From Navi' to Nabī: The Theological Work of Prophecy in Judaism and Islam

This paper reframes the question of whether the Qur'an rewrote the Bible by shifting attention from narrative content to theological function. What work does the figure of the prophet perform within each tradition's larger system? In the Hebrew Bible the navi' is a covenant functionary: a mediator in the Mosaic mold (Deut 18:15–22), a prosecutor in the covenant lawsuit (rîb), an intercessor, and a critic of royal power. The office is bounded, both historically and communally, internal to Israel's particular brit. Rabbinic Judaism completes this logic by ending prophecy so that interpretation may become authoritative: "prophecy was taken from the prophets and given to the Sages" (b. Bava Batra 12a), a closure that Maimonides later secures by rendering Moses' prophecy categorically unrepeatable. The Qur'an configures prophecy differently. Nubuwwa is a universal epistemology, the ordinary mode by which God guides all peoples: "to every community a warner" (Q 16:36; 35:24). The prophets from Adam to Muhammad deliver one recurring message, and the seal of prophethood (khātam al-nabiyyīn, Q 33:40) closes revelation while generating an interpretive tradition of its own. Reading the two systems together exposes a revealing asymmetry: figures who are patriarchs, kings, or wisdom-figures in the Hebrew Bible, notably Abraham, Joseph, David, and Solomon, become prophets in Islam, because prophethood there names the universal category of divine guidance rather than a distinct institution. Drawing on the recent turn in Qur'anic studies away from influence and dependence models (Neuwirth, Reynolds, Griffith, Zellentin, Pregill, Firestone) and on the "Rewritten Scripture" and Mosaic discourse frameworks developed within Jewish studies (Vermes, Najman), the paper argues that Qur'anic prophetology is not derivative retelling but parallel theological engineering. It closes by considering how a functional comparison of prophecy might ground a comparative account of covenant and religious plurality (Q 5:48).

Associate Professor Iqbal Akhtar, PhD, is a scholar of religion and politics at Florida International University (FIU), where he holds a joint appointment in the Department of Religious Studies and the Department of Politics & International Relations. His interdisciplinary scholarship brings together religious studies, history, linguistics, political thought, and international relations, with particular expertise in Islamic studies, Jewish studies, religious pluralism, interfaith relations, Khōjā studies, western Indian Ocean studies, transnational and postcolonial histories, and Sindhi and Gujarati Islamic literature.

Akhtar received his PhD from the University of Edinburgh's New College, School of Divinity, in 2012. He previously earned an MA in Religious Studies from the University of Denver, an MA in Political Science from Tulane University, and an AB in Political Science and Jewish, Islamic & Near Eastern Studies from Washington University in St. Louis.

At Florida International University, Akhtar serves as Director of the Jain Studies Program and is Founding Director of Western Indian Ocean Studies. He is also affiliated with FIU's Global Jewish Studies Program. His teaching has included courses such as Gender and Jihad in the Quran, Islam and International Relations, Islamic Faith and Society, Islamic Political Thought, Sufism: Islamic Mysticism, and The International Relations of South Asia.

His research has examined the history and religious identity of the Khōjā, the western Indian Ocean world, transnational religious communities, South Asian and East African connections, Islamic thought, religious pluralism, and interfaith relations. His current historical research includes the reconstruction of the eighteenth-century religious cosmology of the Sindhi Khōjā.

Akhtar is the author of The Khōjā of Tanzania: Discontinuities of a Postcolonial Religious Identity, published by Brill, and Covenantal Pluralism, listed by his current FIU faculty profile as published by Springer. His recent scholarship has addressed Jewish–Muslim relations, Latino Muslim interfaith engagement, Shiʿi religious practice in the United States, and questions of religious identity and pluralism.

He is a two-time U.S. Fulbright Scholar, with Fulbright experience in Pakistan and Tanzania. He is also the founder of The East-West Foundation, an organization connected with Muslim–Jewish dialogue, interfaith cooperation, and religious freedom.

Akhtar's academic work and teaching intersect with Qur'anic interpretation, Islamic thought, Jewish studies, religious pluralism, and interreligious relations. At Florida International University, his teaching has included Gender and Jihad in the Quran, Islamic Faith and Society, Islamic Political Thought, and Islam and International Relations. He is also an affiliated faculty member of FIU's Global Jewish Studies Program and is associated with its Initiative for Interfaith Dialogue.

His recent scholarship includes research on Jewish–Muslim relations and interfaith bridge-building, providing a broader scholarly context for his conference presentation on shared prophetic traditions, competing claims of revelation, and scriptural authority.

Akhtar's work includes scholarship and institutional engagement concerning religious pluralism and interfaith relations. FIU's Global Jewish Studies Program lists him among its affiliated faculty, and FIU's Initiative for Interfaith Dialogue identifies him as a point of contact for interdisciplinary work exploring relationships between Jews and members of other religious traditions.

His recent research has also examined Latino Muslims as potential interfaith bridge-builders within Jewish–Muslim relations in contemporary Miami.

Akhtar is a two-time U.S. Fulbright Scholar whose international research experience includes Pakistan and Tanzania. His scholarship has developed through sustained engagement with South Asia, East Africa, and the western Indian Ocean world.

Akhtar's current research includes reconstructing the eighteenth-century religious cosmology of the Sindhi Khōjā. His broader work examines Khōjā studies, western Indian Ocean history, transnational and postcolonial histories, Islamic studies, religious pluralism, interfaith relations, and the historical interaction of religion, language, identity, and politics.