The Prophethood and the “Khatam al-Nabiyyin” Within the Qur’anic Perspective

: Both the term prophet and messenger are used in Al-Qur’an, either concurrently or respectively on its own. The two terms indeed have been long debated by Islamic scholars if there is any distinction between them. Some say there is a definite difference between the two, while some others insist they are a distinction without a difference but in meaning. Irrespective of the differences, the Islamic scholars agreed that all the prophets and messengers have one same message to convey from the beginning, that is the call to worship one God only. They are on the opinion that there is no human theological evolution ever happened like it was claimed by those who believe in the evolution theory. They assure human belief system remains the same from the day one the religion was known, that is monotheistic in concept. Should there be any difference from one to another, it is all about the syariah tenets that each messenger or prophet brought with them. Obviously, the tenets developed from time to time and came to its perfection under the era of the prophet of Muhammad peace be upon him. Thus, it is unanimously agreed among the Islamic scholar that Muhammad peace be upon him is the final prophet and messenger and the seal of the prophethood.


A. The Distinction between the Prophet and the Messenger
The discussion among the Islamic scholars whether there is a distinction between the term of the prophet and the messenger has been going on for quite some time.Some say that the two are distinct, arguing that while both the prophets and the messengers recieved God's revelation, it is only the latter who has the obligation to convey the message either to their own people or to all of the human beings, whereas such an obligation is negated from the prophets (due to their limited status in that regard, that is istihbab or only preferred to do so). 1 On the other hand, some others say that the two terms are a distinction without a difference2 but in meaning.The prophet means the one who brings the news while the messenger is the one who brings messages from God (Allah).
Both the term prophet and messenger are used in Al-Qur'an whether each is respectively used on its own or both are used concurrently.The following verse, for example, mentions the term prophet which stands on its own.
He said: "I am indeed a servant of Allah.He hath given me Revelation and made me a prophet." ( QS Maryam [19] 30)   Wheras the verse below is the example that states the term messenger used on its own.However, there are some verses in Al-Qur'an which concurrently mention both terms, the prophet and the messenger, like the following verse.One intersting way to see if there is a distinction between the term prophet and the messenger is paintly explained in the book of Syarh al-Thahawiyah.It is suggested that to see the difference between the two terms one should look at the object or the target audience whom the prophets and the messegers were sent to.Should they were sent to the majority of people who were unbelievers and heavily involved in idolaterous practices, then they are the messengers.However, if their target audience were the believing people and their tasks were mainly to continue the previous teachings, then they are the prophets.Al-Thahawi makes it clear that the right way to differentiate between the prophets and the messengers is as follows: the messengers independently brought with them the teachings for those who were deviant from the previous teachings and need to be straightened up, irrespective of the fact that some of them received the teachings (and became believers) and some others rejected them (and remained unbelievers).Meanwhile the prophets are those who were sent with the only responsibility to strengthen the existing tenets.In other words, the prophets were specifically sent to those who are already the believers.To clarify, al-Thahawi gives an example that the prophets of the Children of Israel who came after the prophet Moses like David, Solomon, Jhon, and Zechariah were all the prophets and not messengers, since they were only sent to reaffirm the teachings of the prophet Moses and the messages contained within the Torah.He further elaborated that the next messenger sent after them was Jesus peace be upon him. 3In the same way, al-Thahawy also regarded Adam as only the prophet and not the messenger, considering that back then the society was still free from idolaterous practices with hardly unbelievers existed.The situation went on until the era before Noah peace be upon him when the society began to lose their faith.Thus, Noah, was regarded as the first messenger who was sent to the unbelievers and idolaters. 4Noah's task was to convey the message of God, although in reality there were only a few who turned to be the believers as the majority remained unbelievers.5Al-Qur'an tells this story through Surah al-Syura/42 :13.
