Subcategories
Prophets
16 of 554 entries in Figures. Click any to see everything it connects to.
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
Figures held to speak on behalf of a deity, delivering revelation, warning or judgement. The heading gathers Moses, Isaiah and Elijah from the Hebrew scriptures together with Zarathustra, Muhammad and the Bab, and the traditions represented disagree less about who spoke than about where the line closes. Islamic doctrine holds Muhammad to be the seal of the prophets; the Baha'i Faith holds revelation to be progressive and continuing; a common Christian reading places John the Baptist at the end of one order and the start of another. They are filed together here so those positions can be read against one another rather than in isolation.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingFigures held to speak on behalf of God. The office is defined differently in each Abrahamic tradition, the Hebrew navi, the Christian reading of the prophets as witnesses to Christ, and the Islamic distinction between the nabi and the rasul who brings a scripture, and the three do not recognise the same list. 2 Size of the Traditional SetTwenty-five prophets are named in the Quran on the usual count; the tradition holds that far more were sent. 3Tradition: Islam Learn More
The Prophets
This group gathers the prophets: figures held to speak on behalf of the divine, delivering revelation, warning or law to a people. The prophetic role is central above all to the Abrahamic traditions, where a line of prophets from the patriarchs onward is understood to carry God's word into history.
The browser will find figures such as those of the Hebrew Bible and the prophets recognised in Christianity and Islam, culminating for Muslims in Muhammad, the seal of the prophets. The entries treat these as figures of sacred narrative, noting where the traditions agree on a prophet and where their accounts differ.
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.