Title: The Recommended Muslim Attitude Regarding God's prophets... Question: In the Qur'an, Allah (swt) says that we should make no distinction between any of His messengers and/or prophets in verses (4: 152), (2: 285) etc. What exactly is the meaning of "distinction" here? Since Allah has said that He has caused some prophets/messengers to excel others in verses (2: 253) and (17: 55), is this not a "distinction"? I hope you find time to reply to me, Regards, Answer: The verses Al-Nisaa 4: 152 and Al-Baqarah 2: 285 are related primarily with the 'distinction' in belief. That is, according to these verses, a Muslim does not adopt an attitude of 'distinction' in believing some of the prophets of God and rejecting others. In both these instances, the Qur'an has actually indirectly commented and criticized the attitude of the Israelites, who had refused to believe in the Prophet (pbuh), because of the reason that he was not from amongst them (that is, from among the Israelites). It is in this background that the Qur'an declares that the true believers do not adopt an attitude of distinction between the prophets of God, whereby they believe in some and reject the others. The true believers, on the other hand, submit to God's will and believe in all the prophets of God, without any distinction. The topic of Al-Baqarah 2: 253 and Al-Israa 17: 55 is quite different from that of Al-Nisaa 4: 152 and Al-Baqarah 2: 285. In contrast to the latter set of verses the former refers to the fact that God, according to His wisdom, exalted His prophets one over the others, in various aspects. This, however, does not imply that any one prophet is declared by God to be exalted over the others in absolute terms, neither does it imply that Muslims may consider any one of the prophets to be exalted over the others, in absolute terms. On the contrary, the words ' Fadhdhalna ba`dhahum `alaa ba`dh ' (exalted one over the other) simply imply that God exalted one over the other in different aspects. For instance, Moses (pbuh) was exalted over the others from the perspective of God's direct speech with him ( Al-Baqarah 2: 253), Jesus (pbuh) was given such miracles, which no other prophet was given ( Al-Baqarah 2: 253) and David (pbuh) was given the Zaboor [1] ( Al-Israa 17: 55). 6 th June 2000 [1] It may be of interest to note that the words of Al-Israa 17: 55 clearly point to the fact that the Zaboor is being referred to as a symbol of exaltation of David (pbuh) over the others.