The Obviously, some Islamic scholars criticize the definition of the prophets forwarded by some others who say that the prophets are not obliged to deliver the revelation they received from God as the messengers are.Walid ibn Rasyid al-Sa'idin has some reasons to say, among others, he argues that how is it possible that the prophets are negated from the obligation of delivering the message while it is surely obligatory for those with knowledge to convey the message, to teach those who are still ignorant, to give guidance for those who are lost, and to provide answers for their questions; If so, what are the benefits for people should the prophets just keep God's revelation for themselves, while God clearly threat those people who are reluctant to share the knowledge they have?If the obligation of delivering knowledge appplies to ahl al-ilm (those with knowledge), it should be even more for the prophets who are regarded as the master of all those with knowledge.6

B. The Task and Function of The Prophets and Messengers
The main task of the prophets and the messengers -according to the Islamic scholars who regard them to bear the obligation of delivering the message (tablig)-is three: tilawah (reading), tazkiyah (purification), and ta'lim (instruction).This can be understood from the verses in Al-Qur'an found among others in Surah al-Baqarah/2 :129 and 151; Ali Imran/3: 164; and al-Jumuah/62 :2.The following is the verse 62 of Surah al-Jumuah, It is He who has sent amongst the unlettered an apostle from among themselves, to rehearse to them His Signs, to sanctify them, and to instruct them In Scripture and Wisdom,-although They had been, before, In Manifest error;-(al-Jumu'ah/62: 2) Meanwhile, the function of the prophets and the messengers is to give tabsyir (good news) for those who do good and tell indzar (warnings and threats) for those who do otherwise.There are two ways only are available: good and bad. 7nd in their mission, all the prophets and the messengers do call their people for their own good to follow the good path that is blessed by God.It is said in surah al-Ahzab/33 :45-46 as follows, Accordingly, since God wants to see human being believe in Him in an eloquent way, no force is allowed to be used by all the prophets and messengers in doing their jobs.With the task to preach and call people to God's path and with the function to give good news and warnings, all the prophets strive to invite people to follow God's commandments which apparently is for their own good.That there are some people who are eventually immune and reluctant to accept the messengers' invitation, it is absolutely not the responsibility of those messengers any longer, so long as they have delivered all the revelation they received from God.An explanation on such an account is found in some verses in Al-Qur'an, among others in Surah al-Maidah/5 :99. 899( The Messenger's duty is but to proclaim (the Message), but Allah knoweth all that ye reveal and ye conceal.(al-Maidah [5] 99) One thing needs to be clarified, though, is that the message revealed by all the messengers from the very beginning until the end is the same, that is to worship one God only.The only different is that their teachings vary from one to another.In other words, it can be said that all the prophets were sent to spread the same monotheistic message, whereas the syariah tenets developed gradually from time to time until they reached the state of perfection under the prophet Muhammad era.In consequence, none of the messenger brought with him the teaching of polytheisme.Al-Qur'an confirms that should there be any party claiming that God is more than one (taaddud al-ilah), it is definitely a corrupt teaching.Notice the following verse that condems such teaching.Thus, it can be summarized that all the prophets and the messangers brought with them the same monotheistic tenets.There is no changes and even more the evolution on this subject, as it was suggested by the anthrophologists and the experts of comparative religions in the West.As hinted by Mukti Ali they are a great number of scholars in comparative studies who stand by and are very much influenced by this anthropological evolution theory popularized by Charles Darwin. 9They are on the opinion that human search for God is through an evolution process before it came to perfection to reach the monotheistic understanding.
On the ground of this analysis, two views on human theological theory were established.First, the theory of human theological evolution that starts from dynamisme, animism, polytheism, henotheisme 10 , up to its peak of monotheisme.In general, this view is held by the scientists in the West.Second, the view that says that there has never been any evolution in human theological belief from the beginning until today.The followers of this view say that all the prophets and messangers, from Adam (some say from Noah) to Muhammad, conveyed the same monotheistic tenets; and contrary to the earlier view, they 9 Mukti Ali.Asal Usul Agama, Yogyakarta: Yayasan Nida, 1971, p. 10. 10 Henoteisme is the transition period from polytheisme to monotheisme.They believe in many gods which are different from those whorshipped by polytheisme in that their gods are of the same level.In henotheisme, there are gods with local status, that are taken as symbols by local tribes.Then there are gods with national status that unite the tribes as a nation.And there are gods of international status which cover the whole universe and other gods below them.The ancient Arab believed in gods with this henotheistic model, in which each tribe had their own local gods, then there are gods of higher level such as Lata, Manat, and Uzza that unite them as tribes.Meanwhile the highest gods as the creator of the sky and earth and became the joint gods for all the human beings is Allah (see Surah al-' Ankabut/29 :61, 63; Luqman/31 :25; al-Zumar/39 :38; and al-Zukhruf 43: 9, 87.assured that none of those prophets or messengers called their followers to believe in more than one God which shows the theological evolution process from dynamism to monotheism.
