Truth about Khatm-e-Nabuwat

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Mirza Bashir Ahmad Truth About Khatm-e-N abuwat Translated into English by NAFISUR RAHMAN A.G.SOOFI Published by MIRZA WASIM AHMAD NAZIRDAWAT-O-TABLIGH (Secretary, For MissionWork) Sadr Anjuman Ahmadiyya QADIAN (India)

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First English Edition 3000---1967 Second English Edition 5000-1967 Printed at :- Jal Hind Printing Press, Nehru Garden Road, Jullundur City.

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CONTENTS I.The Holy Prophet's Unique Status.2.Three Categories of Prophethood 7 3.Khatm-e-Nabuwat in the Lighf of the Holy Quran 19 4.Sura Fatiha and Khatm-e-Nabuwat 21 s.Khatm-e-Nabuwat postulate in the light of Traditions.44 6.An Examination of Negative Traditions 77 7.Quran's Vardict is in our Favour.80 8.A Rational Treatment of the Question 145 9.A Concluding Note 156

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Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad M.A.Author

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THE HOLY PROPHET'S U.NIQUE STATUS All praise and eulogy is due to the Supreme Lord, \Yho, by assigning to man, the central role in the cosmos, exalted him above the entire creation; lie then initiated , for our guidance the prophetic dispensation, perfecting all the excellences of pro• phethood in the august person of our Guide, the (.;lory of apostles, Chief of mankind, Hazrat l\Iuham- mad, the Chosen, (Allah bless him), in their highest degree, unattained by those who preceded him and unattainable by those who were to follow him.He is the world-illuminating lantern in which the cumula- tive heavenly lights reached their utmost brightness; and God ordained the light of this brilliant 1mn as the guiding media for all mankind till eternity.l\Iay Allah bless- Muhammad evermore and exalt him to the praised point of excellence He has been l

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pleased to promise for him.But since every light is accompanied by darkness, so much s9, that Allah the Knowing, the Wise, has appointed the black shadow of lb/is with the light- giving persons of angels, and as night shadows day, so has the Lord God appointed, in accordance with His eternal law of guidance, that while the illumining sun our Master, the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) has dawned to bestow light on all ages and nations, even so, owing to the misdeeds of people, periods of darkness and ignorance, should intercept this eternal term.The Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) had accordingly apprised his followers that during· these cycles of darkness, Allah will not forsake them and that, through the reflected light of his guiding sun, He shall produce, spiritual moons adequate for the exigencies of the period, of these, one will be like the first moon, another bigger, one still bigger and so on and one even as big as the full moon and equally bright; and that all these moons, small and big shall radiate his (the Prophet's) light and shall revolve round his sun.So says the • Holy Quran : 2.

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"AJlah has promised the believers among you and the doers of righteous deeds that He shall certainly make them vicegerents in the earth as He did before them and shall establish for them the faith He has chosen for them and shall establish for them the conditions of peace after those of insecurity : they should there- fore serve Me and not associate aught with Me and those who rebel thereafter they are· the covenant-breakers", I In amplification of the above Quranic verse, our Holy Prophet, (Allah bless him}, said: "Verily Allah will appoint for my people at the head of every century, one who will reform for them their faith."2 In addition to the reformers of the Mujjaddad status, the Holy Prophet had foretold the advent of a grand-reformel', the Promised Messiah, to deal with external evils during a period of great darkness when the prevalence of degeneration, attending the period of anti-Christ, was ordained.The Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) says: I.Su/'a Nur, Verse 56., 2.Abu Daood, Vol 2, Ch : Babulmalaham.8

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• r" 1&J..~1J;.:,1:iil~\~......:1-~t.-,~...,-;;.,--.'..-,.:: :,..'f/v.'2'J_,;,·":"~ c:#' 1..~~w..,1¥.6)..~~~1 ''I swear by the Lord Who holds my life in His hands, the Messiah, son of Mary, 11hall certainly rise among you as Justice and Judge and will break the cross and kill the swine and abolish Jazia......How will ye be when son of Mary appears among you and he will he your Imam, from among you".1 Dealing with another aspect of this prophecy the Huly Quran says: ,, ~.1_,111_,.,.,,, '("'' t"' •=!;I ~i..1.r) - ~ 't'~ L.;J "Allah raised among the illiterate a prophet, from among them, who reads to them His verses, and purifies them and teaches them the Book and wisdom and verily they were before it in manifest error and among the other J.(Sahih Bukhari Book Badul K.hal•q, Ch.Naz11/t Isa lbn Mariam)

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group of them who have not yet Joined them".l According to a tradition of the Sahib Bukhari, when the above verses of sura Juma were revealed, a companion asked the Prophet, ''_O Apostle of Allah, who are these other group-ir-.,...1" Laying his hand on Hazrat Salman Farsi, a favourite companion, said the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) -~~(:)-4~.)~l:J\;.;U1~~~)1ici'6.,J ~ c/-j~~ ~~'~c{<f;L(; •'If faith ascended to the Nadir a man from among these shall bring it dowR".2 And on another occasion said the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him): <,d-4-1 1 c:r J!.( 1r~~ ✓ ,:N ,P.J ~ lJ,.l ~~ \.J.- "Salman is one of us, one of the House*''.3 ( ~ JA I) h e r e m e a n s of the family of t h e house of the Holy Prophet.(peace be on him) This Hadis points out.that the Promised Messiah and Mahdi shall be from among the Persians : this further compliments the prophecy about the Mahdi being one of the House.The above Quranic verses and traditions are decisive evidence of the eternal ordination regarding the appearance of spiritual vicegerents in the Mu- hammadan Dispensation.These vicegerents were to radiate the light of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him), to illuminate the world as the moon in the world of matter radiating the light of the sun, 1.(Sura Juma Verses 3-4) 2, (Bukhari Book A/•Tafsir-Bab Ta/sir Sura Juma) J, (Tabranl Kabir va·Mustadrsk Hakim quoting Jama A./-ssaghir) 5

