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قQuranicpediaEncyclopedia of the Glorious Qur’an

Messenger رَسُول

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In Islam, a prophet additionally tasked by Allah with delivering a new sacred law (sharī'ah) or renewed mandate to a people; every rasul is a nabi, but not every nabi is a rasul.

Overview

A messenger (Arabic: رَسُول, rasūl, plural rusul) in Islam is a prophet additionally entrusted by Allah with delivering a new sacred law (sharīʿah) or a renewed mandate to a specific people. Belief in all the messengers — without distinction between any of them (Surah Al-Baqarah 2:285) — is the fourth article of Iman alongside belief in the prophets.

The two terms nabī and rasūl are not synonyms in Islamic theology. The classical scholarly position, articulated by Ibn Taymiyyah in an-Nubuwwāt and Ibn al-Qayyim in Tarīq al-Hijratayn, is: every messenger is a prophet, but not every prophet is a messenger. A nabī receives revelation; a rasūl receives revelation and is additionally charged with delivery of a new law or mandate. The Quran uses the two terms in close pairing in Surah Al-Hajj 22:52: "And We did not send before you any messenger or prophet (rasūl wa-lā nabī) except that…"

The Quran names twenty-five prophets, of whom Sunni scholarship counts the great majority as messengers: Adam, Nuh, Hud, Saliḥ, Ibrahim, Lut, Ismaʿil, Yaʿqub (per some scholars), Yusuf (per some), Shuʿayb, Musa, Harun, Dawud, Sulayman, Isa, and Muhammad ﷺ, among others. Five — Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa, and Muhammad ﷺ — are the Ulū al-ʿAzm, the messengers of firm resolve (Surah Ash-Shura 42:13; Al-Ahzab 33:7). Muhammad ﷺ is the final messenger and the Seal of the Prophets (Khātam an-Nabiyyīn, Surah Al-Ahzab 33:40).

Etymology and meaning

The Arabic word rasūl derives from the root r-s-l, which conveys "to send, to dispatch" — yielding the active participial sense "one who is sent" or "one entrusted with a sending". The same root produces risālah (a message, a mission, a treatise) and mursal (one who is sent, from which the Quran takes the title al-Mursalāt — the messengers of Surah 77). The Quran also calls Allah Himself the One "who sends down" (al-Munzil) and the messengers "those who are sent".

Categories of messengers

Ulul Azm — the messengers of firm resolve

Five messengers carry distinct prominence in the Quran:

"And [mention] when We took from the prophets their covenant — and from you [Muhammad], and from Nuh and Ibrahim and Musa and Isa, the son of Maryam — and We took from them a solemn covenant." — Surah Al-Ahzab 33:7

And in Surah Ash-Shura 42:13: "He has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Nuh, and what We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what We enjoined upon Ibrahim and Musa and Isa: to establish the religion and not be divided therein."

Each of the five was sent with a major sharīʿah and a community-defining mandate. They are referenced together in two Quranic passages, and the Prophet ﷺ ﷺ said in the famous Hadith of Intercession that on the Day of Judgement humanity will go in turn to Adam, then Nuh, then Ibrahim, then Musa, then Isa — each excusing himself — until the final intercession is granted to Muhammad ﷺ (Sahih al-Bukhari 4476).

Messengers given scriptures

A subset of messengers received scriptures (al-kutub):

  • Ibrahim — the Ṣuḥuf (Scrolls), Surah Al-Aʿla 87:19; not preserved.
  • Musa — the Tawrāh; the original Mosaic revelation, partially preserved in the present Hebrew Bible.
  • Dawud — the Zabūr; the original Davidic revelation, partially preserved in the Psalms.
  • Isa — the Injīl; the original Gospel revealed to Isa, distinct from the four canonical Gospels.
  • Muhammad ﷺ — the Quran, the final revelation, preserved in its original Arabic.

Firsts and lasts

  • First messenger — Nuh, according to the Hadith of Intercession (Sahih al-Bukhari 4476), where the people in seeking intercession say to Nuh: "You are the first messenger Allah sent to the people of the earth." Adam is the first nabī (prophet) but not the first rasūl (messenger to a people in disbelief).
  • Last messenger — Muhammad ﷺ. After him there is no further messenger; "Muhammad is not the father of any one of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets" (Surah Al-Ahzab 33:40).
  • Messenger to all humanity — Earlier messengers were sent to specific peoples (Surah Yunus 10:47, "for every nation is a messenger"). Muhammad ﷺ is sent universally: "And We have not sent you except as a mercy to all the worlds" (Surah Al-Anbiya 21:107) and "Say: O mankind, indeed I am the Messenger of Allah to you all" (Surah Al-Aʿraf 7:158).

