Dear GL and Rauf
I just wanted to share my understanding on this topic too. I feel discussions like these are only useful if we stay open to different viewpoints. When everyone just holds on to their opinion no matter what, even when there are valid counterarguments, it kind of stops being helpful. We all learn and grow through open and respectful conversations.
There are several verses in the Quran related to this, and I have tried to summarize my current understanding. Of course, I am open to correction if needed, but this is how I see it for now.
Nabi (Prophet): A nabi is someone who receives divine revelation (prophecy) from Allah. Prophets are often given scriptures, wisdom, and authority to guide their people.
For example, the Quran says: 6:89 "These were the men to whom We gave the Book, and wisdom, and Prophethood...", indicating that a nabi is entrusted with scripture (Book) and wisdom (Hikmah). In short, a nabi is a recipient of God's news/revelation.
Rasul (Messenger): A rasul literally means "one who is sent" with a message or mission. In Quranic usage, a rasul is a messenger appointed by God to convey His message to people. The term rasul emphasizes the mission of delivering guidance. Notably, the Quran uses rasul in a broader sense than nabi. For instance, angels can be called rasul (messengers) of God ; the angel who appeared to Mary introduced himself as "I am only a messenger (rasul) from your Lord to announce to you a pure son" (19:19), showing that rasul can refer to an angelic messenger as well. Even ordinary human envoys are termed rasul in the Quran (e.g. the king's envoy to Joseph in 12:50 is called rasul.
The King then˺ said, "Bring him to me." When the messenger came to him, Joseph said, "Go back to your master and ask him about the case of the women who cut their hands. Surely my Lord has ˹full˺ knowledge of their cunning."
Thus, rasul means any envoy carrying a message.
Now the Overlap:
In the context of divine guidance, most major figures in the Quran are both prophets and messengers as they receive revelation and are sent to convey it. The Quran sometimes explicitly pairs the terms, calling someone "a messenger, a prophet". For example, Moses and Ismael are each described as "kanā rasūlan nabiyyān" i.e "he was a Messenger (rasul) [and] a Prophet (nabi)".
This shows that these individuals fulfilled both roles. Indeed, whenever a prophet conveys God's revelations to others, he is acting as God's messenger.
This is an inclination that every prophet by definition carries God's message to people, thus serving as a messenger; conversely, delivering God's message (being a rasul) requires first receiving it via prophecy, in other words, "to become a Messenger of God, the person must be appointed by God first and that appointment is Prophethood. The person who receives prophecy (revelation) is a Nabi. This means before becoming a rasul of Allah, the person must be a Nabi.
Although all prophets are messengers in a general sense, the Quranic usage suggests not all who are called rasul are nabi. The term rasul can apply to a wider array of God's agents. Quran 22:52 pointedly uses both terms, indicating they are not synonymous: "We did not send before you any messenger (rasul) nor any prophet (nabi), except that when he recited [Our message], Satan interfered..."
By listing messenger and prophet separately, the verse implies a rasul is not always a nabi, though the mission of both is divinely ordained.
Verse 33:40
"Muhammad is not the father of any one of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets (khatam an-nabiyyīn)"
This verse explicitly confers two titles on Muhammad: Messenger of God and Seal of the Prophets. The phrase "Seal of the Prophets" is understood by virtually all readers to mean that he is the final prophet i.e. the line of prophethood has been closed with him.
In Arabic, khatam (seal) conveys completion or finality; thus no new nabi will come after Muhammad.
What 33:40 does not say: Importantly, the verse does not say Muhammad is the "seal of the messengers." It mentions the messenger (rasul) role and then specifically seals the prophets (nabi). This precise wording is at the heart of the debate I think. Therefore, in GL view, Muhammad is the last prophet, but not necessarily the last messenger. Any post-Muhammad messenger would not bring a new scripture or religion (which would require prophethood), but would simply convey or confirm the existing divine message (The Quran).