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illumines the globe.And as the moons of different nights radiate ljghts of varying powers so were varying powers assingned in the world of spirit, to the moons radiating the light of and revolving round the exalted Prophet.And we firmly believe that whiltr, all the vicegerents of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) and all the reformers are, by the grace of God,.like unto spiritual moons, and while ·we hold them all in high esteem and venerate them whole heartedly and in a devotional spirit, the moon that has arisen in the 14th century, is the bright full moon, which, assuming the shape qf its sun, has been invested by it with reflex-Prophethood and here lies the point where difference arises between· us and our opponents.'fhe truth about this difference is simply this.According to the Maulvies of today who are lined up against us, there may appear the first moon radiating the light of our Holy Prophet (Allah bless him), and the moon of the second and the third night and the succeeding nights and even of the thir- teenth niabt but the one of the fourteenth night; cannot appear fol', because of its fulness, it assumes the shape of the sun and the appearance of such a moon is derogatory to the Divine sun ! It is ridiculous indeed to have such a distorted outlook as presents a good quality as a drawback, light as darkness and honour as derogation.May Allah guide our these friends aright..In this material universe, the full moon is in no way a slur on the sun; how then do our friends fee) persuaded to characterise a similar phenomena in the spiritual world as a derogatory 42ne.At this point they must pause and consider that, so long as the moon serves the sun, revolves round it and radiates its light~ it reflects only the beauty of.the s11n and not its own, as it is but the reflector and not the • original source, and not independent.They should further ponder whether 6

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the excellence of the sun is reflected better in the crescent or in the full moon which but radiates the light of the sun, assumes its roundness and illumines the worlds through its brilliant glow.This is in short the crux of the question around which centre the differences of views between· Ahmadis and other Muslims.Our opponents aver that the door to all categories of prophets, law-giving, non-law- giving, reflector, independent, subordinate has been finl!-lly bolted after the appearance of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him).They, however, contrary to their own view, persist in the descent of the Messiah Hazrat Isa from heavens and his installation in the pedestal of Prophethood.We, on the other hand, hold that undoubtedly the law given by the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) is final and that there shall be no law-bearing or independent prophet after him and this door is closed till the Day of Judge- ment but, that, by receiving light from his light, being his reflection and a servant of his law, one can attain to the excellences of prophethood in the same manner as does the full moon receive light from the ligltt of the sun in subservience thereto so much so that it appears indissolutely linked to it.The appearance of such a moon can in no way be characterized as derogatory to the sun; on the con- trary, it reflects the perfectness of the •sun itself, as, it is its radiator and not the original source of light, deriving light therefrom and in no way inde- pendent thereof.Three Categories of Prophethood: After the above introductory remarks, I would now resume discussion of the point at issue-an exposition of the concept of khatm-e-Nabuwat.Accord- ing to the Ahmadiyya belief which finds support in 7

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the Q11ranic text as well as in history, there are three categories of prophets.Firstly those who bring a new Divine Law such as ,1oses who brought the Torah or our Holy prophet (Allah bless him) who was commissioned with the Holy Quran.Such prophets are categorized as law-bearing or legishting prophets.Secondly, the prophets who bear no new law but serve the existing law, their Prophethood, however, being an independent grace, which they attain not through subservience to a'nother prophet but directly, such as David, Solomon, Zakariya, Yahya and Isa (Allah bless them) who made their advent after :\loses (peace of Allnh be on him).All, these prophets were followers of the Mosaic law and were appointed to uphold it as is borne out by the Holy Quran, the ToraJ} and t.he New Testament, but they were inde- pendent prophets, owing the gift not to their subOl'di- nation to 1\loses but as a direct grace of God on their own merits and were after initiation assigned service· to l\losaic Dispensatiofl.Such prophets are categorized as independent though they are not law- givers.This is why, it· must be no~d, that inspite of subordination to their predeceAisor law-giving prophet, they cherish no spec-ial personal devotion to him.As for instance we fail to notice any per- sonal.devotion and affection for Moses in the heart of Messiah in spite of the latter being subordinate to the law of the former; he rather seems to be emotionally concerned as little as is the magistrate of one District, on transfer in ordinary course to another District, under a new Collector of a new District.In the third category comes the prophet who is neither a law-giver nor has been graced directly with prophethood independently of allegiance to the former prophet but his Prophetic attribute is a reftection of his preceptor Prophet and a gift bestow- ed on him through his grace and is a glimmer· of his light.As for example, if a gardener engages, for the maintenance of his garden, his own son as a 8

