know?
ReplyDeleteAlso, in the time when the Prophets themselves were on earth, people were more suited to the idea because society was more religious and there wasn't a whole lot of time between the prophets. Like after Jesus (a.s.), it was 600 years until Mohammad (pbuh&hf) came which isn't that long a time. But now we've had 1400 years since the Prophet and most people have completely lost touch with the message.
Don't forget the Imam Mahdi (a.s.), though. He isn't a Prophet but one of the main parts of his returning is to (with Jesus a.s.) bring people back to the message.
Ellen: Really good point. I dont think our society could handle a prophet either. It would be a mess.
ReplyDeleteI am ashamed to say I almost forgot about Imam Mahdi (AS) he sort of answers my question. I always thought at least one being, besides Jesus, would come to try and help up clean things up before the end. That being definitely could be Imam Mahdi. And of course Jesus (AS) will be back as well. So I guess I answered my own question that Islam already answered for me LOL That seems to happen a lot :)
Interestingly there is an authintic Hadith that says: "At the beginning of every century God will send to this community someone who will renew/revive/restore His religion".
ReplyDeleteAs in: Someone to renew/revive/restore the true spirit of Islam for people.
But it's not really a "Prophet", rather an intellegant scholor or a brilliant spiritualy wise person.
Anon: Yes I definitely think God does that. I would say people like Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa fall in the catigory. They re-iterated God's message but didn't bring anything new to the table.
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