PROPHETS AND MESSENGERS

When we look at ourselves, we conclude that we must have a Creator. For knowing that man is a creation with limitations, and being a creation needs a Creator, who is God. Since God is the Creator, and we cannot know what is beneficial for us in the next life just by thinking, we must depend on what God revealed to His Prophet Muhammad (may Allah increase his honor) to be obedient to Him.

We depend on observation and things which are detectable by our senses to learn about this world. For example, we observe that water boils at 100 degrees centigrade, that it freezes at 0 degrees centigrade and that it is liquid at room temperature. However, we cannot know what God forbid us to do and what God ordered us to do without Messengers.

God chose certain men and created them with certain characteristics to be Prophets and Messengers. They taught the proper belief and what God ordered. The Prophets warned people not to disobey God, but rather to obey Him. We have to depend on Muhammad (may Allah increase his honor), the Prophet and Messenger to learn what will make us happy in the next life.

God sent many Messengers and Prophets. As we know, all Messengers are Prophets, but not all Prophets are Messengers. God revealed to the Messenger the rules of Islam and ordered him to teach it. He revealed to the Prophet to follow the rules of Islam as revealed to the Messenger before him and ordered him to teach it. The first Prophet and Messenger was Adam and the last one was Muhammad.

All the Prophets were intelligent. They had to be intelligent in order to convince non-believers about the existence of God by using the sound intellect. All the Prophets were courageous. With the truth that God ordered them to tell, they often had to face people who wanted to harm them. This required a great deal of courage.

Prophets were always truthful. They never deviated from the message that God ordered them to tell. People threw Ibraheem (Abraham) into a huge fire, but God who created fire, also created the effect of burning. This was one of the miracles of Ibraheem that neither he nor his clothes were burned. Even after this mistreatment by people, Ibraheem continued to teach Islam.

The Prophets were all good people who were always Muslim, and never committed big sins, and those who committed sins committed small sins without meanness. For example, Adam ate from a tree God ordered him not to eat from, this was a small sin. But this was not a sin for which all mankind should be punished for, as Christians claim. Adam repented for this sin immediately.

Prophets were handsome and well mannered. They did not have any physical attributes that were detractive or distracting. God created them so that they would be attractive to people, so people would be drawn to them, and might learn. Since we know that the first man was Adam, it is impossible that man could have come from apes as Darwin suggested, since we know that Adam was a Prophet and Messenger and was therefore good looking in appearance.

It is impossible for Prophets to have the opposite of the above mentioned characteristics. The Prophets and Messengers not only had these characteristics, but they also had miracles. A miracle is an extraordinary event that occurs in connection with a Prophet or a Messenger. It cannot be imitated or opposed by something equal.

For example, Moses cast down his staff and it turned into a real snake, which ate the staffs of Pharaoh's magicians, then returned to its normal form. This was a miracle. The court magicians knew and believed Musa (Moses) was a Prophet, because they knew this was not magic, since magic could be opposed by equal magic, and what Moses did could not be imitated. We’ve already mentioned the miracle of Ibraheem (Abraham) being put into a fire. The Prophet Salih brought a female camel and her calf out of a rock to prove to people that he was not lying and that he was a Prophet of God. 'Aysa (Jesus) brought the dead back to life by the help of Allah. This could not be equaled. He gave sight to the blind and healed the leper.

The miracles of Muhammad include:

1) The trunk of a tree moaned after a place was built for Muhammad to speak from, and Muhammad stopped leaning on this tree. This moaning was heard by those who were present in the mosque.

2) Water flowed from between his fingers, enough water for 1,500 people who were present.

3) He heard a camel complain that it was overly burdened and poorly fed, at which time Muhammad ordered the owner to care for it well.

4) A tree walked and talked to bear witness that Muhammad was the Messenger of God.

These are just a few of the miracles of a few of the Prophets and Messengers of God. God created all of these miracles we have mentioned so people will know that these are Prophets and Messengers of God.

They all taught that God is one, so it is impossible for 'Aysa (Jesus) to have said that he was God or the son of God. They taught mankind that Heaven and Hell exist, and they taught the proper belief in God. Not only did they order people to believe in God, but they also were examples and models of how to live. They taught people how to deal with each other fairly and justly as God ordered. So people need to believe and follow our Prophet Muhammad (may Allah increase his honor), to know how they can be obedient to God. Man is limited, he does not have the knowledge to always make the right decisions in his own life. First he has to learn how to live.

As babies, we had to learn how to eat. We depended on our mothers to teach us. In the same way we must depend on the Prophet Muhammad, whom God sent us to know how to live properly. The first and most important thing one must do for any of his good deeds to be accepted by God is to become Muslim. One becomes Muslim by believing and saying out loud, “I firmly believe there is only one Creator, His name is Allah, and Muhammad is His Prophet and Messenger”, with the intent in one’s heart to become Muslim and to leave all things that contradict this belief.

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