Allah's has exalted some prophets above others in particular aspects 2:253,17:55 like in the manner in which revelation was bestowed upon them or in the type of signs they were given to confirm their prophethood, or in the universality of their message.
Moses spoke to and was spoken to directly and repeatedly by Allah 4:164,7:143 possibly because he needed a special kind of reassurance considering the magnitude of the opposition, whether internal with the rebellious Israelites or external with the ruthless Pharao.
Jesus was a living sign of Allah to the people, along with his mother 21:91,23:50 and the RUH al qudus/breeze of holiness was working with him, under Allah's command and control, allowing him the performance of spectacular signs 2:87,253,5:110. The RUH al qudus/breeze of holiness, besides its basic role of inspiration, gave him the strength and aptitude to perform the miracles that he did. Jesus' association to the RUH do not however make any of them divine. It was a tool sent upon Jesus as was sent on all prophets and regular believers, each time for the purpose for which Allah intends for it. God's breathing from His RUH in every human being doesnt make us or part of us divine 32:9,38:71-2. Ruhana/our breeze or breath is attached to God's name to stress its greatness, the particular connection it creates between the recipient and Allah, as is stated concerning the righteous 58:22"These are they into whose hearts He has impressed faith, and whom He has strengthened with a RUH from Him/minhu". And just as the Quran associates the RUH with Jesus, it does the same with the prophet Muhammad in the context of divine inspiration 16:102. The RUH sent by Allah, under His command, affects multiple people at once like the wind would. Similar usage is seen with the house of Allah or the month of Allah or the sakina of Allah/the soothing calmness that filled Muhammad and the believers, or the love from Allah bestowed upon Moses 20:39 etc. None of those things are considered parts of Allah, having any intrinsic power, or emanating from within His essence, or sharing in His divinity.
Jesus' mention with the RUH is among the patterns of the Quran of taking up the most cherished christological themes, then strip them from their paganistic implications.
David is often singled out, even in comparison to Muhammad, for the scripture he received. The exact aspect by which the original Psalm, now lost, excelled all other divine scriptures may be hard to define, but it could be in terms of beauty and eloquence, as seen by the description of all creation joining David in his hymns to Allah. Both the Quran and the HB speak of non-human creation joining David in his prayers to God.
Ibrahim was made a guide/imam of mankind, in terms of spiritual guidance 2:124. Of course Abraham was not the sole spiritual guide, but "a" guide among many noble personalities throughout the ages. Abraham's particularity in that aspect, as regards all spiritual guides that preceded and those that followed him, is that God Himself honored him with that appellation. This shows the magnitude of his righteousness and faith in Allah.
Muhammad closed the door of prophethood. Being the seal of the prophets 33:40, he was given a revelation that would guard the previous ones 5:48 and remain incorruptible for that purpose. The ahadith give other aspects by which Allah will exalt him on the resurrection; he will lead the sons of Adam, one could say, by virtue of his aforementioned sealing of the line of prophethood, being the final guide of mankind. The hadith in sahih Muslim shows it is speaking of the hereafter
"I shall be pre-eminent/sayyid amongst the descendants of Adam on the Day of Resurrection".
This is further borne out by the prophet's refusal to be called a sayyid in his own lifetime (see hadith below). Sayyid is one who is prominent in status, such as honor and authority. It carries a different connotation than "imam" used for Abraham. When the earth will split open for judgement 84:3-5,99:1-5, it will firstly do so in front of him, he will be the foremost to praise Allah and the first to be granted intercession. This of course does not mean that he alone will praise Allah, just that he will be the foremost, or that nobody else other than him will be allowed to intercede 21:28,43:86 just that he will be the first to do so. He will be honored at the right of the throne and nobody will be allowed at that specific place to the right. These are all marks of honor granted to the prophet, during the resurrection and judgement specifically. It does not exclude that others, whether regular believers, prophets, or angels will receive special stations of honor and exaltation. In fact the Quran states that the sincere believers will be among the prophets and other righteous in the hereafter 4:69.
The concept of nearness to Allah implies honoring, satisfaction and reward as often stated in the Quran. It is used in different contexts, as in the magicians whom Pharaoh promised to honor by drawing them near to him 26:42, to the believers who are urged to seek the means to obtain Allah's nearness 5:35. Nearness to Allah in the Hereafter is presented as the foremost reward of the foremost in faith, far surpassing everything that heaven may offer of delights 56:10-11,88,54:55,83:28 the Prophet Jesus is likewise made near to Allah 3:45, as the angels near to Allah executing His commands 4:172. Those honored individuals will experience realities of the unseen that are restricted to others 83:21. Further, those nearest to God
21:19"are never too proud to worship Him and never grow weary".