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caretaker instead of an outsider the latter cannot be reasonably expected to entertain that warmth, sin- cerity and devotional spirit in his feelings towards his master and his property as the former who is inspired by a deep sense of filial love.It is precisely due to this reason that we seek in vain, among the prophets of Israel, that devotional affection and warmth of faith and personal loyalty tc,wards Moses as we find and feel in the Promised Messiah's heart towards the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him).The explanation is self-evident.While the Prophets of Israel were more or less outsiders, engaged to look after the garden of Moses (peace be on him), the Promised l\lessiah wr.s, by the grace of God and through His merey, the spiritual son and disciple and reflection of the Holy Prophet : the J<'ounder of the Ahmadiyya Community was t'.1erefore inspired with a burning love for the Holy Prophet hardly to be found elsewhere.A comparative study of his works and of references of the Messiah to l\loses in the New Testament will confirm• our statement beyond ~ispute.As an example we quote below a few coup- lets of the Promised Messiah (peace of Allah on him) which express his devotional· 1ove for the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him): '7-~.V/.-'~~rL· +Lf.'cf.!~).L!;iLy ' -.(-1; ,.., ~tf }.:°"v.LJ..r;'%Lt "T'.., 41(.~/•J~.i;;'J'.ic.l.'J ,.._( ~ f'I"" ~ "i-tf..r-rY_,J,.,,1.-!."' _!) 9 11~tf.c,:I(,~,: ]..,~JJt.11 ~~J4-1t;,~J~Q{=?

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..That blessed and great Leader, from whom proceeds All.the light-his name Is Muhammad, and he alone Is my friend, my dearest Well Beloved I All the Prophets Are faultless and holy, Each better than the other : But C'oming from the Lord God The highest, and the best Among them all, without doubt, Is l\luhammad himself I Indeed I am sold, Entirely, On this light : Wholly, and completely, Am I devoted to it : In my mind, in this respect, There are no reservations I lie alone is the one That counts ; while I, In myself, amount, Absolutely, to nothing : This alone is the basic • Truth ; this alqne The final verdict ! The only urge that Moves me ; the onlv desire That dominates my heart, That dominates my being, Is that every moment Of my lire, I stand • Reverently kissing Thy sacred book: In a transport or joy, And devotion, that I dance Round it, 1iince it is, 10

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In truth my Ka'ba- The most vital pivot Of all my hopes, Of all my aspirations! In short, prophethood is cla,isified in three categories, as Allah says in the Holy Quran, prophets differ in their status, so do they differ according as the category, to which they individually.belong: I.Firstly, law-bearing prophethood is such pro• phethood as reveals a new code like that of Hazrat Moses (peace be on him) or of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him), such prophethood is also termed ·as "Real prophethood" because all prophetic dispensations com- mence with- a law-bearing prophethood and the two other categories of prophethood follow it.Law-bear- ing propheth90d alone is in fact real prophethood in the true sense of the word.• 2.In the second category comes the non-law- bearing prophethood which carries no new law but is independent and a direct divine gift, allegiance to a former Prophet being in no way a condition precedent to its grant, such as the Prophet-hood of Hazrat David and· Hazrat Isa who served the Mosaic law but- did not owe the favour to Moses, having been graced directly on their personal merit: This prophethood is characterized as independent pro- phethood, as it does not accrue as a favour du·e to any outside influence but is self-sustained.8.In the third category comes reflex-prophethood.This is attained through allegiance to a former pro- phet, by seeking light from him and losing oneself in him and by becoming a reflex-action manifestation of his excellences, such as the prophethood of the Promised Messiah (peace of Allah be on him), Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, which he acquired in the disciple-ship of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless 11

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him).This is called reflex-prophethood and the person gifted with it is a prophet on the one hand and simultaneously a follower on the other.Our opponents, it must be noted, are, however, of the view that the door to all the three categories of prophethood has been finally closed after the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) and that no prophet of any category shall appear till the Doomsday.ln other words even an eminently perfect follower of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) cannot be heir to the excellences of pro- phethood as a reflector and yet, they in direct con- tradiction of their above view, believe in the second advent of Hazrat Isa [ who came as a steward of the Mosaic dispensation some 600 years before the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) for the reformation of the Ummate Muhammadiyya retaining his former office of Prophethood.In contra-distinction to it, the Ahmadiyya Com- munity holds that whereas the p.oor to the first two categories of prophethood has been finally closed after the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him} i.~.there shall neither come a law-giving prophet as the law of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) is perfect; nor shall appear a non-law-giving prophet claiming to having received the favour independently of the prophethood of the Holy prophet (Allah ble11s hlm); • as, such belief is derogatory to the complete ~-nd perfect prophet- hood of our Holy Prophet (Allah bless him}; but that the appearance of a prophet of the third category who has been termed as the disciple-cum-reflex-prophet, one who has received the Cavour in the service and through the grace of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him} and has been enlightened through his glow, is within the range of possibility• for, his appearance does ii1 no way detract from the glory of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him}.On the contrary, it demons- trates the perfection of his prophetic excellence, in that his.bright sun could, through the effulgence of 12

