52.Q: Speak about the messengers of Allah.

A: One has to believe in the messengers of Allah. That is, to believe in the prophets of Allah- whoever was a messenger and whoever was not a messenger [among them]. The first one of them is Adam, ^alayhi as-salam, and the last one of them is Muhammad, salla-l-lahu ^alayhi wa sallam. Allah ta^ala said:

(لاَ نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِّن رُّسُلِهِ  )

The ayah means: We [Muslims] do not disbelieve in any of Allah’s messengers (al-Baqarah 285).

53.Q: What is the difference between the prophet who is not a messenger and the prophet who is a messenger?

A: The prophet who is not a messenger is a human being to whom Allah revealed a set of Islamic Laws which is not new. Instead, Allah revealed to him to follow the set of Islamic Laws of the prophet who was before him. The messenger is to whom a new set of Islamic Laws was revealed. In addition, both of them [the prophet and messenger] are ordered to convey [the revelation]. Allah ta^ala said:

(كَانَ النَّاسُ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً فَبَعَثَ اللهُ النَّبِيِّينَ مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنذِرِينَ)

The ayah means: The people were at first one nation. Allah sent the prophets to give the good news and warn (al-Baqarah 213).

54.Q: Speak about believing in the Books from Heaven.

A: One has to believe in the Books from Heaven which descended upon the messengers of Allah. There are many books like that. The most famous ones are: al-Qur’an, at-Tawrah, al-’Injil and az-Zabur. The number of the Books from Heaven is 104 as ash-shaykh Shams ad-Din ar-Ramliyy conveyed in his book “Nihayat al-Muhtaj fi Sharh al-Minhaj”.

55.Q: Speak about the believe in al-Qadar whether good or evil.

A: One has to believe in al-Qadar whether good or evil. That is, all what comes to existence from good and evil is by Allah’s eternal decree. The good of the deeds of the slaves is by Allah’s decree, Love and blessing. The evil from the deeds of the slaves is by Allah’s decree and not Loved or blessed by Allah. The prophet, salla-l-lahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said: Al-’Iman is to believe in Allah, his angels, Books, messengers and the Hereafter. Also, to believe in al-Qadar whether good or evil [is from Allah] (narrated by Muslim).

56.Q: Speak about some of what is related to believing in the message of our prophet, salla-l-lahu ^alayhi wa sallam.

A: One has to believe in the message of our prophet Muhammad, salla-l-lahu ^alayhi wa sallam, and that he is the seal of prophets, that is, he is the final one of them. Allah ta^ala said:

(مَّا كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبَا أَحَدٍ مِّن رِّجَالِكُمْ وَلَكِن رَّسُولَ اللهِ وَخَاتَمَ)

The ayah means: Muhammad is the final prophet (al-’Ahzab 40). The prophet, salla-l-lahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said: The prophets were sealed by me (narrated by Muslim). One has to believe that our master Muhammad, salla-l-lahu ^alayhi wa sallam, is the master of all the offspring of Adam. This is agreed upon by the ^ulama’. It is derived from the hadith narrated by at-Tirmidhiyy [in which the prophet, salla-l-lahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said]: I am the master of the offspring of Adam in the Hereafter and I am not saying that out of pride. That is, he is not saying that for pride, but to speak about Allah’s grace.

57.Q: Speak about some of the attributes that are necessarily attributed to the prophets of Allah ta^ala.

A: Allah sent His prophets to convey to people what benefit them in their Religion and life. The prophets are the ideal example to people. For this reason, Allah beautified them with praised attributes and good morals. Some of them are: truthfulness, trustworthiness, intelligence, courageousness and pureness. Allah ta^ala said after mentioning some of them:

( وكلاً فضلنا على العالمين )

The ayah means: Each one of them is selected over the humans and jinn (al-’An^am 86). The prophets are the best of the creations, salawatu-l-lahi wa salamuhu ^alayhim ajma^in. The prophet, salla-l-lahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said: Allah did not send a prophet without him being of a nice face and a nice voice and your prophet has the best face and best voice among them (narrated by at-Tirmidhiyy).

58.Q: Speak about some of the attributes which are not permissible to be attributed to Allah’s prophets.

A: Since the prophets are the ideal model to people and Allah beautified them with the praised attributes. He also protected them and purified them from having disgraceful attributes. It is not permissible to attribute to the prophets lying, dishonesty, vileness, stupidity and dullness. The are also impeccable from kufr, big sins and mean abject small sins before prophethood and after it. One of them may commit a small sin without it being mean or abject, but they will be warned immediately to repent from it before anyone follows them in [committing] that.

