Anyway i know these two refereneces however i am surprised that no one asked the prophet about the difference as people were too curious to ask questions and surely Quran uses Rasool and nabi quite frequently and interchangeably
Rashid Khalifa twisted the logic otherwise, he stated that Prophet is higher than Rasool and prophets bring shariat while rasools endorse them, so last prophet was Hazrat Muhammad there is no stoppage of rasool's coming and with some funny logics with number theory he tried to claim that he is a rasool.
He got famous by his work of 19 which was reported as a miracle of Quran in many islamic magazines. He used that in probably 19th chapter there is some ayat which referes that quran is built on 19 or words to this effect (i am not sure if i remember the exact text). He proved with some mathematics (which has now become disputed as well) that every thing of quran comes down to 19. I remember reading the article in 'Mujalla-e-Dawa' a magazine of Lashkar-e-Taiba. Even ahmed deedat praised him for his works, however he then used this fame to claim higher and produced his own translation of the Quran and rejected Hadith all together (saying they are corrupted) and proved that msuic is halaal, this is halaal etc etc, a more than rational interpretation of Quran. (Rationalism is time bound, today's rational may not work tomorrow so we cannot judge Quran by our today's rationalism, however ijtehad must be based on today's rationales)
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[quote=MKF]
* Anyway i know these two refereneces however i am surprised that no one asked the prophet about the difference as people were too curious to ask questions and surely Quran uses Rasool and nabi quite frequently and interchangeably
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Respected Sir!
In my humble opinion, both Rasool and Nabi had the same connotation and understanding at the time of Holy Prophet and were in use both simultaneously. The main difference was in fact from their derivation.
The word Rasool was/is derived from the word, Arsal which means "something that has been sent" and/or Arsaal which means "to send". Thus Rasool means "The one who has been sent" and "Rasool Allah means the one sent by Allah Almighty".
On the other hand the word Nabi was/is derived from the word Naba' which means any message, news, happening etc not known to others. It is in contrast to Khabar which is any message, news, happening etc known by some who have witnessed it or known it from others. So the word Nabi means the one who tells something which others know not.
So Holy Prophet Muhammad (MPBUH) was a personality, "Who had been sent by Allah Almighty" to "Tell the truth about Allah, Angels, Hell, Heaven, Judegment Day etc, not known to most of the people of that time".
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[quote=MKF]
* Rashid Khalifa twisted the logic otherwise, he stated that Prophet is higher than Rasool and prophets bring shariat while rasools endorse them, so last prophet was Hazrat Muhammad there is no stoppage of rasool's coming and with some funny logics with number theory he tried to claim that he is a rasool.
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I fully agree with you Sir. The twist in the word Nabi was tried by many on the pretext of its literal meaning i.e., The one who tells something which others know not". It includes people from many walks of life and included some religious scholars, some political leaders and some so called sufis.
In my humble opinion, both Rasool and Nabi had the same connotation and understanding at the time of Holy Prophet and were in use both simultaneously. The main difference was in fact from their derivation.
The word Rasool was/is derived from the word, Arsal which means "something that has been sent" and/or Arsaal which means "to send". Thus Rasool means "The one who has been sent" and "Rasool Allah means the one sent by Allah Almighty".
On the other hand the word Nabi was/is derived from the word Naba' which means any message, news, happening etc not known to others. It is in contrast to Khabar which is any message, news, happening etc known by some who have witnessed it or known it from others. So the word Nabi means the one who tells something which others know not.
So Holy Prophet Muhammad (MPBUH) was a personality, "Who had been sent by Allah Almighty" to "Tell the truth about Allah, Angels, Hell, Heaven, Judegment Day etc, not known to most of the people of that time".
I have never read an explanation like this, it really appeals to me sense of intellect. Can you please go ahead and further explain the difference between a messenger and a prophet based on the same lines.
In my humble opinion, these two words are also synonymous. The word Prophet is derived from Prophecy and has the same connotation as the words Nabi and Naba'. Throughout literature and history, the word Prophet with a capital P has had been used for persons sent by God/Allah Almighty. So the word Prophet is the same as Nabi or Rasool.
On the other hand, the word Messenger had no divinity attached to it. It was a simple word signifying someone who is the deliverer of a message. It had to be affixed with a post-fix "of God" to make it divine. So when it is written or said "Messenger of God/Allah", only then it means a Prophet, and becomes two-in-one and signifies the same meaning as Rasool plus Nabi. Moreover was probably used in the same manner as the Persian word Pegham Bar ie. the one who takes or delivers a message. Just like the word Khuda came to be used synonymously for God/Allah, similarly, the word Pegham Bar became Peghamber(Messenger) and came to be used synonymously for Prophets.
In my humble opinion, these two words are also synonymous. The word Prophet is derived from Prophecy and has the same connotation as the words Nabi and Naba'. Throughout literature and history, the word Prophet with a capital P has had been used for persons sent by God/Allah Almighty. So the word Prophet is the same as Nabi or Rasool.
On the other hand, the word Messenger had no divinity attached to it. It was a simple word signifying someone who is the deliverer of a message. It had to be affixed with a post-fix "of God" to make it divine. So when it is written or said "Messenger of God/Allah", only then it means a Prophet, and becomes two-in-one and signifies the same meaning as Rasool plus Nabi. Moreover was probably used in the same manner as the Persian word Pegham Bar ie. the one who takes or delivers a message. Just like the word Khuda came to be used synonymously for God/Allah, similarly, the word Pegham Bar became Peghamber(Messenger) and came to be used synonymously for Prophets.
Regards.
So how do you distinguish between a Messenger of Allah SWT and a Prophet of Allah SWT?
and can we have more Rasools because no where specifically Khatimu rasool has been mentioned. Every where in Quran and Hadith same Khatimunabiyin.
(just playing devil's advocate, do not believe it)
There is no difference when you consider them in general and literal terms. On the contrary, there are people who would quote a lot of differences in them. Suffice it to say that all the Prophets of Allah were infact HIS Messngrs and all the Messengers of Allah were HIS Prophets.
There is a very simple mathematical equation which says
"IF A IS EQUAL TO B AND B IS EQUAL TO C, THEN A IS ALSO EQUAL TO C AND VICE VERSA"
Without going into unnecessary details, from Islamic point of view, a NABI is a **RASOOL *and thus *KHATAM-UL-ANBIYA *automatically becomes *KHATAM-UL-RUSAL**. Everything else would be just tongue twisting.