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its brilliance, produce -a full moon reflecting its pro• portions and rotating around it.According to our be- lief, this category of prophethood does not violate the Seal of Prophethood nor does it breach the finality of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) in any sense, for, being the ideal, the sovereign and source of grace, the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) remains the last Prophet; as the dominion of sun does not terminate with the appearance of moon ; on the con- trary his reign is asserted with greater prominence.In the light of this approach, we regard the second advent of the self-same Hazrat Isa ,(peace be on him) as violation of the Seal of Prophethood and derogatory to the dignity of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him), for he received his office of prophethood before the appoitnment of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) directly and the appointment of a person who does not owe his prophethood to the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him), for the reformation of the followers of the Holy Prophet, (Allah bless him) is a slur on the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) and violates the Seal of Prophethood.Before listing arugments in support of the Ahmadi- yya belief, it appears germane to the matter to re- produce here in his own words, the belief of the Promised Messiah, the }'ounder of the Ahmadiyya Movement (Allah bless him), so that a clear version of his claim is fully eomprehended and readers are acquainted with the original statement of the claimant and lest some mischief-monger should mislead people, by ascribing to us baseless assertions.Hazrat Promis- ed Messiah, the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, (peace be on him), says: "I swear by the glory of God and His l\tajesty that I am of the faithful, a Muslim and I be- lieve in Allah, the High, in His Books, and in His messengers and in H.is angels and in life after death.And I believe that our Prophet 18

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Muhammad, the El~ct of God {peace of Allah be on him and His blessings) is the most eminent of the prophets and the Seal of Apostles".1 He again says : "The charge made against me and my com- munity that we do not believe the Messenger of Allah (peace be on him and His blessings) to be the Seal of Prophets is a big falsehood.The faith, the conviction, certitude and the utterness that characterize our belief in the Holy Prophet {peace of Allah be on him and His blessings) as the Seal of Prophets, are mar- kedly absent in the belief of these people (those 'who level this charge at us)''.2 Elaborating this solemn affirmation, the Promised Messiah (peace be on him) says: "We believe that the Quran is the last book and the last law and after it there is no prophet till Doomsday in the sense of a law- giver or recipient of the Word of God inde- pendent of subordination to the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and ltis blessings).'l'o be more explicit, as God Almighty has promised that.the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) is the Seal of Prophets, He has been further pleased to impliedly say that the Exalted One is, because of his spiritual eminence, like father unto the pious w-hose inner perfection is under- taken through subordination to him and who are honoured with the favour of Divine word and revelation.In accord therewith says the Lord of All Honour : -~ • ~-' ,, ~...- ----··.<'-:-'l:?li'J,-'J -~I ~U.., J.Hamamatulbushra, Pag• 8.2.AI-Hakam, 19th March, 1905.H

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"'Muhammad (the blessed Prophet of Allah) is father unto none of your males but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Pro- phet ■".1 It is evident that the word~ in the Arabic language, stands for an alternate to what has been ~egatived.In the first part of this verse what has been negatived is the physical father- hood of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) in relation to males.With the inte1jectory word -~ the Holy Prophet's (Allah bless him) office of Seal of Prophets has been announced, as an alternate position.It means that after him independent gra~t of the blessings of prophet- hood has ended and now the perfectness of prophethood shall be granted only to the person bearing the seal of his prophelhood for his sub- servience to the Holy Prophet.And such a one.will thus become spiritually a son and an heir to the Holy Apostle (Allah bless him)."In short, in.this verse, while in a way the fatherhood of the Holy Prophet (Allah hle_ss him) has been denied (in relation to males), yet in another (the spiritual) form, his fatherhood has been confirmed so that the taunt of the enemies referred to in the verse ~':JI.J-"' ~l.!.il..: i)I "Surely it is thy enemy who is without issue" be, at the same time, disposed of.In brief, it means that prophethood even un-accompanied by law, though embargoed as a direct attain- ment, is nevertheless attainable, if received as a favour and reward, through the light of Muhammad (Allah bless him)."2 • And yet again he says : • "Khatamannabiyyeen means that (Muhammad the Messenger of Allah is the Seal of Prophets) Sura Ahzab, V.41.• Review on Mubahise ChakraM ve Ahllhadis pa,11 6 & 7.15

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no prophethood can be bonafide without the certificate of his Seal.When a seal is stamped on a paper, it becomes certified and is treated as authentic (attested); similarly a prophethood not bearing the seal and attestation of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) is not genuine".1 He further says: "Allah made the Prophet (peace be on him and His blessings) the Lord of the Seal and granted him, for communication of excellenc-e, the Seal that He gave to no ot11er prophet."Therefore was he styled, the Seal of Prophets, i.e.subservience to him imparts the excellences of prophethood and that his spiritual indulgence has prophet-raising quality and that such holy proportions were not granted unto any other apostle".2 Elaborating his own claim, says the Promised Messiah (Allah bless him) : '·I received this honour only through subservience to the Holy Prophet (peace be on hitn and His blessings).H11d l not been of the Ummat of the Prophet (Allah bless him) and had I not followed him, I would never have beeu graced with.Divive word and address even if my efforts and deeds matched the grandeur and height of all the mountains of_the world, for, all prophet- hood except t·he l\luhammadan Prophethood.has ended.No law-giving prophet shall ever come and a prophet without Jaw may but only such as is primarily a follower of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him).I am both a follower and a Prophet".3 J.(A/hakam Oct.17, 1902); 2.(Haqiqat11/ Wahi page 96-97).3.(Tajal/iyate l/a/1/y)'a, Pages 24 • 25) 16

