Difference between a Prophet (nabyy) & a messenger (rasul)

[Osama.Tariq]

Asalaamualikum wa rahamtulahi wa barakaatuhu.

All praise is due to Allah and may His peace and Blessings be upon His final messenger, his family, companions and all those who follow them in goodness.

To proceed:

Could one of the students of knowledge explain the difference between a prophet (nabyy) and a messenger (rasul)?

This is what I could find:



A number of scholarly opinions exist concerning the difference between a Prophet
(nabee) and a Messenger (rasool). From them is what Shaykhul-Islaam Ibn
Taymiyyah, rahimahullaah, said in Kitaabun-Nubuwwaat (p.255):
"A Prophet is someone who is informed by Allaah about something, and he conveys
what Allaah revealed to him. If he is sent with it to those who reject Allaah's
commands - so as to convey to them the Message of Allaah - then he is a Messenger.
But if he follows the previous Sacred Law and is not himself ordered to convey the
Message of Allaah [to the rejectors], then he is a Prophet, not a Messenger."

Translation of tennets of faith by Shiekh uthymeen (calgaryislam.com)


The most sound of what has been said regarding the difference between a prophet (nabiyy)
and a messenger (rasool) is that a prophet is one to whom a law is inspired but is
not ordered to convey it and a messenger is one to whom a law is inspired and is
ordered to convey it.

Shiekh Salih ibnul fawzan explaining aqeedah wastiyyah, the pillars of islam. Translated by, Abu iyyad (Spubs article no. AQD10004 page 2)

[Osama.Tariq]

Question:

Is there any difference between a Messenger and a Prophet?
Answer:

Yes, the scholars say that a Prophet is one who receives Revelation from Allaah of a law, but he is not commanded to propagate it, only to practice it himself, without being called upon to disseminate it. A Messenger is one who receives Revelation from Allaah of a law and he is called upon to propagate it and to act upon it. Every Messenger is a Prophet, but not every Prophet is a Messenger. The Prophets are more in number than the Messengers, and Allaah has related the stories of some of the Messengers in the Quran and others He has not related. Allaah, the Most High says: And indeed We have sent Messengers before you (O Muhammad (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam)): Of some of them We have related to you their story, and some of them we have not related to you their story. And it was not given to any Messenger that he should bring a Sign except by the leave of Allaah. [1]
Based upon this Verse, it is plain that every Prophet mentioned in the Quran is a Messenger.

[1] Ghafir 40:78

Shaykh Muhammad bin Saalih al-`Uthaymeen
Fatawa Islamiyah Vol. 1 Page 226

http://www.fatwaislam.com/fis/index.cfm?scn=fd&ID=1144

[Moosaa.Richardson]

While some scholars may consider it authentic, the hadeeth of "the 124,000 prophets and 315 of them being Messengers" (which would prove DECISIVELY that every messenger is indeed a prophet) was studied and shown to be unauthentic by Ibn Katheer in his tafseer.

We do know that Aadam was a prophet, and Noah was the first of the messengers, from the hadeeth of intercession.

[AbdulHakeem.Ibn.Yusuf]

wa 'alaykum salaam warahamatullaah wabarkaatuh

At the last dawrah @ Madinah (Jumadal Aakhir, 1433) with Mashaaikh organized by Salafi publications (may Allaah reward them with good for this effort), our brother Abu Hakeem (may Allaah preserve him) discussed this issue briefly towards the end in a short talk he gave at the White Mountains gathering in Madinah KSA, when he mentioned the discussion of Ibn Taymiyyah on the hadith "al-'Ulamaa' warathatul anbiyaa' (The 'Ulamaa' are the Inheritors of the Prophets) " : See the post by dkSadiq.ibn.Owodunni here (http://www.salafitalk.com/threads/1101-Feedback-From-Saudi...) for the audio.

BaarakaAllaah feeka