On the other side, Traditional Islamic interpretation says being the final prophet also means no messenger can come after. Their reasoning is that a "messenger of God" isn't just a motivational speaker i.e it's someone directly commissioned by God with a message. And that divine commissioning requires prophecy (some form of revelation or inspiration from God). Since Muhammad was the final nabi, by definition no one after him can receive a new message from God to deliver. A rasul who didn't get prophecy from Allah is not Allah's messenger , instead they would be a fake messenger. In other words, any legitimate future rasul Allah (messenger of God) would have to get divine communication, which the Quran says will not happen after Muhammad. Thus, they argue, Muhammad was the last messenger in effect, even if the Quran stops short of saying it in those exact words.
It's worth noting that the Quran describes Muhammad's own mission as universal and definitive, which supports the idea that no successor is needed. Muhammad is addressed as "a messenger to all mankind" (34:28) and the Quran is called a complete, perfected revelation (5:3). Once the final Prophet delivered the final message, the guidance needed for humanity was seen as complete. Therefore, any future "messenger" could only repeat or remind people of what was already conveyed through Muhammad i.e. a role that Islamic scholars already fulfill by spreading the Quran.
Now, let's examine whether the Quran itself gives any indication of messengers coming after Muhammad or if it negates that possibility.
Those who argue for the continuation of messengers (rasuls) often cite Quran 7:35 and similar verses. In 7:35, Allah addresses humanity at large: "O Children of Adam! If there come to you messengers from among yourselves, reciting My verses to you, then whoever becomes mindful of Allah and reforms ' there will be no fear upon them, nor shall they grieve."
Notably, this verse is addressed to the "Children of Adam", a phrase the Quran uses for all humankind generically (appearing in verses that give general guidance to every human).
The wording "if (ever) messengers come to you..." is open-ended – it does not restrict the timeframe. It implies that throughout human history (as long as "Children of Adam" exist), God's messengers may come, and whenever they do, people are expected to heed their message. Unlike verses that speak of past nations, 7:35 does not put this in past tense; it uses a conditional format that could include the present and future.
How to understand 7:35 in context? In Surah Al-Araf, this verse comes after the story of Adam's fall and other advice to the Children of Adam (see 7:26–34). It echoes the promise Allah made when Adam was sent to earth: "Whenever guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance shall not fear or grieve" (2:38). In 7:35, "guidance" is specified as messengers reciting My verses. This can be seen as a general principle of God's interaction with mankind: He will send guidance via messengers, and those who accept it will be saved.
GL's interpretation (Open-ended Principle): assert that 7:35 confirms a continuing principle ; that God could send messengers at any time, even after Muhammad. They point out there is nothing in the verse limiting it to before Muhammad. In fact, since it addresses all "Children of Adam" it would include people living after the Prophet as well.
The verse doesn't say "until a certain point, messengers will come"; it simply gives the formula for whenever they come. Therefore, if Allah chose to send another messenger (not prophet) to guide people using His verses (e.g. calling them back to the Quran), 7:35 would already have told us to consider and not reject such an individual out of hand.
Traditional Islamic interpretation (Completed Cycle): backed by many scholars have opposing view where verses like 7:35 describe the general pattern of past ages, not a promise for the future post-Quran era. They read 7:35 as applying up to and including Muhammad's time. In this reading, by the time the Quran was revealed, that principle had manifested in the line of prophets ending in Muhammad. After him, there is no need for any new messenger, since the Quran is available to all humanity as guidance. Proponents of this view note that Muhammad was sent as a messenger to all peoples (34:28) and "We have not neglected anything in the Book" (6:38), implying that no further divine envoy is necessary to deliver new guidance. Moreover, they argue that if someone claims to be a "messenger" after Muhammad, how would we verify their authenticity? The Quran gives no prophecy of a specific messenger to come later, and with prophethood ended, there is no mechanism for a new messenger to receive new verses to recite. Thus, while 7:35 is general, by sealing prophethood the Quran effectively sealed messengership of any authoritative kind.
Are There Messengers Who Were Not Prophets (and vice versa)?
Examples of Rasul (Messenger) without Nabi: The strongest case of human messengers who might not have been prophets is in 36:13–17. It tells of a town to which God sent a team of messengers: "We sent to them two [messengers], but they rejected them, so We reinforced [them] with a third. They said, 'Indeed, we are messengers to you.'"