Contrary to worldly ownership and mastership, the closer a servant is to his master the more benefits he gains in terms of power, material gains and personal freedom. But as regards to God's ownership which is the true and absolute one, the closer the servant is drawn to Him the more humbled and submissive the servant becomes, aware of his insignificance in relation to the Supreme Being. That is how complete and intricate the Quran is, in its argumentations for perfect monotheism.
The prophet being at the right of the throne does not mean at the right of Allah, and neither does it deny others being allowed at the right of the throne. Just that there will be a specific place to the right that will only be that of the prophet. In the Quran we read of entities bearing the Throne and being near it on the Day of Judgement. None of those verses say that God is or will be seated on this "Throne" 40:7,39:75,69:16-17. Such depictions are found in the HB
1Kings22:19"I saw the Lord seated on His throne, and all the host of heaven were standing by Him on His right and on His left"
or also in Isa6:1,37:16,Ezek1,2,3 all picturing God carried by angelic creatures, seated on His throne. He is also pictured as accompanied by innumerable chariots and angels during certain "important" movements Ps68:18.
Despite the different aspects by which Allah has exalted some prophets above others, Muslims must regard all prophets and messengers as equals 2:136,3:84. We do not give more legitimacy, honor or respect to one above another. Even when the prophet Muhammad himself stated that he was made leader of the prophets, as reported in the hadith, this is a role which Allah has ascribed to him, and should not diminish in the least the eminence of other prophets in our eyes. This reflects in the prophet Muhammad's warning to his addressees not to raise him in status even above the prophet Jonas/Yunus
"No slave (of Allah) should say that I am better than Yunus bin Matta.” So the Prophet mentioned his father’s name with his name".
This is an interesting pattern in the history of prophethood that not a single prophet ever declared his superiority over another. Except in the Gospels' depiction of Jesus, proclaiming his eminence in relation to the prophet Jonah and Solomon in one breath Matt12.
God alone has the prerogative of appointing messengers, assigning roles specific to them and exalting them. It is not becoming of a believer to speak for Allah by saying that one prophet is better than the other. Just as it would not be appropriate for a regular citizen to declare the superiority of a specific army general above others, because the president has honored that general with more medals. The prophet did not say that his leadership of the prophets entailed more honor and praise by his followers. This exalted status is one that affects the relationship between prophets only, and has nothing to do with the relationship between us and the prophets as a whole.
The prophet condemned a zealous follower who overstepped the limits by slapping a man who was speaking of the superiority of Moses on Muhammad, saying it is wrong to engage in discussions discriminating among prophets. He sometimes praised the superiority of character of certain prophets. For example he once said he would not have had Yusuf's strength of character when he provided the interpretation of the king's dream while unjustly imprisoned
"I would not have done so until I put a condition on them that they let me out...May Allah have mercy on Yusuf. May Allah bless him for his patience, and Allah will forgive him. I could not have done that..."
There is a very deep and relevant reason for which the Quran in 2:253 has specifically pointed out Moses and Jesus in the context of God's exaltedness of some prophets above others in particular aspects. The Jews regard it as an article of faith to declare Moses the greatest of all prophets that preceded and followed him, precisely because of the reason mentioned in the verse, ie the manner in which God spoke to him without intermediaries like angels. This discrimination reflects even in the manner in which they have classified and canonized their books, following a descending order of "holiness" depending on the manner in which God communicated with the personalities who authored them. For example the Hebrew Bible is composed first and foremost of the Torah of Moses, viewed as the most sacred of all, then come the books of nevi'im/prophets that are considered holy but not as much as the Torah since although the prophets who wrote these books communicated with God, their interaction with Him were indirect or "blurry" ie through visions or dreams that required interpretation. The last books of the Hebrew bible are the ketuvim/writings, also regarded as holy, but even on a lesser degree than the nevi'im/prophets because their authors -not considered prophets- did not communicate with God, but either through intermediaries like angels, as in Daniel's case whom Rabbis have still not agreed whether he is a prophet or not, or through the ruach hakodesh/spirit of holiness (what the Quran calls ruh alqudus/breath or spirit of holiness). With the passage of time, the years of suffering and exile, and the ensuing loss of the Torah and knowledge of Jewish history, even the praise given to Moses diminished in favor of a new prophetic figure. Ezra, because of his role in re-introducing the Torah, both as a text and in practice, to the exiled Jews, was seen as deserving of having received the revelation of Sinai as Moses was
"R. Yossi says: “Ezra was fit to have the Torah given to Israel by him, if it weren’t for the fact that Moses came before him.”