Quranic references on messengership

  • Surah An-Nahl 16:36 — "And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, [saying]: Worship Allah and avoid taghut."
  • Surah Yunus 10:47 — "And for every nation is a messenger. So when their messenger comes, judgement is rendered between them in justice, and they will not be wronged."
  • Surah Fatir 35:24 — "And there was no nation but that a warner had passed within it."
  • Surah Al-Israʾ 17:15 — "We do not punish until We send a messenger."
  • Surah Al-Ahzab 33:40 — Muhammad ﷺ as the Seal of the Prophets.
  • Surah Al-Anbiya 21:25 — "And We sent not before you any messenger except that We revealed to him: There is no deity except Me, so worship Me."
  • Surah An-Nisa 4:165 — "Messengers as bringers of good tidings and warners, so that mankind will have no argument against Allah after the messengers."
  • Surah An-Nisa 4:80 — "He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah."
  • Surah At-Taghabun 64:8 — "So believe in Allah and His Messenger and the Light which We have sent down."
  • Surah Aal Imran 3:144 — "Muhammad is no more than a messenger; messengers have already passed away before him."
  • Surah Al-Ahzab 33:21 — "Indeed, in the Messenger of Allah you have a good example."

Hadith on the messengers

Abu Huraira reported the Prophet ﷺ said: "My example and the example of the prophets before me is that of a man who built a house excellently and beautifully, except for one brick missing in a corner. People walk around it admiring it but say: If only this brick were placed. I am that brick, and I am the Seal of the Prophets." — Sahih al-Bukhari 3535; Sahih Muslim 2286
Abu Huraira reported the Prophet ﷺ said, in the long Hadith of Intercession: "On the Day of Resurrection, mankind will surge in waves… they will go to Adam, then Nuh, then Ibrahim, then Musa, then Isa, then to me, asking each in turn to intercede with Allah." — Sahih al-Bukhari 4476, 7510; Sahih Muslim 193
Abu Dharr al-Ghifari reported asking the Prophet ﷺ how many messengers there were; he ﷺ replied: "Three hundred and fifteen, a sizeable group." — Musnad Ahmad 22288 — graded Daʿīf by al-Albani; the Quran's testimony in Surah Fatir 35:24 that "there was no nation but that a warner had passed within it" establishes the broad principle without specifying a number
Anas ibn Malik reported the Prophet ﷺ said: "None of you truly believes until I am dearer to him than his father, his children, and all of mankind." — Sahih al-Bukhari 15; Sahih Muslim 44

Distinction from prophet (nabi)

Classical scholarship offers three distinct framings for the difference:

  1. Sharīʿah-based (Ibn Taymiyyah; Ibn al-Qayyim) — a rasūl is sent with a new law or a new mandate; a nabī is sent to maintain a previous law.
  2. Recipient-based (al-Bayḍāwi; some Ashʿaris) — a rasūl is sent to a people in disbelief; a nabī may be sent to those already following a prior revelation.
  3. Communication-based — a rasūl receives revelation in a more public and corporate form; a nabī may receive guidance for himself or a small circle.

All three converge on the same broad point: rasūl is the more comprehensive title, and a nabī is the necessary core of the office. The Quran's own usage shifts between the two without contradiction (see Surah Al-Hajj 22:52).

Significance

Belief in the messengers anchors three Islamic doctrines. First, that Allah does not leave humanity without guidance — every nation receives a warner (Surah Fatir 35:24), and accountability requires that a messenger has come (Surah Al-Israʾ 17:15). Second, that all the messengers preached the same essential Tawhid (Surah Al-Anbiya 21:25). Third, that with Muhammad ﷺ the office of messengership is sealed and the divine address to humanity is complete (Surah Al-Maidah 5:3, "This day I have perfected for you your religion"). The second clause of the Shahada — Muḥammadun rasūl Allāh — affirms this messengership in the daily creedal formula.

See also

References

  1. The Quran (Sahih International translation): Surahs Al-Baqarah 2:285; Aal Imran 3:144; An-Nisa 4:80, 4:165; Al-Maidah 5:3; Al-Aʿraf 7:158; Yunus 10:47; An-Nahl 16:36; Al-Israʾ 17:15; Al-Anbiya 21:25, 21:107; Al-Hajj 22:52; Al-Ahzab 33:7, 33:21, 33:40; Fatir 35:24; Ash-Shura 42:13; At-Taghabun 64:8; Al-Aʿla 87:19.
  2. Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith nos. 15, 3535, 4476, 7510. Trans. M. Muhsin Khan.
  3. Sahih Muslim, hadith nos. 44, 193, 2286. Trans. Abdul Hamid Siddiqui.
  4. Musnad Ahmad 22288, graded Daʿīf by al-Albani.
  5. Ibn Taymiyyah, an-Nubuwwāt, ed. ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Maḥmūd.
  6. Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Tarīq al-Hijratayn wa-Bāb as-Saʿādatayn, sections distinguishing nabī and rasūl.
  7. Ibn Kathir, Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyāʾ, trans. Sayed Gad and Mohammad Moinuddin Siddiqui (Darussalam, 2003).
  8. al-Tahawi, al-ʿAqīdah aṭ-Ṭaḥāwiyyah; Ibn Abi al-ʿIzz al-Hanafi's commentary.
  9. Umar Sulayman al-Ashqar, ar-Rusul wa-r-Risālāt (Dar an-Nafāʾis).