Thousands Of Prophets Tried and over 99.9% Failed

The Qur’an states, “You have an excellent example to follow in Abraham.” (60:4) and “Follow the way of Abraham as people of pure faith.” (3:95) What makes Prophet Abraham, who is described in three different Sacred Scriptures as the only Prophet to be one “whom God chose to be His friend” (Qur’an 4:125, Isaiah 41:8, and James the brother of Jesus, 2:23) so special?

Islam teaches that Prophets were inspired and sent to all of mankind in different lands and at different times. One version of a hadith puts the number of prophets sent to mankind as 124,000 (Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 5, 169). Whether the number was exactly 124,000 or not is not important.

What was essential was that no land, people or period was neglected by God. Prophets were sent to every human language group since the age of Adam. The Qur’an says: “There never was a people without a Warner (Prophet) having lived among them’ (35:24) and “We would never visit our wrath (chastise any community) until We had sent a Messenger to give warning” (17:15)

Since there are over 7.000 languages now spoken in the world, and another 10-20,000 that were spoken over the previous 10,000 years and then died out, all human societies have been taught the way God wants each of them to conduct their Divine worship (Qur’an 21:25), and the moral behavioral rules they should observe (Qur’an 16:90-92). Even today when hundreds of languages are dying out, the African continent is home to some of the most multilingual countries in the world. For example Cameroon has a population of around 27 million people; and over 250 different languages are spoken as first languages.

As a non-Orthodox Reform Rabbi who first became interested in Islam when I studied Islam at a university (UCLA) over 64 years ago, I have continued my study of Islam off and on since that time. In many ways Ahadith relating Prophet Muhammad’s comments about Orthodox Judaism, and religion in general, prefigure the thinking of most Reform Rabbis some 12-13 centuries later.

This is why I think of myself as a Muslim Hebrew, i.e. a Jew who firmly believes in the one and only God, and who remains faithful to the covenant the God made with the Jewish People at Mount Sinai. If the Orthodox Jews in the generation of Prophet Muhammad has followed his teaching that “religion is easy”, Reform Judaism would have developed 14 centuries ago.

The term ivri (the Hebrew) first appears in the Torah, when Prophet Abraham is called “the Hebrew’.“And it was told to Abram the Hebrew” (Genesis 14:13) And Prophet Joseph uses the name as both a geographical and an socio-ethnic term: “I was kidnapped from the land of the ivrim” Genesis 40:15 and ’a Hebrew youth’ 41:12, and “The Egyptians could not eat with the ivrim, since that would be an abomination” Genesis.43:32.

The name for Abraham’s grandson Jacob was later changed to Israel, and the name Israel largely replaced Hebrews after the Hebrews left Egypt. Banu Israel is the best name for Jews because it was the name given to Jacob by God himself; and it has been in use for over 3,500 years.

The word Muslim is a religious identity term that refers to faithful monotheistic believers. The word Hebrew is a linguistic, geographical and ethnic identity term like German the language, Germany the homeland and Germans the people. The word descendent is a biological inherited birth identity term like nobility or tribe.

Islam was a religion designed by God to overcome all other self-identities: “O mankind, We created you from male and female, and made you peoples and tribes, that you may know (respect) one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.” (Quran 49:13)

“Once all humans were but a single community; then they disagreed (formulating different beliefs and rites). Had it not been that your Lord had already so ordained, a decisive judgement would have been made regarding [the truth of] their disagreements.” (10:19)

Then all human communities invented different religions of their own with different creeds and ways. This worldly life is a trial to see whether or not you yourselves recognize truth by competing in doing acts of kindness, toleration and welcoming others who are different into your own lands.

And: “Who is better in religion than one who submits himself to Allah while being a doer of good and follows the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth? And Allah took Abraham as an intimate friend.” (4:125)

None of the Messengers sent prior to Prophet Abraham were able to establish an ongoing monotheistic community that lasted. “And when there came to them a Messenger from Allah, confirming what was with them, a party of the people who were given the Book threw away the Book of Allah behind their backs, as if they did not know it!” (Qur’an 2:101)

And “Those who disbelieve are steeped in arrogance and defiance. How many generations have We destroyed before them? They cried out when it was too late to escape. And they marveled that a warner had come to them from among them. The disbelievers said, “This is a lying magician.” “Did he turn all the gods into one God? This is something strange.” The notables among them announced: “Go on, and hold fast to your gods. This is something planned. We never heard of this in the former faith. This is nothing but a fabrication. (Qur’an 38:2-7)

And finally: “The people of Noah denied before them, and the companions of the well and Thamūd; and ʿAad and Pharaoh and the brothers [neighbors] of Lot; and the companions of the forest, and the people of Tubbaʿ. All denied the messengers [Allah sent to them] so My threat was justly fulfilled.” [50:12-14]

It is narrated from Abu Dharr that one day he asked the Messenger of Allah: How many prophets are there in all? He replied: One hundred and twenty four thousand. He then asked: How many of them were messenger prophets? He replied: Three hundred thirteen from the above group. He asked: Who was the first of them? He replied: Adam…The first prophet among Bani Israel was Musa and the last of them was Isa and they were in all six hundred (Jewish) prophets.” (Biharul Anwar, Vol. 11, Pg. 32)

Prophets Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad all received a Divine book. Abraham was the first of those we know about to receive a Sacred Scripture. All of the others were among Prophet Abraham’s descendants.