The true monotheisme conveyed by all the prophets, known as oer-monotheism in the field of comparative religions, is never resulted from an evolution.In his other book, Ali Mukti, explains further: "Even though the theory of evolution is widely accepted by the experts of natural scientists, the scholars of religious studies do not always take the same stand.Alternatively, the oer-monotheism or primitive monotheism was established.This view explains that the birth of religion was not a result of an evolution from polytheisme to monotheism, but instead, the religion remains the same from the beginning it was known, that is monotheisme or one God." 11 The verses in Al-Qur'an related to human search for God always give them guidance to believe in true monotheisme.Or it can even be said that it is of human nature to believe in one Supreme Being only.All the prophets sent by God to guide mankind consistently convey the monotheistic tenets.One of the verses in Al-qur'an that indicates this is found in Surah asy-Syura/42:13. in the above verse is the command to straighten the monotheistic faith as it has been done by the previous messengers. 12rious researches conducted by many experts show that within primitive tribes anywhere in the world there have always been a tendency for them to acknowledge the concept of monotheism when they are talking about worshiping God.Wilhem Schmidt, who spent most of his time doing researches on primitives tribes, as quoted by Mukti Ali, concluded that many primitive tribes in Africa, North America, and Australis acquainted themselves with the concept of monotheism since the very early days.Likewise, the same conclusion has been drawn by M. Dubois from his research in Madagascar. 13In other words, it can be concluded that it is not only the prophetic information through the teachings of God's messangers which says that monotheisme is the first and the last faith of human being, but it had been repeatedly confirmed by the findings of various experts researches.The fact that there are those who disbelieves in monotheime or completely rejects it is regarded as a deviation from the nature of human belief system.
From this, comes the word Ikhtatama (the antonym of iftataha) that means to seal or to close something.Thus, the closing of series of events is said ihktitam al-baramij, then al-khatim, al-khatam, or al-khaytam, with the plural form al-khawatim.All those derivatis have the same meaning, that is, the end or the closing of something.Comprehensively, Al-Razi writes, "And al-khatam, al-khatim, with the letter ta' is pronounced 'aa' or 'ee ',  al-khaytam, al-khatam, all have one meaning, the plural of them is al-khawatim.Khatimah of everything is the final of it (the end or the edge of it).And the apostle Muhammad peace be upon him is the seal of the prophets." The experts of al-Qur'anic interpretation unanimously agreed to interprete the expression of khatam al-nabiyyin found in the verse 40 of Surah al-Ahzab as means the seal of all the prophets sent by God.There is no different interpretation coming from any of them in understanding the verse, that Muhammad is the last, final, sustainer, and penyempurna of all the messages of by the previous prophets.
According to Abu al-Hasan al-Khazin, the author of the Qur'anic interpretation book Lubab al-Takwil fi Ma' ani al-Tanzil the prophet Muhammad is the last and the seal of all the prophets.He quoted Ibnu Abbas as saying that Should God had ever wished another prophet or massenger after Muhamaad he would have given him a son as his successor 19 .Ibnu ' Asyur writes in his book, al-Tahrir wa al-Tanwir, that the negation of the prophet Muhammad as a farther of any mature and adult son happened contiguously to the confirmation that he is the final prophet of all the prophets and messangers strongly hinted that with no offspring he was indeed sent as the final prophet and messanger.Further, Ibnu ' Asyur writes that Muhammads' companions have agreed that Muhammad that the meaning of khatam al-nabiyyin is that Muhammad is the final prophet and messanger, and that there is no prophet or massenger after him, since he is the seal of prophethood and messangerhood until the end of the day.God Knows best.
amongst them an Messenger of their own, who shall rehearse Thy Signs to them and instruct them In Scripture and Wisdom, and sanctify them: for Thou art the Exalted In Might, the Wise." (al-Baqarah [2] 129) also mention In the Book (the story of) Moses: for He was specially chosen, and He was an apostle (and) a prophet.(Maryam[19] 51) truly we have sent Thee As a witness, a bearer of glad tidings, and Warner,-and As one who invites to Allah's (grace) by His leave, and As a Lamp spreading light.(al-Ahzab [33] 45-46)