59.Q: Allah ta^ala said about the prophet of Allah Ibrahim: The ayah that means: The biggest one of them [the idols] caused the action [to be done]. If they can talk, ask them.

A: Without a doubt the prophets of Allah are cleared of lying. What is mentioned in this ayah about Ibrahim is in fact not lying. To the contrary, its meaning is true and in reality what he said is true. This is so, because the head idol was the one who caused Ibrahim to destroy the other idols. Ibrahim did that out of his enormous anger from [the biggest] idol since Ibrahim’s people exaggerated in respecting and beautifying its image and form. In this way, attributing the action to the big idol is symbolic and there is no lying in that.

60.Q: What is the meaning of the saying of Ibrahim when he saw the planet: The that ayah means: [Is] This: my Lord!! [It reads: Hadha rabbi].

A: The prophets are impeccable from kufr before and after prophethood. The saying of Ibrahim about the planet when he saw it: is [called] negative interrogative. As if he said: Is this my Lord per your claim? [Undoubtedly,] Ibrahim already knew before that that Lordship cannot be attributed to other than Allah. Allah ta^ala said:

مَا كَانَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ يَهُودِيًّا وَلاَ نَصْرَانِيًّا وَلَكِن كَانَ حَنِيفًا مُّسْلِمًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ

The ayah means: Ibrahim was not a Jew and not a Christian, but was a Muslim on the straight path and did not associate a partner with Allah (Al ^Imran 67).

61.Q: Allah ta^ala said about [prophet] Yusuf:

(ولقد همت به وهم بها)

The meaning of the ayah: She [the wife of the king of Egypt] decided to commit adultery with Yusuf. If Yusuf was not made impeccability by Allah, Yusuf would have did that (Yusuf 40). [It reads: wa hammat bihi wa hamma biha]. What is the meaning of “wa hamma biha”?

A: The best interpretation said about the meaning of: wa hamma biha lawla an ra’a burhana rabbih, is that the latter part of the ayah explains the former. That is, if it was not for the protection Allah provided Yusuf with, he would have accepted to commit the sin with her. But this acceptance for adultery did not happen from him, because Allah made him acknowledge His proof. Some other interpreters from the People of the Truth [i.e., Sunniy scholars] said that the meaning of “wa hamma biha” is that Yusuf decided to push her [away from him] if it was not for what Allah revealed to him.

Allah revealed to him that you, Yusuf, if you push her she would say to her husband: He pushed me to force me to commit the sin. However, Yusuf did not push her, instead he turned his back to her and walked away. She then torn his shirt from the back. In that way, the evidence was against her. On the other hand, that was narrated about Yusuf that he had decided to commit az-zina, untied the cover of his lower part and then sat with respect to her as the man sits with respect to his wife is all false. Such things are not befitting to any prophet of Allah’s prophets. Allah said about the innocence of Yusuf:

(الآن حصحص الحق أنا راودته عن نفسه وإنه لمن الصادقين)

The ayah means: The wife of al-^Aziz said: Now is time to show the truth has been confirmed and established. I have lured him to submit himself to me and he is indeed of the truthful ones (Yusuf 51).

62.Q: Allah ta^ala said about one of the two rivals who came to Dawud seeking his judgment on a dispute:

(إن هذا أخي له تسع وتسعون نعجة ولي نعجة واحدة فقال اكفلنيها وعزني في الخطاب)

The saying of one of the rivals means: This is my brother and he had 99 lambs (na^jah) while I have one lamb. He wanted to take my lamb (na^jah) and add it to his lambs (ni^aj) unjustly (Sad 23). What is meant by an-Ni^aj in this ayah?

A: The Arabs may refer to women as ni^aj. Nevertheless, it is not permissible to interpret an-ni^aj in this ayah by women as some interpreters did. They have caused harm by their interpretation of this ayah. Such an interpretation became famous and it states that Dawud had 99 women and the leader of his army had one woman. It was said that Dawud had liked this women and then sent this leader to the battle to die there and then he would marry this woman afterwards.

Such an interpretation is corrupt, because what it implied does not befit a prophet of the prophets of Allah. Al-’imam Ibn al-Jawziyy said in his [book of] “Interpretation” after he had mentioned this belied story about our master Dawud: “… and this [story] is not authentic through the route of narration and is not permissible by the meaning [it conveys].” That is so, because the prophets are cleared from such acts. The asking of Allah for forgiveness by Dawud was because he judged between the two [brothers] after he had heard [the saying] of one of them and before he heard from the other.