Christians on the other hand regard Jesus to be the greatest of all prophets sent to mankind, even raising him to the status of a deity, precisely because of those qualities spoken of in 2:253 and that Allah made to shine through him more than with other prophets; the manifestation of the holy spirit through him and the wonders he performed.
That is where the Quran steps in, saying that all prophets received clear signs 57:25 and all of them received God's spirit/breath of prophecy carried down into their hearts by angelic messengers 16:2 and although God's spirit filled some prophets with more intensity than others, were able to perform more spectacular signs than others, or were sometimes spoken to without angelic intermediaries, it is Allah who, in His wisdom, has exalted them in some particular aspects.
Therefore from a true believer's perspective it is not befitting to discriminate among God's messengers in terms of status, holiness or relevancy, or in light of the manner God communicated with them. There is no real standard to use as a reference anyway, since the process of inspiration is something of which very little knowledge has been imparted to us 17:85. The Tanakh itself discards these discriminatory criteria at once when it states, concerning all prophets, including since the time of their exodus with Moses whom they regard as the chief of all prophets
Hosea12:10"I spoke to the prophets, gave them many visions and told parables through them".
All of them are true prophets, no mention of grades despite the different visions they received.
Muslims are required first and foremost as one of the pillars of faith to believe in the existence and truthfulness of all of God's envoys, humans or angels 2:177,285.
Secondly, as regards the human messengers, they must be revered and accepted on the same level, not making any distinction between them in terms of status. In order to stress that particular point to its audience among the people of the book, who were most guilty of that type of partisanship, the Quran, a revelation bestowed upon the Ishmaelite prophet, mentions the Abrahamic lineage and the illustrious names among them. It starts with the common spiritual ancestor Abraham, then his 2 righteous sons and prophets, Ishmael and Isaac, then demonstrates the correct mindframe as regards the noble institution of prophethood. It firstly praises the Israelite line of prophets, citing Jacob, and implicitly the many prophets that were sent among his descendants (al asbat), with the 2 most influential being Moses and Jesus, then ends with a general mention of "the prophets" that includes all of God's envoys sent to the world
3:84,4:152,2:136"Say:'We believe in Allah and in what has been sent down to us, and what was sent down to Abraham and, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, and in what was given to Moses and Jesus and to the prophets from their Lord. We make no difference between any of them. And to Him do we submit".
Again, these verses are Medinian, addressing the people of the book and demonstrating its unprejudiced and non-discriminatory perspective. That is why it only passingly alludes to the Abrahamic line through Ishmael (implicitly in 3:33), focusing instead on the line of its addressees who are from the line of Jacob/Israel.
It is worthwhile to note the term used in the Quran when speaking of the continuous sending of prophets following Moses in 2:87. It says qafayna, derived from q-f-w meaning the back of the neck. The verb means to follow (because you follow the back of someone). It is a word used to describe a poetically structured text or speech because it denotes a close, synchronized, harmonious succession. In the same way, the prophets were closely synchronized in their message, and Allah in the Quran repeatedly states how all revelations are one in essence 46:9,21:7‑10,4:163. This by the way not only is meant at denying any discrimination among them, but it also means that none of those noble personalities deviated in the message he was conveying so as to depart from a well established pattern.
This implies that Jesus, an Israelite prophet in a long line of prophets, would have never asked to be worshiped so as to depart from the pattern of his predecessors.
Muhammad was inspired following the same pattern as other known illustrious men before him were, including many unnamed and forgotten ones, whether among the tribes of Israel (Jewish tradition holds that thousands were sent to them) or outside of them
4:163-4"We inspired towards you as We inspired towards Noah and the prophets from after him. And We inspired towards Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the children (of Jacob)/alasbat and Jesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomon. And we brought to David, Psalm. And (We sent) apostles We have mentioned to you before and apostles we have not mentioned to you; and to Musa, Allah addressed His Word, speaking (to him)."
As shown above through the attitude of Jews and Christians in whose creed one must acknowledge the superiority of one prophet above all others, Islam, truly earns its name as the "willful surrender unto God" instead of surrendering to one's prejudice and desires.
Just as it calls and presents the prophet Muhammad as no more than a humble slave of Allah, Jesus is equally shown as powerless without Allah's will and in entire submission to Him. That description is appropriate given the Christians' raising him to divine status. Moses likewise, seen as the wisest of all prophets by the Jews, is shown humbling himself before another of God's messengers who far surpassed him in wisdom and knowledge of the unseen. This again is highly appropriate given the particular exaltation the Jews give him in comparison to other prophets.
