Utilities:
• Discussion forums
• Site Statistics
• Contact us
• Search the website

Other statements on metaphorical use of words nabi and rasul

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad writes:

• "These words (rasul, etc.) are used by way of metaphor, just as in Hadith also the word nabi has been used for the Promised Messiah. It is obvious that he who is sent by God is His envoy, and an envoy is called rasul in Arabic. And he who discloses news of the unseen, having received it from God, is known as nabi in Arabic. The meanings in Islamic terminology are different. Here only the linguistic meaning is intended."
  (Arba`in, published December 1900, No. 2, p. 18, footnote.)

• "Here the words rasul and nabi which have been used about me in the revelation from God, that he is the messenger and prophet of God, are meant in a metaphorical and figurative sense."
  (Arba`in, No. 3, p. 25, footnote.)

• "God speaks to, and communicates with, His saints (auliya) in this Ummah, and they are given the colour of prophets. However, they are not prophets in reality (haqiqat)."
  (Mawahib ar-Rahman, published January 1903, pp. 66, 67.)

• "And I have been called nabi (prophet) by Allah by way of metaphor, not by way of reality (haqiqat)."
  (Haqiqat al-Wahy, Supplement, p. 64.)