Distinction Between "messenger" and "prophet"
Most Islamic commentators agree that "messenger" (rasūl) refers to those who bring a divine revelation which includes a new doctrinal system, while a "prophet" (nabī) is one who explains ethical teachings on the basis of an existing religion. Every messenger is a prophet, but not every prophet is a messenger.
Read more about this topic: Khatim An-Nabuwwah
Famous quotes containing the words distinction, messenger and/or prophet:
“Let those talk of poverty and hard times who will in the towns and cities; cannot the emigrant who can pay his fare to New York or Boston pay five dollars more to get here ... and be as rich as he pleases, where land virtually costs nothing, and houses only the labor of building, and he may begin life as Adam did? If he will still remember the distinction of poor and rich, let him bespeak him a narrower house forthwith.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird,
Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight,
Lark without song, and messenger of dawn,
Circling above the hamlets as thy nest;”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Happiness does not await us all. One needn’t be a prophet to say that there will be more grief and pain than serenity and money. That is why we must hang on to one another.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)