What is the difference between a prophet and a messenger?
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The questioner : What is the difference between a prophet and a messenger?
The Shaykh : The well-known view among the scholars is that the difference between them is that a prophet is revealed a law but is not commanded to convey it.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : A messenger is revealed a law and is commanded to convey it. This is the difference according to the majority of scholars. It has also been said that the difference is that a prophet is one who did not come with a new law, but rather serves as a conveyor of the law of those before him. That is, he judges by the law of those before him without any new revelation being revealed to him, as in the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-Ma'idah 5:44] He said: [Al-Ma'idah 5:44] Thus, they judge by what is in the Torah. However, if he comes with a new law, even if it is a completion of the law of those before him, then he is a messenger.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The only exception to this definition is Adam, for Adam was a prophet and not a messenger, because the first of the messengers was Noah. Adam was a prophet to whom a law was revealed, and he acted upon it, and his descendants who were in his time took it upon themselves.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : The well-known view among the scholars is that the difference between them is that a prophet is revealed a law but is not commanded to convey it.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : A messenger is revealed a law and is commanded to convey it. This is the difference according to the majority of scholars. It has also been said that the difference is that a prophet is one who did not come with a new law, but rather serves as a conveyor of the law of those before him. That is, he judges by the law of those before him without any new revelation being revealed to him, as in the saying of Allah the Exalted:
Indeed, We sent down the Torah, in which was guidance and light. The prophets who submitted [to Allah] judged by it for the Jews, as did the rabbis and scholars by that with which they were entrusted of the Scripture of Allah, and they were witnesses thereto
إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَا التَّوْرَاةَ فِيهَا هُدىً وَنُورٌ يَحْكُمُ بِهَا النَّبِيُّونَ الَّذِينَ أَسْلَمُوا لِلَّذِينَ هَادُوا وَالرَّبَّانِيُّونَ وَالْأَحْبَارُ بِمَا اسْتُحْفِظُوا مِنْ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ وَكَانُوا عَلَيْهِ شُهَدَاءَThe prophets who submitted [to Allah] judged by it
يحكم بها النبيون الذين أسلمواThe questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The only exception to this definition is Adam, for Adam was a prophet and not a messenger, because the first of the messengers was Noah. Adam was a prophet to whom a law was revealed, and he acted upon it, and his descendants who were in his time took it upon themselves.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.