Prophet Muhammad ﷺ - The First One To Be Chosen

​The First Prophet & Messenger

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was the last prophet to be sent but he was the first one to be chosen. Allah ﷻ chooses a prophet whom He trusts, directly communicates His guidance and revelations, to deliver to the people to whom he is sent. The difference between all the previous prophets (alaihim us salaam) and Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is that the former were only sent to their respective nations but he was sent to the entire humankind. As the saying goes 'with higher status comes greater responsibility', therefore the responsibility to deliver guidance for entire humanity until the Day of Judgment can only be assigned to someone who is truly deserving of this status and that was Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The reason for him being sent as the final is due to him being chosen and honored as the first, as taught according to Quran and hadith, i.e. the two foremost sources of guidance in Islam. Allah ﷻ reminds us: “And (remember), when Allah took the covenant of the prophets, [saying], "Whatever I give you of the Scripture and wisdom and then there comes to you a messenger confirming what is with you, you [must] believe in him and support him." [Allah] said, "Have you acknowledged and taken upon that My commitment?" They said, "We have acknowledged it." He said, "Then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses.”[1] This covenant was made with the souls of all prophets, in their primordial existence in the heavens, before they were sent on earth. Commenting on the above verse, Prophet’s cousin and son in law Ali Ibn Abi Talib (alaihi salaam) and his cousin Abdullah Ibn Abbas (radiAllahu anhu), the two most knowledgeable companions said: “Allah never sent a prophet but after taking his pledge that if Muhammad were sent in his lifetime, he would believe in and support him.”[2] This prophetic covenant is similar to the covenant Allah ﷻ took from souls of entire humankind about His Tawhid (Oneness) of Lordship and Divinity, which He continued to remind nations by sending Prophets throughout history: “[remind them O Prophet], when your Lord took out the offspring from the loins of the Children of Adam and made them bear witness about themselves, He said, ‘Am I not your Lord?’ and they replied, ‘Yes, we bear witness.’ So you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, ‘We were not aware of this,’”[3] Allah ﷻ made these two covenants, one with the souls of entire humankind about His Tawhid (Oneness) and one with souls of all Prophets about the prophethood of his last and greatest messenger Muhammad ﷺ.  Additionally, the blessed words of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ also inform us that his existence preceded that of Adam (alaihi salaam), the first human and prophet: “Verily I was written in Allah's Presence as the Seal of Prophets while when Adam was still kneaded in his clay.”[4] In another narration it is said, “I was a Prophet while Adam was still between the spirit and the body.”[5] More discussion on this primordial existence of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is given in the subsequent posts.

References:
[1] Al Quran 3:81
[2] Tafsir Ibn Kathir – Surah Al Imran 3:81 - Taking a Pledge From the Prophets to Believe in Our Prophet, Muhammad – www.qtafsir.com
[3] Al Quran 7:172
[4] Narrated by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, and al-Hakim in his Mustadrak.
[5] Tirmidhi narrated it and said it hasan sahih, and it is authenticated by al-Hakim 2:609 as sahih, and also narrated by Ibn Abi Shayba in his Musannaf 14:292, and al-Bukhari in his Tarikh 7:374.

---