We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a succession of messengers; We gave Jesus the son of Mary Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the holy spirit. Is it that whenever there comes to you a messenger with what ye yourselves desire not, ye are puffed up with pride?- Some ye called impostors, and others ye slay!--Quran 2:87 (in Yusuf Ali's translation).
The quoted Quranic verse offers two main claim: first, that Moses and Jesus were genuine messengers (from God) that predate Mohamed. Second, there are more such true prophets, some of whom meet (not unlike Jesus -- who is treated as a son of Mary, not the son of God--) unhappy fates on Earth. It follows from this second claim, that according to the Quran, (a) the truth may not always be believed by hostile audiences, (b) age of prophecy need not be closed. (I return to (b) below.)
Both these claims are, as I have noted before, echoed later in the Quran: ""We believe in Allah, and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and in (the Books) given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets, from their Lord: We make no distinction between one and another among them, and to Allah do we bow our will (in Islam)."" (3.84) So, one can be Muslim in some non-trivial sense, without the benefit of the revelation of Quran (see also 3.95). That is to say, within the Quran there is a vision of religious pluralism in which the very same Allah, and the path toward him, is honored by different means. (Recall Al-Farabi: "[It] may be possible for the religions of virtuous nations and virtuous cities to differ even of they all pursue the very same happiness.")
However, within the Quran we are also told that "Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all things." (33:40) To be "the Seal of the Prophets" is generally understood to be the last or keystone of the prophets. That would entail that the age of true prophecy comes to a close with Mohamed, so that further religious multiplication is prevented.
Amidst his treatment of metaphysics, Al-Farabi remarks that (using the Butterworth translation) "Of the active intellect, it ought to be said that it is the trustworthy spirit and the holy spirit." (Political Regime 3) That is to say, within an Islamic context, Al-Farabi thinks it proper to treat the active intellect as an instance of true prophecy (of the sort associated with Moses, Jesus, and Mohamed). When he treats of the true ruler of the virtuous state he describes a magnanimous soul whose nature is "joined with the active intellect" (79). And it is no surprise, then, that "he is the one of whom it ought to be said that he received revelation." (80).* The question that is left open is, if Al-Farabi, too, thinks the age of true prophecy has ended. To answer this we have to explore his views on democracy some other time.
It follows from Al-Farabi's position that Moses and Mohamed, who were also political leaders, are treated differently than Jesus.
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