Whether Prophets are sent at age 40

10-11-2007 | IslamWeb

Question:

Could you reconcile the Hadeeth that says prophets are sent at the age of 40 with citations that say ‘Eesa (Jesus), may Allaah exalt his mention, was raised to heaven at the age of 33?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam, is His slave and messenger.

 

We do not know the origin of the Hadeeth referred to by you, although this subject has been mentioned many times. Ibn Hajar stated that he did not find any trace to this Hadeeth.

Assuming that the citation that states ‘Eesa, became a prophet at the age of 30 is correct, this does not contradict the previous statement, since the narrations refers to most of the cases but not all of them. This is supported by the fact that Yahya Ibn Zakariyya (John son of Zachariah), may Allaah exalt their mention, became a prophet while he was a young boy. Allaah Says about him (what means): {And We gave him judgment [while yet] a boy}[Quran 19:12] According to some scholars, judgment refers to prophethood.  

Allaah Knows best.