Question:
What is the difference between a Prophet and a Messenger? Is a Prophet also a Messenger?
Answer:
They are joined by a common trait (prophethood) and are separated by another (the possession of a new religious text and a religious law).
Every Messenger is a Prophet, but not every Prophet is a Messenger. A Messenger is he who is sent with his own religious law and text and not bound by the law of his predecesor; this is a Messenger.
A Prophet is he who is not sent with his own religious text. Rather, he comes only as a caller to the religious text of the previous Messenger and to reinforce what the previous Messengers have said. He is an advocate of the text and law of the previous Messenger; this is a Prophet and the matter contains a difference of opinion.
Answered by: Shaykh Abu Bilaal Al-Hadhramy – may Allah preserve him
Source: https://t.me/abubilalhami/3133
Answered on: 9th Dhul Qadah 1440 (12th July 2019)
Translated by: Abu Sufian Sami ibn Daniel Al-Ghaani