Is Prophesy Genetic?

 بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

اَلۡحَمۡدُ لِلّٰہِ رَبِّ الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ

والصلاة والسلام على خاتم النبيين

Is Prophesy Genetic?

Among the heresies of the Imāmiyyah Shī’ah is that the institution of Imamate is restricted to the progeny of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم. This notion is easily dismantled simply through reading the following Āyah:

وَالَّذِیۡنَ یَقُوۡلُوۡنَ رَبَّنَا ہَبۡ لَنَا مِنۡ اَزۡوَاجِنَا وَذُرِّیّٰتِنَا قُرَّۃَ اَعۡیُنٍ وَّاجۡعَلۡنَا لِلۡمُتَّقِیۡنَ اِمَامًا

And those who say, ‘Our Lord grant us of our wives and our children the coolness of our eyes, and make us an Imam for the righteous’

(Juz 19, Sūrah 25, Āyah 74)

This single Āyah is such a powerful proof against the Imāmiyyah Shī’ah, in repudiating their doctrine of Imamate being divinely granted (wahbi as opposed to kasbi) that is restricted to twelve individuals after the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم, that they have been compelled to amend its actual text!

Ironically, some ignorant people among Ahl us-Sunnah (Sunni Muslims) unintentionally give ammunition to Imāmiyyah Shi’ism when they conceive of the institution of Prophesy (Nubuwwah) as being restricted to a particular lineage, in other words, genetic. The idea is that all Prophets after the time of the Patriarch Abraham على نبينا وعليه السلام were necessarily from his seed. Hence they quote the Āyah:

وَاِذِ ابۡتَلٰۤی اِبۡرٰہٖمَ رَبُّہٗ بِکَلِمٰتٍ فَاَتَمَّہُنَّ ؕ قَالَ اِنِّیۡ جَاعِلُکَ لِلنَّاسِ اِمَامًا ؕ قَالَ وَمِنۡ ذُرِّیَّتِیۡ ؕ قَالَ لَا یَنَالُ عَہۡدِی الظّٰلِمِیۡنَ

And when his Lord tried Abraham with certain words which he fulfilled. He [Allāh] said, ‘I will make you an Imām [leader] for the people.’ [Abraham] said, ‘And from among my offspring?’ He [Allāh] said, ‘My covenant does not embrace the transgressors.’

(Juz 1, Sūrah 2, Āyah 124)

Yet this Abrahamic Covenant of Imamate does not exclude either the possibility or actual occurrence of Prophets and Imams being raised from those outside Abraham’s progeny. Here it is also worthwhile to explain that Imamate is broader than Prophesy. An Imām is not necessarily a Prophet (Nabi), though every Prophet is necessarily an Imām, with the possible exception of Prophetesses, since Imamate is restricted to the male sex, while Prophesy is not necessarily restricted to the male sex (as the Ash’aris say). Another Āyah that is cited in favor of the doctrine that Prophesy became restricted to the offspring of Abraham is the following:

اِنَّ اللّٰہَ اصۡطَفٰۤی اٰدَمَ وَنُوۡحًا وَّاٰلَ اِبۡرٰہِیۡمَ وَاٰلَ عِمۡرٰنَ عَلَی الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ

Allāh did choose Adam and Noah and the family of Abraham and the family of Amram above all the worlds

(Juz 3, Sūrah 3, Āyah 33)

First, it is not explicit from the text of this Āyah that Prophesy is being spoken of as that matter which Allāh عز وجل choose as the means to favor Adam, Noah, the family of Abraham and the family of Amram over everyone else. Undoubtedly, they were granted the gift of Prophesy, but it seems that what the Āyah is speaking of is broader than Prophesy but certainly inclusive of it. And like the previously quoted Āyah (2:124) it is not explicitly mentioned here that Prophesy was restricted to these individuals and families. However, it is certainly true that the gift of Prophesy most frequently occurred within the family of Abraham. In fact, it has to be acknowledged that a plurality if not an outright majority of the Prophets and Messengers sent by Allāh were from the Children of Israel. After the Patriarchs, Prophets Moses, Aaron, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Zechariah, Yahya (John) and Jesus, all spoken of in the Qurān, were all from the Children of Israel. The Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is reported to have said:

