Authority in IslamRisalah (prophethood)

Islam means ‘submission to God’. Muslims believe in one God, Allah, and follow the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, Allah’s messenger. It is believed that Muhammad received the Qur’an, which is the most important Islamic holy book and the only one to contain the pure word of Allah.

The importance of prophethood

Risalah is the Arabic word for message. It refers to ‘prophethood’ and represents the various ways Allah communicates with humanity.

Islam teaches that Allah wants to help people to live good lives, so he sends messages to guide them on how to do so. Many of these messages are found in the Qur’an. Muslims believe that messages from Allah are communicated through prophets.

• The prophets are the connection between Allah and humanity.
• There are 25 named prophets in the Qur’an, although many believe there may have been as many as 124,000.
• All of the prophets are considered to be equal: We make no distinction between any of them (Qur’an 2:136).
• Allah chose the prophets to reveal his truth. They are responsible for the revelation.
• Messages from Allah were sent to the prophets using malaikah.
• These messages are recorded in the holy books.
• The prophets performed miracles, which proved they really were prophets.

In the Qur’an, Allah warns against ignoring the messages given by the prophets:

The Qur’an states that people who attack, or even just ignore, the prophets will be cursed by Allah.

All prophets received the same message about there being one God, which shows that Allah is unchanging. Muslims believe that Muhammad was the final prophet, which is why he is referred to as the Seal of the Prophets.