Mafhūm al-Nabī wa al-Rasūl wa al-Muḥaddath fī Ḍau'i Kitāb al-Kāfī li al-Kulainī wa Tanwīr al-‘Uqūl li Muḥammad bin ‘Abdullāh al-Imām

Abstract

The distinction between the prophet، the messenger، and the divinely-inspired person (muḥaddath) is among the doctrinal questions in which the methodological differences between Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamā'ah and Imāmī Shī'ah appear most clearly، given the direct bearing this distinction has on determining the source of religious authority and the status of the Imam. This study analyzes this distinction comparatively between Al-Kāfī by al-Kulaynī and Tanwīr al-'Uqūl by Muḥammad ibn 'Abd Allāh al-Imām، using a qualitative approach through analysis of the narrations contained in Al-Kāfī and the argumentative texts in Tanwīr al-'Uqūl. The study reveals that Al-Kāfī grounds its distinguishing criterion in the mode of receiving revelation، thereby elevating the muḥaddath Imam to an institutional rank approaching prophethood and granting him religious authority. In contrast، Tanwīr al-'Uqūl bases its distinction on the criterion of being sent and commissioned to convey divine law، thereby preserving a fundamental difference between prophethood and messengership on one hand and the muḥaddath on the other، treating the latter as a rare، fallible individual virtue whose statements are measured against the Qur'an and Sunnah and which carries no legislative authority. Despite this difference، both sources agree that prophethood is broader than messengership، that every messenger is a prophet while not every prophet is a messenger، and that the seal of prophethood is Muḥammad ﷺ.