كَانَتْ بَنُو إِسْرَائِيلَ تَسُوسُهُمُ الأَنْبِيَاءُ كُلَّمَا هَلَكَ نَبِيٌّ خَلَفَهُ نَبِيٌّ

The Prophets used to be involved in the political affairs of the children of Israel. Whenever a Prophet died he was succeeded by a Prophet

(mutaffaqun alayh)

According to another version of the Hadīth:

إِنَّ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ كَانَتْ تَسُوسُهُمْ أَنْبِيَاؤُهُمْ كُلَّمَا ذَهَبَ نَبِيٌّ خَلَفَهُ نَبِيٌّ

Indeed, the children of Israel’s political affairs were managed by their Prophets. Whenever a Prophet left (died) he was succeeded by a Prophet

(Sunan Ibn Mājah)

*Note: The reference to the Israelite Prophets conducting the siyāsah, which roughly means politics, of the children of Israel does not necessarily mean that the Israelite Prophets were always in positions of political authority and temporal leadership/administration, but that their prophetic ministries were concerned with the political affairs. Typically, this was manifested in the phenomenon of Prophets rebuking and advising the kings of Israel and Judah concerning both domestic and foreign political affairs. The Prophet Jeremiah على نبينا وعليه السلام delivered a divine warning to King Zedekiah of Judah not to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (Book of Jeremiah, chapter 38). In those days the Kingdom of Judah was a vassal of the Babylonian Empire, but King Zedekiah was influenced to ally with the Egyptians and rebel against Babylon. The tragic consequence was that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem in 587 BCE and destroyed the holy city including the Temple of Solomon, taking the Jews into captivity. Likewise, the Saints and mystics of this Ummah, who reflect the role of the Israelite Prophets, warn the corrupt and incompetent kings and rulers of the Muslims, against their moral corruption, their failure to rule by the Sharī’ah and Sunnah, and their contracting of alliances with the wrong foreign powers that result in destruction for the Muslims at the hands of their enemies.

Now this Hadīth makes it plain that the children of Israel were blessed with the largest number of Prophets, because each of their Prophets was immediately succeeded by another Prophet, until the institution of Prophesy was taken away from them when they rejected the Messiah على نبينا وعليه السلام. So it is reasonable to assume that the frequency of Prophesy, and not Prophesy itself, occurring in the families of Abraham and Amram is what is meant when Allāh says he chose them over the worlds. The term ‘family of Amram’ may refer to the Amram who was the father of Prophets Moses and Aaron or to the Amram who was the father of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. The Christian Bible never mentions the names of the Virgin Mary’s parents, but the Qurān does mention that her father was named Imrān (Amram). According to the Christian Bible, Mary was a relative of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, called Yahyā (Jehiah) in the Qurān. Zechariah was a priest-prophet from the line of Abijah. The priesthood in Israel was for the descendants of Aaron. In this sense, Zechariah, John the Baptist, Mary and Jesus were all from the priestly line and therefore they are included in the Levite family of Amram. It is more reasonable to say, therefore, that the term Āl ‘Imrān (family of Amram) is an attribution to Amram the father of Moses and Aaron, denoting a priestly and prophetic line that was extremely blessed within the broader children of Israel. For if the term ‘family of Imrān’ is an attribution to the father of Virgin Mary سلامٌ عليها then it is inclusive of only a small number of individuals, basically only the Virgin Mary and her son Jesus عليهما السلام. But if the ‘family of Imrān’ is a reference to the priestly Levite family that included many great Israelite Prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, along with John the Baptist, his father Zechariah, and Jesus himself, then it is quite understandable why it is a separately mentioned family that was chosen by Allah as per the Āyah (3:33). Now it is not difficult to understand why many Muslims, from both the Sunnis and the Shī’ah, acquired the mistaken belief that Prophesy was restricted to a particular lineage, for indeed Allāh did choose particular lineages, those attributed to Abraham and Amram, for special favor and blessing, and it was in those lineages that a plurality of the Prophets hailed from. Nevertheless, it may also be understood from the Qurān that Prophets appeared outside the offspring of Abraham:

وَلَقَدۡ بَعَثۡنَا فِیۡ کُلِّ اُمَّۃٍ رَّسُوۡلًا اَنِ اعۡبُدُوا اللّٰہَ وَاجۡتَنِبُوا الطَّاغُوۡتَ

And We did raise among every nation a Messenger, [saying], ‘Worship Allāh and shun the Tāghūt’

(Juz 14, Sūrah 16, Āyah 36)

اِنَّمَاۤ اَنۡتَ مُنۡذِرٌ وَّلِکُلِّ قَوۡمٍ ہَادٍ

You [O Prophet Muhammad] are, surely, a Warner. And there is a Guide for every people

(Juz 13, Sūrah 13, Āyah 7)

ؕ وَاِنۡ مِّنۡ اُمَّۃٍ اِلَّا خَلَا فِیۡہَا نَذِیۡرٌ

And there is not a nation but that a Warner passed away among them

(Juz 22, Sūrah 35, Āyah 24)

At the very least these passages from the Qurān indicate that there have been nations, not from the offspring of Abraham, among whom Allāh sent Prophets and Messengers. The specific Prophets Hūd and Sāleh, sent to the tribes of Ād and Thamūd respectively, are likely examples of Prophets who were not from the progeny of Abraham. Consider also the fact that none of the Salaf or the pious Ulamā, Saints and elders of Ahl us-Sunnah ever rejected the claim of a Prophesy-claimant on the grounds that he was not a descendant of Abraham, though many such claimants arose who were not from Quraysh, the Adnanites, or even the Arabs.

In essence, Islam is a religion that rejects genetic determinism and the idea that Prophesy and Imamate are genetic traits that are restricted to a particular family or lineage. Allāh سبحانه وتعالى says:

یُنَزِّلُ الۡمَلٰٓئِکَۃَ بِالرُّوۡحِ مِنۡ اَمۡرِہٖ عَلٰی مَنۡ یَّشَآءُ مِنۡ عِبَادِہٖۤ

He sends down the Angels with the Spirit of His command upon whom He wills of His servants

(Juz 14, Sūrah 16, Āyah 2)

The great Prophet Yahyā, or John the Baptist, said to the self-righteous and arrogant Jews:

And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham (Matthew 3:9; Luke 3:8)

It was recently suggested to me by an ignorant person that the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم is the last prophet because he had no biological son that survived into adulthood who would succeed him to the prophetic office. This is a gross misreading of the blessed Āyah:

مَا کَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ اَبَاۤ اَحَدٍ مِّنۡ رِّجَالِکُمۡ وَلٰکِنۡ رَّسُوۡلَ اللّٰہِ وَخَاتَمَ النَّبِیّٖنَ

Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allāh and Seal of the Prophets

(Juz 22, Sūrah 33, Āyah 40)

Firstly, the words ‘your men’ are restricted to the adult men who are being addressed in this Āyah, which must necessarily include sayyidina Zayd رضى الله عنه, as the context clearly indicates. The purpose of the Āyah is to establish that despite his adoption by the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, sayyidina Zayd bin Hārithah al-Kalbi’s رضى الله عنه father is not the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, and therefore, there should be no objection to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم marrying sayyidina Zayd’s ex-wife, sayyidatuna Zaynab bint Jahsh رضى الله عنها. The Āyah subsequently mentions that Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is the Messenger of God and Seal of the Prophets as compensation for the apparent shortcoming of not being the father of adult men (considered a shortcoming in the Jāhili Arab culture but not a shortcoming in reality).