Is this what makes Abraham so special that his name appears 69 times in the Qur’an, second only to Moses (136 times)? I do not think that being mentioned frequently is why Abraham plays such an important part in all three Abrahamic religions.

Prophet Isaiah stated: But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, are the offspring of Abraham, my friend;” (Isaiah 41:8) So the biological offspring of Prophet Abraham (the Banu Israel) became the first ongoing monotheistic community when God rescued them from Egyptian oppression; and made an ongoing covenant with them at Mount Sinai. Prophet Abraham was not born a Jew, but his descendants from his grandson Jacob/Israel became the Banu Israel—Jewish People.

For over 1,250 years after Prophet Moses, the Banu Israel were the only ongoing imageless, monotheistic community in the world. “Similarly, no Messenger came to the People before them, but they said (of him) “A sorcerer, or one possessed’”! (51:52) And as the Qur’an informed us: “The people of Noah denied before them, and the companions of the well and Thamūd; and ʿAad and Pharaoh and the brothers [neighbors] of Lot; and the companions of the forest, and the people of Tubbaʿ. All denied the messengers [Allah sent to them] so My threat was justly fulfilled.” [50:12-14]

And those imageless monotheistic communities that did last for a few generations, always fell away during subsequent centuries; while most, but not all, of Banu Israel remained loyal to the covenant God made with them at Mount Sinai: “Before (Messengers Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus) We sent messengers to many nations, and We afflicted the nations with suffering and adversity, that they call Allah in humility. When the suffering reached them from Us, why then did they not call Allah in humility? On the contrary, their hearts became hardened, and Satan made their sinful acts seem alluring to them. (Qur’an 6:42-43)

Sacred covenants (promises that involve mutual commitments) form the backbone of the Hebrew Bible. And central to the covenant is the promise of ‘offspring’; so that the covenant will be on-going into far distant generations. God’s prophets throughout the Hebrew Scriptures urge people to worship the one God; to reproduce an ongoing monotheistic community; and then responsibly rule over the land that God gives them.

Prophet Abraham is especially famous for the numerous ways God tested him; especially the terrible tests of banishing his wife Hagar and his first born son Ishmael (Qur’an 2:124 & Genesis 9:9-21) and bringing his sons to a special place as an offering to God. (Qur’an 37:100-113 & Genesis 22:1-24).

God repeatedly promised Abraham offspring and a land for them to dwell in (Genesis 12:7; 13:15; 15:18; 17:8). Abraham was promised that he would be “the father of a multitude of nations”. (Genesis 17:4-6).

God later confirmed this covenant when Abraham proved that he was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac: “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice (Genesis 22:17-18).

God would also affirm a covenant with Ishmael (the son of Hagar) and his descendants (the Arabs) to be “fruitful” because he was Abraham’s offspring (Genesis 16:10; 17:20; 21:13). And God reaffirmed the Abrahamic covenant to Isaac and his offspring (Genesis 17:19; 26:3-4, 24) and then to Jacob and his offspring (Genesis 28:4, 13-14; 35:12); emphasizing each time the importance of their descendants maintaining an on-going monotheistic religious community.

As the Qur’an states: “So when he (Abraham) turned away from them (the polytheists and idol worshippers) and from those (gods) whom they worshipped besides God, We gave him Isaac and Jacob and each one of them We made a prophet.” (Quran 19:49)

God changed Jacob’s name to “Israel” and declared: “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” (Genesis 35:11-12).

Prophet Jacob, surrounded by his large family when he died, was concerned that his children and their descendants might forget the essence of Abraham’s worship.  Jacob lived his life reinforcing his message to his children and grandchildren to worship God alone; free from any partners:”Or were you witnesses when death approached Jacob? When he said to his sons: ‘What will you worship after me?’ They said: ‘We will worship your God, the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac – One God.  And to Him we submit.’” (Qur’an 2:133)

After Jacob was renamed Israel, and his 12 sons formed the basis of the 12 tribes, (Genesis 32:28; 35:10, 22-26) the people of Israel became a new creation; an ongoing religious community who later at Sinai, for the first and only time, entered into a collective covenant with the God of Abraham.

They were not merely a community of believers who had each enter into an individual covenant with God by submitting to a new monotheistic belief; as was the case with all the prophets of other religions. They were already a community of ex-slaves mostly composed of the 12 monotheistic tribes of Israel; but also including a mixed multitude of other slaves who joined the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. (Exodus 12:38)

Together they responded affirmatively to the covenant God offered to make with them. As the Qur’an states: “O Children of Israel! call to mind the (special) favor which I bestowed upon you, and fulfill your covenant with Me as I fulfill My Covenant with you, and fear none but Me. (Qur’an 2:40)

But as the centuries passed the ongoing need to protect the Jewish way of life became increasingly the focus of their efforts; and after the deaths of Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, Banu Israel became more and more inclined to building a fence to protect the Torah, and making the rules more numerous and restrictive.

Yet the importance of the ongoing Covenant between Allah and the whole Children of Israel is also affirmed by the Qur’an: “We [Allah] made a covenant with you [Children of Israel]  and raised the Mountain [Sinai] above you, saying:  ‘Grasp fervently [the Torah] what We [Allah] have given you, and bear in mind its precepts, that you may guard yourselves against evil'”.[Qur’an 2:63]