The Quran in addition admonishes against the attitude of claiming belief in God but rejecting a particular prophet 4:150. Those who do so simply do not like the message from the God they claim to believe in, it threatens their sinful ways and prevents them from pursuing their evil interests.
Muslims are warned not to fall in the same prejudice and error of the Jews and Christians who each gave such absolute reverence to a particular prophet that they regarded and still do, the acceptance of a new prophet with a different message as a denial of the superiority of their revered figure. In 45:16-18 the Quran addresses Muhammad, telling him just as another nation was vouchsafed revelation, he too is now chosen and put on the straight path, thus stressing the continuation of the divine message.
Stress is also laid, in different ways, on the principle that rejecting one messenger amounts to rejecting all the messengers because all of them had brought one and the same message from Allah 26:105,123,141,160,176.
Whatever was the special knowledge distinction or ability with which they excelled their people, the prophets always attributed them to God 12:37-40,27:15-19.
The Quran, when referring to the most honourable experiences of the prophet still calls him a slave, such as in the context of his chosenness, possessor of a miracle and taken on the israa and miraj 2:23,17:1,18:1. Therefore the Quran continuously stresses the prophet Muhammad being a slave of Allah like any Muslims 7:194, not possessing the keys of the unseen except what Allah granted him 7:188 and him being nothing but a warner and giver of glad tidings.
Muslims of the past and today, including contemporaries of the prophet would sometimes over exalt him. Like in every community with a charismatic leader, there will be people who will be inclined to overstep the bounds of reverence, even when the leader explicitly tells them not to do so. And when these leaders are prophets, per the Quran the highest rank a human being can reach in terms of spiritual eminence, then this tendency among the followers becomes more pronounced.
The prophet Muhammad disliked being honoured like a royalty, and hence forbade his people to stand up for him. His followers knew it and despite their love for him would refrain from doing so
"There was no person more beloved to them than the Messenger of Allah." [He said:] "And they would not stand when they saw him because they knew that he disliked that."
This resulted in many times visitors being unable to distinguish between him and the remaining assembly. In contrast, one thing God made sure of is that the believers should lower their voices and carefully listen to the prophet in their midst and on whose instructions salvation depends 49:2. He would not let people stand for him although he himself would stand up for others, as he did when
"A funeral passed by the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and he stood up. It was said to him, “It is a Jew.” The Prophet said, “Was he not a soul?”. Just as he refused for others to stand up for him, he did not let anyone bow down for him out of reverance "When Mu‘aadh ibn Jabal came from Syria, he prostrated to the Prophet, who said, “What is this, O Mu‘aadh?” He said, I went to Syria and saw them prostrating to their archbishops and patriarchs, and I wanted to do that for you. The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, “Do not do that".
Many ahadith, let alone the Quran, explain that there is a fine line between justified reverence, due to a person's righteousness only, and unjustified over exaltation
”A group of men once said, ‘O Muhammad! You are our most righteous person, and the son of our most righteous person, our ‘sayyid’ (great Master) and the son of our ‘sayyid.’ The Messenger of Allah thereupon said, ‘O people! Say what you have to say, but do not allow Satan to deceive you. I am Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdullah, Allah’s Servant and Messenger. I do not like that you elevate me above the rank that Allah, Almighty and Ever-Majestic be He, has granted me.’ “
The prophet further said
“Do not exagerate in praising me as the Christians praised the son of Mary,for I am only a slave. So, call me the slave of Allah and His Messenger".
The result is that despite the reverence of the multitudes, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, for various reasons, towards this righteous, humble and God-fearing man, neither he nor his admirers, past and present, claimed that he was a son of God, His incarnation or divine in any other way, but instead he always was and still is the slave and messenger of Allah. This was certainly no false humility. Although he was known as the most trustworthy individual among his contemporaries, enemies and friends alike who would both entrust him with valuables, as well as the fair distribution of charity, to the point that he was given the epithet al-amin/the trustworthy one, he showed that this quality, even in its supreme form is not his prerogative
"The Prophet said, "Every nation has an Amin (i.e. the most honest man), and the Amin of this nation is Abu 'Ubaida bin Al-Jarrah"
He consistently refused the offers of worldly compensation by his opponents in exchange for giving up or changing some of his message. Even when the community had grown prosperous he maintained a simple, sometimes bordering on ascetic lifestyle.
