PROPHET

The Arabic words used to expre the prophetic office are nabī ( نبى‎ ), pl. ambīyāʾ ; rasūl ( رسول‎ ), pl. rusul ; and mursal ( مرسل‎ ), pl. mursalūn . In Persian, the three titles are invariably translated by the word paig͟hambar ( پيغمبر‎ ) ( i.e . a me enger). Nabī is the Hebrew nābī ‏נָבִיא‎ , which Gesenius says means “one who bubbles forth” as a fountain. The Arabic lexicon, the Qāmūs , derives the word from nubūʾ , “to be exalted.” According to Muḥammadan writers a nabī is anyone directly inspired by God, and rasūl and mursal , one to whom a special mi ion has been entrusted. Muḥammad is related to have said ( Mishkāt , book xxiv. ch. i. pt. 3) that there were 124,000 ambiyāʾ , or prophets, and 315 apostles or me engers. Nine of these special me engers are entitled Ūlū ʾl-ʿAzm , or “po e ors of constancy, ” namely, Noah, Abraham, David, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Jesus, and Muḥammad. Six are dignified with special titles: Adam, Ṣafīyu ʾllāh , the Chosen of God; Noah, Nabīyu ʾllāh , the Preacher of God; Abraham, K͟halīlu ʾllāh , the Friend of God; Moses, Kalīmu ʾllāh , the Converser with God; Jesus, Rūḥu ʾllāh , the Spirit of God; Muḥammad, Rasūlu ʾllāh , the Me enger of God. The number of sacred books delivered to mankind is said to have been 104 (see Majālisu ʾl-Abrār , p. 55); of these, ten were given to Adam, fifty to Seth (a name not mentioned in the Qurʾān), thirty to Enoch, ten to Abraham, the Taurāt to Moses, the Zabūr to David, the Injīl to Jesus, and the Qurʾān to Muḥammad. The one hundred scriptures given to Adam, Seth, Enoch, and Abraham are termed Ṣaḥīfah (a pamphlet), and the other four Kitāb (a book); but all that is nece ary for the Muslim to know of these inspired records is supposed to have been retained in the Qurʾān. Muḥammad’s enumeration of the Old and New Testament prophets, both as to name and chronological order, is exceedingly confused, and it is acknowledged to be a matter of doubt amongst Muslim commentators whether or not Alexander the Great and Æsop were inspired prophets. The names of twenty-eight prophets are said to occur in the Qurʾān:— Adam , Adam; Idrīs , Enoch; Nūḥ , Noah; Hūd , Heber?; Ṣāliḥ , Methusaleh; Ibrāhīm , Abraham; Ismāʿīl , Ishmael; Isḥāq , Isaac; Yaʿqūb , Jacob; Yūsuf , Joseph; Lūt̤ , Lot; Mūsā , Moses; Hārūn , Aaron; Shuʿaib , Jethro?; Zakarīyā , Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist; Yaḥyā , John Baptist; ʿĪsā , Jesus; Dāʾūd , David; Sulaimān , Solomon; Ilyās , Elias; Alyasaʿ , Elisha; Aiyūb , Job; Yūnus , Jonah; ʿUzair , Ezra; Luqmān , Æsop? more likely Balaam; Ẕū ʾl-Kifl , Isaiah or Obadiah?; Ẕū ʾl-Qarnain , Alexander the Great. An account of these prophets will be found under their respective names. A Persian book, entitled the Qiṣaṣu ʾl-Ambiyāʾ , the “Tales of the Prophets,” profe es to give an account of the prophets mentioned in the Qurʾān, but the utter reckle ne of the writer pa es all description; for example, it is a matter of uncertainty whether Ẕū ʾl-Qarnain is Alexander the Great or some celebrity who lived in the days of Abraham!