Islam's Response to Contemporary Issues — Page 13
Inter-Religious Peace 13 The Holy Quran admits that there are differences of status in a manner that should not disturb the peace of man. The same Holy Quran that declares that there is no difference as far as the authenticity of Messages from God are concerned between one Prophet of God and another, declares: These Messengers have We exalted, some of them above others; among them there are those to whom Allah spoke frequently; and some of them He exalted by degrees of rank. 6 Having accepted this proposition, one may wonder as to who should be considered as the highest in rank among the Prophets. This is a sensitive issue; yet one cannot close one’s eyes to the importance of this question. Adherents of almost all religions claim that the Founder of their religion stands supreme and no one else can be a match to him in excellence, dignity, piety, honour and in short all the qualities that go into the making of a Prophet. Then, does Islam also claim that Muhammad, the Holy Prophet sa of Islam, is the most exalted of all Prophets? Yes, Islam does make an unambiguous claim about the par excellence and supremacy of the qualities of the Holy Prophet sa over all the rest of the Prophets as of the world. Yet, there is a very clear difference between Islam and other religions in their attitude to this claim. First of all, it should be kept in mind that no religion other than Islam recognises the universality of prophethood. When the Jews claim, if they do, that Moses as was the greatest Prophet, they are not