The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1621 page)

(Heb.,
na
ash
; a gnostic sect): see
OPHITES
.

 
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(Arab., ‘prophet’, cf. Heb.,
nabhi
). A
prophet
, the basic description, with
ras
l
(apostle), of
Mu
ammad's
role and status. According to the
Qur’
n
, prophets have been sent to all peoples, conveying the same guidance and warning from God. Thus
Moses
, Jesus,
d
(to give only three examples) are recognized equally as prophets in the Qur’
n. But Mu
ammad is the
kh
tam
, ‘seal’, of the prophets. Prophets are characteristically persecuted by the people to whom they come, and Mu
ammad was no exception; but ‘
s
/Jesus alone was exempted from death. In later Islam, considerable effort was made to relate the work of the prophet (whose word by definition comes from God) to that of the philosopher (who relies on intellect, and may therefore be unnecessary to the discovery of the truth that matters).