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After stating the difference between the views of the Ahmadiyya Community and of other Muslims on Khatm-e-Nabuwai, I w o u Id now deal with the methods of resolving these differences and of judging which of the two view-points.that of the Ahmadiyya Community or that of the other Muslims, is correct.It must be borne in mind that there are only four possible methods of resolving religious differences, open to a Muslim.The first and foremost is by a reference to the Holy Quran which is the most reliable and paramount authority for discriminating truth from falsehood and about which Allah the Supreme Himself says: ,,I,.~ • I ;, _,,,.......,_ ~,., c:WI'.....•..~..w 0 l!)~Y,.'....~.,, ~ ·;•.:.., '-! ~ And what evidence shall ye believe in preference to Allah and His verses".1 The second place of reliability is held by the Hadith which, though not as authoritative and highly placed as the Word -of Allah, nor even a tradition can be said to have been handed down as a word to word version of the Holy Prophet's 11peech, nevertheless, after the Holy Quran, it is a fairly accurate judge of the differences of opinion in respect of Islamic postulates, notwithstanding the standards we must neces11arily observe in clas1;ifying the authentic traditions as dis- tinct from the doubtful ones.The third place of precedence must go to the past reformers and Imams, for even though being subject to human errors, this august.body.is deserving of a position or reliability far greater than that held bv the general body of Muslims.Also because the vie~•s of these wor~hies have been expressed much earlier in point of time than the present differences and current controversies and are definitely free from the bias I.Al-Quron Suro Jasia ve,,, 7.1,

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that has unfortunately coloured the beliefs of the present-day Musalmans.Besides, they enjoy decidedly a far greater eminence in erudition and piety than our contemporary Maulvies.The fourth place of pride goes to human reason which, in spite of possible errors is a Divine beacon of inner light and is, the means of deciding most of the human affairs.And there is little doubt that with no screen of darkness intervening; human reason is an instrument of great value in knowing the genuine from the fake.By the grace of God, His this humble servant now proposes to deal with the Khatm-e-Nabuwat question in the light of these four sources so that our readers may be enabled to reach satisafactory conclusion in respect df this issue, 18

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KHA'l'l\1-E-NABUWA'l' IN THE LIGHT OF THE.HOLY QURAN As stated already, the Holy Quran holds pre- eminently the highest position of authoritativeness.We therefore initiate our discussion of the subject in hand in the light of this august source.It must be noted at the very outset that there is not even a single word or a fraction of a verse in the Holy Quran supporting an embargo on prophethood after the Holy Prophet (peace of All~h be on him and His blessings), On the contrary, rivers of divine grace and bounty flow in all directions and the Holy Ql1ran is replete both with lucid pronouncements as well as subtle hints emphasiz- ing greater volume in the current of the Divine spring of bounties following the advent of Muhammad, the Prophet of Allah (peace of God on him and His bless- ings).All that the group holding the view that prophethood has ceased after the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) have in support of their case is the verse: ----~ "L,,~l.l- :.,~,..., ",:_ L.-t., ~ ,-._, tJ,» u,....__, ~., This verse is in itself a moot one and cannot therefore be advanced as an adequate evidence in a controversy centring around its very concept; for on no occasion do we find the Holy Quran contenting itself with a solitary verse in dealing with an important truth; on the contrary the Word of God amplifies it with various verses in different places and in different forms, so much so, that it brings forth a veritable sun of arguments and evidence to illuminate and reinforce a particular truth.Accordingly it says: cr"~~J-'IJ°:•.1;,> -t;i~9i;ii11:.a,S_,:,~; "We have verily expounded it in the Quran 19

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repeatedly so that they may learn" ,1 It stands to reason, therefore, to conclude that the utter silence of the Holy Quran on the subject.after the solitary verse: ~-'1 "''.,.~.-:....!., \\.,, ,.~-= ~.£...!,.,, -~ r,-'-, ~,u,....; ~.J without following it up ,vith any further reference, elsewhere, in the sense which our opponents wish to impart to this verse and on the other hand refuting their contention and presenting th~ grace of the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and.His blessings) as far more extensive in comprehensiveness, tran·scend- ing in eminence and excelling in degree those of all the other prophets, clearly and conclusively militate.against our misguided friends' concept of the verse under reference limiting and restricting the grace and blessings of the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings) and terminating the Lord's boJnties after his advent..In short, this is our contention and claim that there is not a single verse of the Holy Quran not even the verse: ~I~\...J.iitlJ_,..,; ~J (wich is the subject-matter of discussion and which, as we shall presently prove; is not susceptible of the meaning our opponents would have us believe), i~ fact there is ~t a_word i~ the Holy Book to countenance the view that the door to all categories.of prophethood 'is closed after our Master Prophet l\luhammad (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings); on the contrary there is immense evidence in the Holy Quran upholding the view that with the advent of the Holy Prophet, th~ Chief of Mankind, the Elect of all creation, the ~al of Prophets (peace be on him and Allah'• blessings) the gates of Divine grace, mercy and bounty have been thrown wide open.So far as the verae : --.J.S11ro Ba11i 1,,..,, 11e,1e 42 20

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~II~(..J.iilJ,-.J ~.J is concerned, as we shall presently show, it.does not admit of the sense our opponents so unjustly force upon it ; on the other hand like the rest of the various verses it declares open the door of the Holy Prophet's unparalleled grace and unequalled bounty, which our kind friends are not disposed to see and appreciate due to tlleir lack of insight.According to the criterion provided by the Word of God, our foremost argument is that there is not a single verse or the Holy Quran which closes the door of prophethood in Islam or which supports the line of interpretation of the Quranic verse i:r-r.JI ~I.:.as adopted by our opponents.Had it been 10, the Holy Quran would have thrown a flood of light on the subject.But the case is quite different.As a matter of fact, the door of the blessings of God has more widely been opened after the advent of the Holy Prophet than before.Would that our brethren in Islam understand this point.Sura Fatiha and Khatam-e-Nabuwat Now I take the verse from the Opening Chapter of the Holy Quran viz."Guide us in the right path-the path of those on whom 'fhou hast bestowffl Thy blessings."1 This verse which is recited at least SO times a day by all l\luslims in their prayers brings good tidings to the followers of the Holy Prophet of Islam.In this verse God Almighty exhorts the Muslims to pray for the bestowal of those very rewards whi~h He 21

