Introduction

Muhammad and the Quran appear from one perspective to be inseparable: without Muhammad, there could arguably have been no Quran; without the Quran, which selfidentifies as the final written message of God to mankind, Muhammad would have had no mission, and certainly no locus as ‘seal of the prophets’ (khātam al-anbiyā). That prophethood and revelation are linked inextricably is evident, and it was for this reason that they were discussed together in the previous chapter. The link which ties the Quran to Muhammad also dictates, therefore, that they be treated together here. Further justification may be found in the fact that Nursi rarely discusses what is claimed to be God’s final revelation to mankind without mentioning the man who is claimed to be God’s final messenger.

In the previous chapter we saw how Nursi claimed that revelation is a natural concomitant of Divine existence and is necessitated by the effulgence of the ‘beautiful Names’, which in a sense demand to be seen and appreciated: their manifestation in the form of the phenomena which comprise the cosmos is revelation, sans book and sans prophet. Revelation, therefore, is primordial, and can in one respect be spoken about without any reference to prophethood. At the same time, however, Nursi is quick to point out that God self-identifies as one who speaks to his creation not only in the language of mute eloquence – namely the existence of the cosmos itself – but also in the spoken language of men. And to speak in the language of men requires the existence of means of communication through which Divine discourse can be channelled. These means are the prophets.

Revelation and prophethood are, then, linked inextricably, and provide the means whereby beings are made aware of the very Source of their being. The Islamic revelation teaches belief in a number of prophets, all of whom were tasked with the mission of communicating the truths and realities of Divine unity to man, and a small number of whom were recipients of particularised revelations in the form of written messages or ‘scriptures’. As far as the Quran is concerned, there is no palpable difference between the prophets as far as the core concept elucidated in their messages – namely obedience to one God and one God only – is concerned, even though their missions and approaches may be radically different. Nursi accounts for the diversity of prophets and the different styles of prophethood as follows: