Have you ever wondered why God sent only Male Prophets not females?






I came across this question by our dear member clouds, which I thought deserve to be discussed and have different religions inputs.

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Female Prophets

Sarah Gen 11:29 - 23:20
Miriam Ex. 15:20-21; Num. 12:1-12:15, 20:1
Deborah Judges 4:1 - 5:31
Hannah I Sam 1:1 - 2:21
Abigail I Sam 25:1 - 25:42
Huldah II Kings 22:14-20
Esther Esther

For Christians, "prophet" is not a very important category. There are people who are called "prophets" in various senses and we don't attach that much importance to the term. For Muslims, who was and who was not a prophet is VERY important, I think. For us? It's not very important.

But the term "prophetess" (female prophet) is used of a few figures. The most important in the New Testament is probably Anna, the prophetess in the Temple who recognizes Jesus. Then in the Old Testament, Deborah, the great heroine of the Jewish people, is called a prophetess. And so are Mary, sister of Moses; and Holda, a contemporary of Jeremiah.

And there are also figures who "prophesy" in the New Testament and can be called "prophets" in an extended sense.

What is the Muslims definition of a Prophet anyway?

Female Prophets

Sarah Gen 11:29 - 23:20
Miriam Ex. 15:20-21; Num. 12:1-12:15, 20:1
Deborah Judges 4:1 - 5:31
Hannah I Sam 1:1 - 2:21
Abigail I Sam 25:1 - 25:42
Huldah II Kings 22:14-20
Esther Esther

Ah, look, we have overlapped some! :)

But I'm not sure about some of those names...are they actually called 'nebî'ah', 'prophetess'? Or is it just the judgment of some modern Jews that they should be included in the category?

Esther, for example, is certainly a wonderful and heroic figure, one of the most winning women in the Bible. But I'm not sure why we would call her a prophetess, rather than simply a great woman.

What is the Muslims definition of a Prophet anyway?


This is a good question to start with.

But is it only for Muslims :mmhmm: What about other religions ??

It's funny because I didn't start thinking about it til I got on Sabla.

I think the reason is: Prophets and the idea of Prophethood are central to Islam. Not to Christianity.

I think prophet means two things in Christianity.

1. Someone who is directly spoken to by God and sent out on a public commission to teach and warn and sometimes to predict the future to the whole People. There was a great Age of Prophets in Israel in which the Kings of Israel were not faithful to the religion of God's people and His instruments. He raised up Prophets who were His intruments and the writings are left in the Prophetic Books of the Old Testament. You could call these "capital P Prophets". Jesus was the last and greatest Prophet who went beyond the definition and ushured in the New Age of God's Son after which the time for Prophets with a capital P is past because we have no need for them any longer.

2. People who speak a message from God, often in worship. These people are not sent as the Major Messengers to God's people, just to individuals or small groups. Sometimes the predict the future or give some other message. You could call these 'small p prophets.' We still have these today, though they are commoner at some times and places than at others.

But only after thinking and talking about it on Sabla did it really become clear to me: Christians can easily spend their whole lives never giving a single thought to Prophets or Who is a Prophet? It's not very important to our teaching.

Ah, look, we have overlapped some! :)

But I'm not sure about some of those names...are they actually called 'nebî'ah', 'prophetess'? Or is it just the judgment of some modern Jews that they should be included in the category?

Esther, for example, is certainly a wonderful and heroic figure, one of the most winning women in the Bible. But I'm not sure why we would call her a prophetess, rather than simply a great woman.

These are the 7 prophetesses according to the Talmud Megillah, why I don't know.

We DO say every Sunday:

"I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son He is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets..."

But only after thinking and talking about it on Sabla did it really become clear to me: Christians can easily spend their whole lives never giving a single thought to Prophets or Who is a Prophet? It's not very important to our teaching.
Dnt be ridicoulus : we dnt venerate them same as you do with Jesus or Mary
We just like to remember the difficult conditions in which they had to deliver the message in order not to make the mistake to reject it, and we thank God He sent them to us
That's all

Moreover, are you Catholic or not ?
If you are, you cannot say you were not taught about Prophets in the same way and intensity of Islam
Not true that they're not important at all

^^

I didn't say, "not important at all". I said, "not very important".

And that's true.

Ask Wudjab, Thalia or any other Catholic how much time in their religious education was spent talking about Prophets. Very little, I would imagine.

They are mentioned. But we don't spend much time thinking about them. We think about Saints, about Apostles, about Evangelists. But we spend very little time thinking about or learning about Prophets.

The CONCEPT of prophethood and the question of who and who was exactly a Prophet is central to Islam. I didn't say you "venerate" them.

.

They are mentioned. But we don't spend much time thinking about them. We think about Saints, about Apostles, about Evangelists. But we spend very little time thinking about or learning about Prophets.



For muslims what matters is following the teachings of prophet Mohammed :PBUH: because it's the key to gain Allah love as stated in the Quran.

As for female prophets there are no evidences about it either in the Quran or sunnah.

I'm thinking about this for the first time after reading it here.

Who sends and chooses prophets?
Allah SWT.

So the only answer why He may have not sent female prophets is with Him!
There are only about 27 or 28 prophets mentioned in the Qura'n...But most Islamic opinions I've heard agree that these are not the ONLY prophets. That there were other prophets. I have, however, not heard of an opinion saying, 'Yes, there are DEFINITELY female prophets' since that is not mentioned in the Qura'n.

The term prophet is not the same meaning as it is in English I guess.
Since there are two terms used in the Qura'n: naby (prophet) and rasoul (messenger). A nabi will come and provide new scripture from divine revleation. A rasoul will confirm the existing scripture. Thus, every naby is a rasoul but not every rasoul is a naby. Mohammed, Jesus, Abraham and Moses PBUT all are from the 'anbia' (Arabic plural for naby) and are thus also messengers while Yousef and Hud PBUT are examples of rosol (Arabic plural for rasoul).

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^^Who sends and chooses prophets?
Allah SWT.

We had a thread some time ago that "prophets" are self proclaimed since god has never come down to humanity and said ... this person/that person or whatever is a prophet.

A "person" tells you he/she is a prophet and depending on his/her following is his/her status accepted or not as a prophet.

^^

I really like Jack's post because it is the typical reaction of the modern non-religious secularist to these questions. (I'm not defining Jack, just characterizing the thinking in terms of its origins). Lots of people think that way and it's not so unreasonable, is it?

The response has to be to look at these things:

~Can/does God speak to human beings?
~How can we know He is doing so?
~If He does, why doesn't He speak to us more directly?
~If God speaks to us through human beings, how can we establish that this is so?

All that I'm going to say below is purely out my personal Islamic knowledge. Whoever wants to correct me, please do.

A prophet is not just any 'person' in the world. God chooses wisely and with care His prophets. Let's take the Islamic example of the prophet Mohammed PBUH. Before he became a prophet at the age of forty, the prophet PBUH was known among people as 'The Honest and the Trustworthy'. He was known for his honesty, his integrity, the fact that he never bowed to a monument in worship and that he was a simple shepherd who used to go at times and think ABOUT the 'One God' in the shadows of a cave known as the Cave of Hira'a. It was within that cave that the prophet PBUH recieved his first revelation of the Qura'n from Allah SWT through the Angel Gibreel. Before the revelation came on him, the prophet PBUH helped prevent bloodshed in the tribe of Quraysh (a long story really, if you want its account, PM).

Prophets are distinguished by miracles...
Jesus PBUH was born unlike all human beings...With only one parent.
Jesus PBUH healed people with the will of Allah.
Moosa PBUH threw his stick on the ground in front of Pharaoh and with the will of Allah, it transformed into a serpent.
Moosa PBUH tapped his stick to desert land and with the will of Allah 12 springs of water appeared for him and his company to drink from.

But one arguing against religion and taking religious arguments and turning them against a person of religion can ask: Why didn't the Angel Gibreel BECOME the prophet? Why does God choose one of the humans and not one of the angels who do not have the ability to sin at all? The answer is that God would not do so because an angel prophet can be effective among the angels but not among the humans.

Jeff, all the questions you posed are purely questions of faith...
Can God speak to human beings? Yes He can.
How can we know He is doing so? By taking a look at what the 'prophet' has to say. There are many people who have claimed to have divine revelation in Egypt...All of them are spending their time in the Abbasia Hospital For Mental Diseases these days.
If He does why can't He speak to us more directly? Hmm...I think the question here is rather aimed at God. Not the person who has to reply.
If God speask to us through human beings, how can we establish that this is so? It's the same question, though different wording, as your second question.

very interesting threadlike i can add nothing but to answer your question:

Why didn't the Angel Gibreel BECOME the prophet? Why does God choose one of the humans and not one of the angels who do not have the ability to sin at all?

actually God answered your question in the holy quran as follows:
p.s: i'll try to translate the verses with my own words since i don't know where to get the exact translation to the verses into english ( Mods can edit and replace it with the genuine translation of the holy quran).

( قل لو كان في الأرض ملائكة يمشون مُطْمَئِنِّينَ لنزَّلنا عليهم من السَّماء ملكاً رسولاً ) [ الإسراء : 95 ] .

if there are angels in the earth walking without being scared, then We sent them an angel messenger.

this means that angels are different from people and people will get scared from angels if they were sent as prophets and we all know that our prophet :PBUH: got scared when he saw Gibreel for the first time and run to his wife khadeeja saying: dathreeni dathreeni ( cover me cover me ).


even when God sends Gibreel He sends him in a shape of a man as mentioned in the holy Quran too:

( وقالوا لولا أنزل عليه ملكٌ ولو أنزلنا ملكاً لقضي الأمر ثم لا ينظرون – ولو جعلناه ملكاً لَّجعلناه رجلاً وَلَلَبَسْنَا عليهم مَّا يلبسون ) [الأنعام : 8-9].

last but not least, God made it clear that humans won't believe in God unless He wants to, either they were sent angel prophets or the dead talked to them or any other thing.

( ولو أننَّا نزَّلنا إليهم الملائكة وَكَلَّمَهُمُ الْمَوْتَى وحشرنا عليهم كلَّ شيءٍ قبلاً ما كانوا ليؤمنوا إلا أن يشاء الله ولكنَّ أكثرهم يجهلون ) [ الأنعام : 111 ] .

that's why we should always say: Thank you God for the bless of Islam. and thats why we always recite the verse: ehdina alsirata al mustaqeem ( show us the right path ) in every single prayer 5 times a day.

These are not bad answers, Threadlike. Prophets often show signs...wondrous miracles that distinguish them from others. But not all prophets did so. Elijah did. Jeremiah didn't.

And those of us in later ages didn't see the miracles.

I think God's word through prophets has to be received and evaluated by each heart. My reception of God's word, my belief in what he said, has to be on the basis of my conscience. It ties in with what I already know about reality and the world and myself. It appeals to what I already know in my deepest self.

When Moses says, Thou shalt not kill, he is not saying something that is strange to me. When he says, Hear, O Israel: The Lord thy God, the Lord is ONE!, He is saying something that, when I open my mind and heart to it seems like something I already obscurely understood from my earliest years.

MY HEART testifies to the truth of the Prophets.

What about Jack's heart? Well, that's between Jack and God.

If he doesn't accept the word of the Prophet, maybe that's because his culture or his experiences in life rendered him innocently deaf. I can't judge him.

But maybe he is resisting the testimony of his own deepest self. If that is what he is doing, then he will be judged for it. And sitting in judgment with God will be Jack, who will agree with God's judgment of him 100%.

Prophets say, "I am declaring to you a Truth which carries its own power and that power speaks to your heart. If you listen to your heart and mind, you will accept this message on its own merits."

That is why Jesus, Who did many signs, also said, "an evil and unfaithful generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given it..."

If we receive signs, but our hearts are not open to God's speech, we will disbelieve or explain away or forget even the most wondrous sign.

I think its a matter of belief ,, I mean there must be a wise reason why Allah made Adam which is a male before Eve ,, & this reason that we don't know about, we shouldn't go digging for some answers that will round us in circles ..

That's right Xgirl and God said it straight to us that we shouldn't ask about things we might not like their answer. The answer of this question is restricted to God Himself.

Female Prophets

Sarah Gen 11:29 - 23:20
Miriam Ex. 15:20-21; Num. 12:1-12:15, 20:1
Deborah Judges 4:1 - 5:31
Hannah I Sam 1:1 - 2:21
Abigail I Sam 25:1 - 25:42
Huldah II Kings 22:14-20
Esther Esther


I believe the first one is Prophet Abraham's wife, and the second one is Prophet Moses's sister.
They're both mentioned in the Quraan but its not mentioned if they're prophets or not :think:

I think, according to Islam, the only female prophet was the Virgin Mary. Other than the fact that she's the purest woman ever :yes:

I think, according to Islam, the only female prophet was the Virgin Mary. Other than the fact that she's the purest woman ever :yes:

Interesting!

For us, she is not a prophetess, though she is the greatest of all the things God created.

I think, according to Islam, the only female prophet was the Virgin Mary.

she is not considered as a prophetess in Islam. But the mother of Jesus
( PBUH).

Some say she is, some include "alaiha al salam" after her name. Some say she's not

I believe the first one is Prophet Abraham's wife, and the second one is Prophet Moses's sister.
They're both mentioned in the Quraan but its not mentioned if they're prophets or not :think:

I think, according to Islam, the only female prophet was the Virgin Mary. Other than the fact that she's the purest woman ever :yes:

Most misleading post from the Islamic point of view.

If it is due to ignorance, my privilege to give you the correct picture.

She is the highest honorable lady ever born and in her honor there is a chapter of verse in The Holy Qur’an.

If you wish to go in depth or wish to penetrated to truth , how Islam / Muslim respect her, compare description with The Bible and The Holy Qur’an , how she was blessed with The Jesus (Pbuh).

Because, Logically, Women Back Then Didn't Have The Same Value As Men.

(well maybe today too)

Most misleading post from the Islamic point of view.

If it is due to ignorance, my privilege to give you the correct picture.

She is the highest honorable lady ever born and in her honor there is a chapter of verse in The Holy Qur’an.

If you wish to go in depth or wish to penetrated to truth , how Islam / Muslim respect her, compare description with The Bible and The Holy Qur’an , how she was blessed with The Jesus (Pbuh).

I should have included SOME to that sentence, my bad. But it's true, some view her as a female prophet. Just like Al khudhur (The man who took Moses to the sea journey) there are question marks under him, some say that he's a prophet, some say that he's a gifted holy man.

But Braiki, this brings us back to the original question: What is a Prophet (in Islam)?

In Christianity, it's not very important if Abraham is a Prophet or isn't a Prophet. He's a Patriarch and our Father in Faith and one of the central religious figures.

But who is and isn't a Prophet seems like much more of a central question in Islam. Am I right? And what exactly is a Prophet, according to Muslims?

^^ it is either declared in the Quraan or Prophet referred to them mentioned them as Nabbi.
That's as far as I can tell. Maybe others have more info about it