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had bestowed on previous Ummats.It is evident that the verse does not ask the Muslims only to seek bare guidance.Had it been so, the porti.on of the verse, viz., •guide us in the right path' would have serv~d the purpose, the addition of the words ~..::...,,H~~ll.l.,....would have been quite unnecessary.But the addition of the words shows that the aim is to create a passion in the hearts of Muslims for the attainment of those rewards which were bestowed on the followers of previous prophets and to draw the attention of the Muslims to the fact, that the blessings and rewards which were individually bestowed on previous followers are to be collectively and consummately reserved for the Muslims.Accordingly the Holy Quran further explains this point :., ~ I _, ~...:'..~ ,,......~ "\J"'..~-::: ,,...."4.lJ,~ =...-- ,~I>--',.,.- , u,-.>- > ~~., ~ ~ - -~ ,,,,,...._ ~ ,";.:·,.--~~....J......~.1 _,:._,,...,,.~1,.(..J~r') o..y • : ~, ~., ~~ "And whoso obeys Allah and this messenger of His shall be among those on whom Allah has bestowed His blessings, namely, the Prophets, the Truthful, the Martyrs and the Righteous.And excellent companions are these."1 I In this verse God Almighty classifies the recipients of rewards into four groups viz: (a) 'fhe Ptophets.(b) The Truthful.(c) The Martyrs.(d) The Righteous.In other words, a certain person attains to I.Sura Nisa, verse 70.22

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the status of prophethood on the basis of his personal capability, beauty of character and the need of the hour, and having attained communion with God is sent as a prophet to guide the people of the world.Another person attains to the status of Siddiqiyyat whose beliefs and actions become the very personification of right and truth and there is no disagreement between his words and deeds.Yet another gets the rank of Witness (Martyr), his life and death being a living testimony to the Faith.And still another becomes of the Pious whose life is dedicated to virtuous activity so that he is constant in the true path.Lo, here Allah the Supreme, enjoins on us through the Sura }'atiha the prayer thus ''O ye Muslims seek ye the way of the favoured ones who preceded you in r~ceiving those bounties.; nay gather ye in you all the bounties granted severally to those who were before you".He has been at the same time pleased to explain to us that these favoured ones are the Prophets, the Righteous, the Witnesses and the Pious.Both these clear-cut verses read together, conclusively establish the fact that the door to the favour of Prophethood is wide open to the Prophet Muhammad's people, the best of all the peoples.It is inconceivable that while, on the one hand.Allah, the Supreme, should teach us the prayer "0 Lord enlist us among the favoured ones" and after explaining further that "by the favoured ones we mean the Prophets, the Righteous, the Witnesses and the Pious" and on the other hand should simultaneously shut the gate of these favours on the followers of His Chosen Prophet.We sincerely commend it to a dispassionate and cool consideration of our readers with an open mind.When Allah the Supreme enjoins on us a.prayer for enrolment among his favoured ones simultaneously categorizing these favoured groups as the Prophets, 28

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the righteous, the Witnesses and the Pious, does the cumulative.sense of the two verses dealing with this subject, mean anything but that the door to the grace of prophethood is as much open to this people who are by the grace of God, His elect, as are the doors to righteousness, martyrdom and piousness.Any other in- terpretation would expose the honour of the Holy God to the slur that while on the one hand He induces His servants to supplicate for a particular favour, on the other hand, He withdraws His extended hand forth- with, refusing to bestow the said !:?lessing.Allah the High is too exalted and holy to be made fu-n of.It is, however, a.matter of indescribable pleasure (and it.is truly a miracle of the Holy Quran) that even if the two verses quoted above are not taken together as we have done in the foregoing lines, severally too, they (the above-quoted verses of the Sura Fatiha and Surii Nisa) clearly and unequivocally stand for continuation of prophethood in the l\luhammadan dispensation.The relevant words of the Sura Fatiha are reproduced below : "Lead us along the right way, the way of those whom Thou hast favoured" ,I Now it is clear that, even in the absence of the verse of the Sura Nisa, the above quoted verse of Sura Fatiha is in itself a- conclusive and sure testimony of the fact that l\luslims are eligible to all the favours granted severally heretofore to the preceding dispensa- tions.}"'or, when Allah himself teaches a prayer to seek His favours in general terms and without any qualification or reservation, it would logically mean that doors to all the favours are open to the petitioner, -- l.Sura Fatiha.

