What It Means - Day 283

"Islamic tradition makes a distinction between the title prophet (nabi) which pertains to all those given a message from God - of either glad tidings or warning, or both - to deliver to their people, and 'messenger' (rasul), which refers to those prophets who have brought a new revelation or religious law for their people. All messengers are prophets, but not all prophets are messengers. The two terms are more distinct in meaning in Islamic tradition than they are in the Quran, however, where certain prophets, such as Hud and other Arabian non-Biblical prophets, who were given only a message of warning and not a new religion or scripture, are referred to as 'messenger' (rasul) rather than 'prophet' (nabi; see 7:67; 26:125, 143). Abraham is considered both a messenger and a prophet in Islamic tradition, but only the title 'prophet' is used explicitly for Abraham in the Quran itself. That Abraham is also a messenger (rasul) according to the traditional definition may be implicit in 4:163-65 and in his having been given scriptures in 55:36-37 and 87:19."
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Study Quran, p. 774

I choose passages for this year-long blog reflection for several reasons, one of them being simply because I'm trying to study and teach myself aspects of the faith. The difference between a prophet and messenger sometimes comes up in class, and students, well, at least the bright ones, find it an interesting distinction. So, as I was working on yesterday's blog post I came across this note in the commentary and decided to include it for today so that I could mark it. I'm surprised that anyone ever reads my blog, so I guess in the end it's always for me anyway. Note to self: "All messengers are prophets, but not all prophets are messengers."