These three are called mursalīn (sent ones) by the Quran. They certainly had a divine mission, yet the Quran does not call them nabi. Who were they? The text doesn't name them, but some commentators (not relying on Quran alone) thought they were disciples of Jesus ; essentially missionaries carrying the message of Jesus to another town. If that is true, it perfectly illustrates rasuls who are not independent prophets: they were sent by God's will to preach, but they received their message through Prophet Jesus (a nabi before them). Even without that background, the Quran depicting "messengers" in a group is unusual, since prophets are usually single figures. This suggests these could be envoys under the guidance of a current prophet. Another example is that Allah calls the apostles of Jesus (al-Hawāriyyūn) His supporters but does not call them prophets ; they helped deliver Jesus's message. While the Quran doesn't label the disciples rasul, it is clear they preached the message but did not receive new revelation themselves. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, angels delivering God's word are rasul. The angel Gabriel is referred to as Rūḥanā (Our Spirit) in 19:17 and speaks of himself as a messenger of Allah to Mary. Angels are obviously not prophets (prophethood is a human role), yet they are messengers. These examples show "messenger" has a broader scope than "prophet".
Examples of Nabi (Prophet) without explicit Rasul title: The Quran sometimes uses nabi for figures without detailing a specific message they delivered to a nation. For instance, Idris is called "a man of truth and a prophet" (19:56) but there is no story of Idris preaching to a people in the Quran. He is not called a messenger. Similarly, other prophets in the Abrahamic line like Ishaq (Isaac) and Yaqub (Jacob) are recognized as prophets (2:136, 6:84), but the Quran does not describe them each coming with a new Sharia or book to a distinct nation ; rather, they upheld the creed of their fathers. They were nabi, guiding their family or tribe with the already revealed message, though the Quran doesn't narrate them as rasul delivering a new proclamation to a populous. This suggests that nabi can refer to someone who receives divine guidance (and is part of the chain of prophecy) even if they are not the primary messenger to a large community with a new scripture.
Dual titles for the major figures: Most major figures such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, etc. ; function as both prophets and messengers, and the Quraan uses both terms for them. For example, Noah is called a messenger in 26:115, Hud and Salih (prophets to Ad and Thamud) both say "we are messengers" to their people, and Jesus is explicitly called rasul in Quran 61:6. Yet all of them are also acknowledged as prophets in the sense of receiving revelation. Aaron (Harun) is an interesting case: Quran 19:53 وَوَهَبْنَا لَهُۥ مِن رَّحْمَتِنَآ أَخَاهُ هَـٰرُونَ نَبِيًّۭ calls Aaron explicitly a prophet (nabi), and elsewhere Moses asks God to "send Aaron with me" in the mission to Pharaoh. When confronting Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron together say "We are the two messengers of your Lord" (26:16-17). So Aaron, though not the originator of the Torah, acted as a co-messenger with Moses. This reinforces that a messenger of God generally has prophetic status (Aaron was granted prophethood to assist Moses), but one can be a prophet (like Aaron or Isaac) whose role is mainly supporting or continuing another messenger's mission.
Bottom line: Based on the Quran, every divinely sent messenger to a people was at least implicitly a prophet, because they had to receive communication from God. However, not every prophet founded a new religious law or scripture; some followed and reinforced existing messages. The Quran's language does allow that rasul can be a broader category (including angels or possibly lesser envoys), but a rasul Allah to humanity would need the credentials of a nabi. As Quran 2:151 indicates, Allah sends messengers who recite His verses ; implying those verses were revealed to them. Thus, Quranic logic leans toward the idea that a bona fide Messenger of God among humans comes through the channel of prophethood. No wonder the Quran often pairs "messengers and prophets" together when discussing guidance (as in 22:52 or 17:55), showing they are closely linked roles.
In conclusion, when strictly sticking to the Quran's text and its internal logic, we find that Muhammad is the final prophet, and by implication the final messenger bearing a new message from God. The Quran provides no explicit anticipation of any future messenger. Any true messenger to humanity must have divine sanction, which ended with Muhammad's prophethood. Therefore, while one can linguistically distinguish rasul and nabi, in practice the Quran treats them as inseparable in the context of guidance. All prophets delivered messages, and no messengers will come after the last prophet. The duty of carrying God's message forward now falls upon the scripture (the Quran itself as the enduring "Message") and those who believe in it.
Peace.
