1.8 The meaning and importance of belief in risalah
Risalah: Muslim beliefs about the prophets of Allah
Muslims believe that Allah chooses His messengers. These messengers are called prophets. Allah chose His
messengers because they brought His message accurately, they taught people how to follow the message and they
lived their own lives according to the message. This is known as risalah.
Most Muslims believe that Allah sent 124,000 messengers and the Qur’an mentions some of them by name. Muslims
believe that all these messengers are important, because they brought the guidance of Allah to different nations at
various times, but their message was the same. It was the message of Islam.
Here are some of the important messengers or prophets of Allah:
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The first prophet, Adam, was also the ancestor of the whole human race.
Another important prophet was Ibrahim – you can read about him in Surah 2 in the Qur’an. This is the same
prophet that Jewish and Christian people call Abraham.
Musa (Moses) was the prophet who bought the message of Islam to the Hebrew and Jewish people.
Isa was the prophet known as Jesus in the Bible.
Muslims believe that these prophets all brought the same message of Allah. The message of Allah has not changed
from the beginning. The Qur’an sometimes refers to this message as ‘guidance’.
The Shahadah: "I bear witness that there is no god except for
God (Allah), and Muhammad is the messenger of God."
Exam Questions
(c) Explain why risalah is important for Muslims.
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The prophets brought the guidance of Allah to different nations at different times showing that the
message was from the beginning.
All of the prophets brought the same monotheistic message showing that Allah is one and
unchanging.
All of the prophets from Adam to Muhammad (pbut) brought the same message of Islam showing
that Islam is the true religion and that people should submit to the will of Allah and become Muslims.
All of the prophets prepared the way for the final prophet, Muhammad. Muhammad is the ‘seal of
the prophets’ because he received the perfect message of Allah which is contained in the Qur’an.
The Qur’an closes the message that the prophets gave to humans and therefore no more prophets
are necessary.
(c) Explain why Ibrahim is important for Muslims.
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Ibrahim (peace be upon him) is a prophet of the same message from God which Muhammad
received (pbuh). Muslims believe that Ibrahim and his son Ismail (pbut) built the Ka'bah in Makkah,
which is the holiest shrine in Islam.
Ibrahim (pbuh) was a monotheist and destroyed the idols that his father (Azar) had made and called
upon his community to worship Allah instead. The community rejected Allah’s prophet and cast him
into a fire, which miraculously failed to burn him.
Ibrahim (pbuh) taught others the belief of monotheism (belief in one God). He received a revelation
from Allah and left his homeland of Babylon to spread the message because only his wife Sarah
and a man named Lot would become Muslims.
Ibrahim (pbuh) is an example of complete faith and submission for all Muslims. In a trial from Allah,
Ibrahim (pbuh) was prepared to sacrifice his first born son Ismail.