Prophets in Islam

One of the most remarkable aspects of Islam, for a Christian coming to it fresh, is that Islam does not erase the prophets of the Bible — it embraces them. Islam teaches that ALLAH never left any people without guidance. Throughout history, He sent messengers to every nation with the same essential message: worship ALLAH alone.

Belief in all of ALLAH's prophets and messengers is one of the six pillars of Islamic faith. A Muslim cannot be a Muslim without believing in Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Isa (Jesus), and all the other prophets ALLAH sent (Peace Be Upon Them All). Rejecting even one prophet is considered a rejection of ALLAH's guidance.

In Islamic understanding, a prophet (nabi) is a human being chosen by ALLAH to receive divine revelation and guide people toward the truth. Prophets are not divine. They are not to be worshipped. They are human beings — the best of human beings — who were chosen by ALLAH for a mission they did not seek or deserve on their own.

A messenger (rasul) is a prophet who received a new scripture or law for his people. All messengers are prophets, but not all prophets are messengers. The key point: all of them were human, all of them were mortal, and all of them are gone — except that their message remains.

The mission of every prophet was the same:

The Quran mentions 25 prophets by name. For a Christian reader, most of these are familiar from the Old and New Testaments. The following list uses the Islamic name first, with the Biblical name in parentheses where applicable:

Islam teaches that many more prophets were sent whose names are not mentioned in the Quran. The Quran itself says ALLAH sent messengers to nations not mentioned by name. Muslims believe there were 124,000 prophets throughout history according to some narrations.

One of the defining features of Islamic belief about prophets is that Muslims do not distinguish between them in terms of belief — all are accepted as true prophets sent by ALLAH. To reject Musa (Moses) (Peace Be Upon Him) is disbelief. To reject Isa (Jesus) (Peace Be Upon Him) is disbelief. To reject Muhammad ﷺ (Peace Be Upon Him) is also disbelief.

This is a profound point for Christian readers: Islam considers rejecting Muhammad ﷺ (Peace Be Upon Him) to be the same kind of error as rejecting Isa (Jesus) (Peace Be Upon Him) or Musa (Moses) (Peace Be Upon Him). All were sent by ALLAH — and to reject one is to reject ALLAH's guidance.

A critical principle in Islam is that no prophet is to be worshipped. Every prophet — including Muhammad ﷺ (Peace Be Upon Him) and Isa (Jesus) (Peace Be Upon Him) — was a human being. They were the best of human beings, chosen by ALLAH, supported by miracles, and deeply loved. But they were not God, and worshipping them is shirk.

In the Quran, Isa (Jesus) (Peace Be Upon Him) himself is quoted speaking:

This verse — spoken as an infant in the cradle, according to the Quran — is central to the Islamic position: Isa (Jesus) (Peace Be Upon Him) himself declared he was a servant and a prophet of ALLAH, not God Himself.

Islam teaches that prophethood ended with Muhammad ﷺ (Peace Be Upon Him). He is the Seal of the Prophets — the last and final messenger. His message — the Quran — is preserved in its original Arabic and is meant for all of humanity until the Day of Judgment.

This is why Islam places such importance on accepting Muhammad ﷺ (Peace Be Upon Him): not because he is greater in personal virtue than all other prophets in every way, but because he is the final messenger. Accepting him is necessary for one's faith to be complete. No updated guidance from ALLAH will come after him — what he brought is what remains.