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as otherwise, the teaching of such a prayer would not only be ridiculous but also definitely useless.Therefore even if the verse of Sura Nisa which enumerates the eategories of the favoured, is not taken into account, the very act of enjoining on us the prayer to seek favours granted to preceding peoples, is sufficient proof of the doors to :.ll these favours being open to the followers of the Holy prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him ever and evermore).A question may arise here that the favours granted to the former Ummats also comprised the law-bearing propμethood and the independent prophet- hood and that doors to these have now been closed; the answer is that the point at issue concerns abstract prophethood and not a particular category thereof.and the door to general prophethood is still open.As fat as ( the termination of) law-bearing prophe~hood and independent prophethood are concerned, it.is easily comprehended when it is realized that the category aspect of Prophc-thood is one of administrative necessity having no bearing on the grace angle of it.Since before the advent of Hazrat Muhammad the Prophet of Allah (peace of Allah be on him and His mercy) different nations needed different laws suited to their respective genius, Allah accordingly revealed different codes to various prophet11.When, however, world conditions changed, and with the appointment of the Chief of the World, the Seal of Prophets (Allah's blessings be on him and His mercy) a final and global law was revealed for all mankind and for all times, naturally the need for the revelation of a new Jaw ceased.Likewise since the advent of our Holy Prophet (blessings of Allah be on him and His peace) who was the perfect and the perfected messenger and had been raised with mighty purifying properties through the grace whereof a follower could be eligible to the station of Prophethood, the door to independent prophethood, was closed thereafter.But so far as g~neral prophethood 2.5

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is concerned it remains open after him in the form of reflex-prophethood.The point itt issue therefore is not a particular brand of Prophethood but abstract prophethood; the category aspect being irrelevant here and really related to the needs, and conditions of time.And as we have explained, the need for law-bearing prophethood and independent prophethood having been satisfied with the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings), as his law is complete and abiding and no new code is called for thereafter and because he is perfect and possesses extraordinary sublimatory powers, there remains no occasion for independent prophethood.In short, the issue relates to absolute prophethood and not to a particular category.Absolute prophethood is still in currency and not under a bar.Again a question arises here that since according to the Quranic verse 'you are the best people raised for mankind' the Muslims excel all other Ummats, then how is it that while prophets like Solomon, Zachariya.John and Christ appeared in the Mosaic dispensation, so far only one prophet has been raised in the Muammadan dispensation; if prophethood is a.favour and • if the Muslim Ummat excels others, there should have been more prophets in this U mmat than in the· Mosaic dispensation.The answer to this question is that while undoubtedly many prophets appeared in the Mosaic dispensation, they received tlte favour directly from God who commissioned them to serve the Mosaic law and people; they owed it not to th~ir allegiance to Moses nor to his personal beneticencc and ther.efore their advent in no way redounds to the superiority Qf the Mosaic dispensation.On the other hand, the prophet who has appeared in the Muhammadan dis- pensation.is a <1piritual heir to the Holy Prophet (Allah's blessings on him and His peace ); and his 26

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beneficiary, having receh•ed grace through subservience to pim and in his disciple-ship.His advent is thus, eve·n as a single case, to the credit of the excellence of the l\luhammadan Ummat.Answering the same objection, the Promised Messiah (peace of Allah be on him) said : "Naturally the question arises here that in the Ummat of Hazrat 1\foses many prophets appeared and in the Ummat-e-Muhammadiyya only one prophet has come so far, thus in the circum- stances Moses holds the palm is an inevitable C'onclusion.The answer thereto being that the _prophets coming among the Utr1ma• of Hazrat !\loses were all chosen by God directly without ·Hazrat Moses having any reference thereto.Hut in this Ummat there have been thousands who became saints through the grace attending their subservience to the Holy Prophet (pence of Allah be on him and His blessings) and also one / who is both a follower and a prophet.This is grace abounding and not to be found in any other Prophet.Leaving aside the Prophets of Isrrel, majority of the people of Mosaic dispensQ.tion were imperfect.'l'heir prophets, as already stated, received nothing fl-om Hazrat Moses and were on the C'ontrary.chosen directly.But in the Ummat-e-Muhammadiyya thousands were made saints only because of having followed the Holy Prophet and also one became a prophet while at the same time remaining a follower."1 The above-quoted explanation by Hazrat Promised Messiah is self-evident.Here I would.digress a little for the benefit of those who are not conversant with spiritual truths.The above~stated explanation of the Promised Messiah (peace of Allah be on him) is a truth which cannot be explained in terms of historical fact or even rational theory but pertains to the sphere of personal experience and initiation in the spiritual realm.--- 1.Vide Haqlqatul Wahi.27

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A deeper consideration would reveal that it really impliedly touches upon Promised Messiah's high spiri• tual station but it is relished only by those who are initiated in the spiritual realm and enjoy a status of nearness to the Holy God and are acquainted with the precedence oC others situated similarly in the Divine presence.Matters of spiritual realm are little known to those who have had- no personal experience of such phenomena.Such secrets are known only to Allah to whom nothing is hidden or to such as have access to the Holy Presence, for, outsiders see nothing of the inner secrets nor are these matters within their purview.We praise our God for having granted us such a high-placed Imam who received, through the grace of his Holy ~faster, all the fa,·ours that were granted to the former people directly.In reference to this Divine Jrace says the Promised Messiah (peace of Allah be on him) :..~ ('--'!Y ,._, ,~ v,., ,., J.• •.,t;:...7i.,., tr.t,..:; !/.,;, ~.·;.., ,,~wf,c ✓.~ J, ~rJvv,ed.J! ( t;:f,J.,;;:) ('rll c(/t~1,1,('f , • - !I_., _.J ~ i-,,?i?-1~.,.✓.ct" ~ , ( 1;,:L • :~~ 1.., ~c/ 11 T1ie Lord who gave the cup to the prophets gave me also the same cup brimful.He captured my heart and gave me His love....He became my teacher, through His revelation I have recognised God, through it I have melted my heart with this fire."'fhe admonishers know not my condition 28

