One subject which is often asked is ‘how many Prophets are there?’ According to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) there were as many as 124,000 prophets that appeared in the world (Musnad, v. 266), this is supported by the Holy Qur’an which states “There is not a people to whom a Warner has not been sent” (35:22). The Holy Qur’an itself only mentions 25 Prophets, but these were Prophets which were known to the Quraish and Arabs.
Their names are as follows:-
Arabic Name - Biblical Name
Adam – Adam
Idris – Enoch
Nuh - Noah
Hud -
Saleh -
Ibrahim - Abraham
Lut - Lot
Ismail – Ishmael
Is’haq - Isaac
Yaqub - Jacob
Yusuf - Joseph
Ayub – Job
Shoaib - Jethro? (possibly father-in-law of Moses, not regarded as a prophet in Bible)
Musa – Moses
Harun - Aaron
Dhul-Kifl - Ezekiel
Daud - David
Sulayman - Solomon
Ilyas - Elijah
Al-Yasa - Elisha
Yunus - Jonah
Zakariya - Zacharias
Yahya - John
Isa - Jesus
Muhammad - That Prophet like unto Moses / Comforter
Now there is also the question of ‘which Adam?’ There was a dream of Muhyi al-Din Ibn Arabi, the great Muslim mystic who met a man who claimed to be his ancestor and was told by him that he lived ‘more that forty thousand years ago’. When challenged that that was before the time of Adam (may peace be upon him), he replied “of which Adam are you speaking? About the Adam who is nearest to you or of some other?” Ibn Arabi then recalled a saying of the Holy Prophet (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to the effect that God had brought into being no less than a hundred thousand Adams, and I said to myself, “perhaps this man who claims to be an ancestor of mine was one of the previous Adams?” (Futuhat, ii, p.607)
There are many ways of interpreting that but I will not go into it now. What we understand behind the philosophy of sending Prophets is that the One God, the God who created everything, the God who gave us physical life and also gave us spiritual life, sent these prophets to mankind to represent Him. We understand that once man started to live in communes, they needed to know what their purpose in life was, why they were created, what should they do? Thus, Allah sent the first prophet – Adam, may peace be upon him, to guide his people and explain about God and what we need to do to find peace and nearness to the One God. Of course, there was only a need at that time for a basic teaching. As mankind progressed and spread out, so each people had its first ‘Adam’ – their first Prophet.
The prophets would speak in the language of that particular people and give the need of the time. All prophets gave the same basic message - worship the One God, follow His rules and regulations, but man started to corrupt that message and introduce new ideas. More prophets were sent, until finally, mankind had reached a time big groups, transport and communication developed to such a degree that there was a need of One Religion for all mankind, for all time. This is what we understand Islam to be, a fulfilment of all the previous messages, and a universal religion for all people. The same basic teaching is still there – worship One God and follow His rules and regulations. All the best of the previous teachings are there i.e. the Ten Commandments, but not only for the Jews; now they are universal, for all mankind. That is why we believe that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has come with the final message for all mankind.
The Holy Qur’an informs us that to every people was sent a Prophet. Do you know who was the Prophet sent to your Country or Community? Well in most countries, that information has now been lost, but if we take the UK for an example, before Christianity came, they were attached to Paganism etc. So when Christianity came it wiped out the former teachings and practises. If we turn to the example of Arabia, first Hazrat Ibrahim (may peace be with him) came and taught the worship of the One God and rebuilt the Holy Ka’aba. Over time the Arabs felt that they could not personally speak to God directly, only Prophets like Ibrahim, therefore they started worshipping idols who they felt could intercede with God on their behalf. Therefore by the time of the Holy Prophet, there was 360 idols being worshipped.
Originally there was the worship of the One God. Therefore we can conclude that in the UK, more than likely, a Prophet came and taught the worship of the One God and then over time, idol worship or paganism prevailed until Christianity came. One could argue, that Allah knew about these Prophets; why not keep their name alive? But there is no need as the Holy Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has come with the final message for all mankind.
Finally, a question may arise that if the Holy Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has come with the final message for mankind, why was the need to mention the previous prophets in the Holy Qur’an? There were many reasons for this, one is to confirm that they were prophets from Allah. Unfortunately, it sometimes happened that the Prophets were being worshipped instead of Allah or the Prophets were being abused and maligned etc. therefore Allah wanted to remove such accusations and falsehoods against them and prove that all His prophets were sinless and servants of the One God.
The Holy Qur’an is very clear about the role of a Prophet, they are nothing more than human beings, like everyone else. If they were more i.e. a God or an Angel, then man, being weak, will simple say, “you can do that as you are a God or Angel etc., but I can’t do that“. Therefore Allah has made it clear that Prophets are exemplars for mankind, they show us what to do and how to do it. The message of all the Prophets in the Holy Qur’an is basically the same – believe in One God and lead a good life. Yes, Allah has shown us different examples of goodness. Some Prophets emphasised on worshiping One God, not idols; others emphasised on being truthful in business etc. Others about morality, so that the Holy Qur’an, through using these examples, can teach us how to behave.
The main thing is that the Holy Qur’an teaches us to respect all the Prophets, no matter to what Country or people they were sent.
I hope this has explained a little about the Prophets of Allah.