Islamiyat · May / June 2025 · Paper 22 · Question 4

God revealed books to some of His prophets. Write about Muslim belief in prophets and the books revealed to them.

Use AO1 Levels of Response.

In this answer candidates need to write about both Muslim belief in prophets and the books revealed to some of the prophets.

It could be said that in order to teach people how to live a good life God sent messages to guide them. These messages were brought to people by men that God chose as His prophets.

The first prophet sent to Earth was Adam and the last prophet sent to guide people and to give them the message of God was the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). He is the last in a long line of prophets sent to this world. One of the duties of all the prophets of God was to teach people the message of tawhid and to show them how to be good people and to guide them to the right path.

Prophethood is a gift from God, He bestows it on whomsoever He chooses. Candidates could go on to develop their answer by giving the qualities and attributes as well as miracles of prophets chosen by God. All prophets of God spoke the language of their people.

The number of prophets sent throughout history is thought to be approximately 124,000 and Muslims should have faith in all the prophets sent by God and make no distinction between them [al-Baqara 2:285]. Candidates could go on to name some of the prophets and also write about the distinction between a nabi and a rasul.

God revealed books to different prophets as a source of guidance to humanity. In order of revelation the books revealed to the prophets are:

The earlier books before the Qur’an were either lost, like the Abrahamic Suhuf, or altered, like the Bible. None of the earlier revealed books exist in their original form or in the language in which they were revealed except for the Qur’an, which remains exactly as it was revealed 1400 years ago. Nothing has been added to it or taken away from it and God in fact has taken it upon Himself to protect its text till the end of the world from any corruption or alteration. It remains the last book revealed to the last prophet of God Peace be upon Him.

Why were books revealed to prophets at different time periods? Give reasons to support your answer.

Use AO2 Levels of Response.

Candidates need to give their own views on why they think the revealed books were sent to prophets at different times.

One reason given could be that God did not want any community or society to say on the Day of Judgment that they did not believe in the Oneness of God or practice the faith of Islam because it never reached them.

Another reason could be that every community was different to the other, spoke their own language and had moved towards ungodliness in different ways. So the message to each was focused on guiding specific communities to the Oneness of God and the righteous path in words they understood. The candidates could add that unlike the earlier revealed books the Qur’an was revealed as a universal book for all humanity and in a language which is alive even today.

That all books carried the same central message as the Qur’an despite other differences in them could be another approach in answering the question.