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They haven't access to my elixir" ,l I have so f11r confined myself to the exposition of the Sura Fatiha inasmuch as, it, by itself, distinctly opens the way to all the favours granted to preceding Ummats, for the Ummat-e Muhammadiyya.Now I will adduce supporting evidence from the relevant verse of the Sura Nisa which, in a likewise_ manner, keeps that way open.The verse under reference, as quoted in the foregoing discussion, is as follows: ~Ir "'),\t...-:" ••"u,1--GU, ~- ",..r; ~, ~-t.6 -'~, - ~ TJ.o ~('...., ,,,,....,# \!.;;...~...t,.,....,...,....J ~ ,,, <.'•-=!l1LJ~ Jo ".)) • ! ~I c,:,-., c,:,!.;,.,~-' " And those who obey Allah and the Prophet are among those whom Allah has favoured, among the Prophets, the Righteous, the Witnesses and the Pious and a good company are these".2 This verse, it is noteworthy, clearly points out that the door of all the Divine favours is open to the true followers of the Holy Prophet l\fuhammad (Allah's blessing and peace be on him) i.e.they can, according to their respective merits, join Prophets, Righteous, Witnesses and Pious and the companionship of these is a blissf•il and holy boon.In other words, according to this verse, th~ station of the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings) is so exalted and 10 eminent that true allegiance to him can make a follower heir to the greatest spiritual favour and that there is no grace which is not within the reach of a faithful senant of his.In contra-distinction to this, I, Noz11lul Ma,1•.2.Suro Ni•• rer,e 10, 29

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while referring to the other Prophets, Allah the Great omits the word p1ophets and suffixes only with "righteous and the witnesses".He says: -:..~.~t~JJ1$' ~..,;.-L\.,.-:...\ -=-·~, 0~ ,,.,,.I.- , '..~-' , "J.,- ~...,,,.,·.....,,,,,,..,~~., l~~'~t""i..1.,...,) -..-o.,,.4V~,-\~f_, "'Those who truly believe in Allah and His Prophets are righteous and witnesses unto their Lord".1 • The cl~ar distinction betw,-en the respective meaning of the two verses undf'r reference is too stroug an evidence to leave any room for doubt in any mind as to the fact that, while the followers of the E'arlier prophets could become righteous and witnesses, they could not, by virtue of allegiance to them, be eligible to the grace of Prophethood, but that, on the other hand, the followers of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings) have- within their reach, the opportunity to attain to prophet- hood through obedience to the Prophet, in addition to the opportunity to be< ome righteous and witnesses, according to their respective merits~ If a question arises here as to the use of the word • ~• in the above quoted verse of Sura Nisa, in the sense of 'with' and that it means that the followers of.the Holy Prophet (peace be on him and His blessings) cannot become prophets but are 'only eligible to their company, this would be a narrow-minded construction because, actually the word 'r: has not been used in respect of prophets alone, but has been used in respect of "those whom Allah has favoured", which term comprises all, prophets, righteous, witnesses and pious J.Suro Al-Hadid, ,err• 20.80

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alike.If therefore the word 'e", is construed as 'with' and thus the verse is rendered to mean tfiat a Muslim cannot attain to the favour of Prophethood through obedience and allegiance to the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings) but that he becomes eligible only to the company of prophets, then it must also be as a necessary corollary accepted, that (God forbid) no Muslim can enter the group of 'those whom Allah has favoured'........he cannot be among the righteous, nor among the wit.m·sses and nor even among the pious.This, every Muslim will agree, is evidently wrong.Besides, the word • r:::' as the Arabic idiom shows, has been used in the sense of • r::' (among) on many occasions.Says the Holy Quran : "0 our Lord, forgive us our sins, cover our faults and gather us together • ,.,., (among) the virtuous".1 '- The word 'c:' in the above context has not been used in the sense of •with'; as, it would, in that case, mean "grant it O Lord that our death takes place simultaneously with that of the virtuous." Here 'c:' stands for·'among' undoubtedly: the verse thus means "List us among the virtuous when we die and grant that we do not die.ginning".An instance in point is a reference to lblis in the Holy Quran which uses the word 'c:' when it says :..,.J " I.,.., (11'~.,..:.,jl-,~J ~-~,~~,..) "And he was not (among) those who prostrated"2 1.Sura Al-lmran, -verse 194.2.Sura Aro/, verse 12.Bl

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In another place referring to the same incident the Holy Quran uses the word 'c' and says: "He refused to be • c' (with) those who prostrated.The Quran has thus, E:O to say, confirmed through its own judgement that the word 'c' can at times express the meaning of 'among'.In short, the use of the expression •c• in the sense of 'among' is a common place idiom, extensive use of which in the Arabic language is a' matter of elementary knowledge.Strictly speak!ng similar expressions are copiously found in all languages.As an instance, in Urdu, the expression "So and so is with the Muslim League" does not convey the sense that the person under reference is actually a non-member And only outwardly keeping a physical personal contact with that body.It in fact means that he is a.member of the League and one of the leaguers.It is a great pity that the Maulvies of our times little ponder on tbe verse of the Holy Quran and have been lost in the mazes or traditional fiction.Had they but reftected a little, they would not have been so obstinate about tbeir interpretation of the word • ~' as it could not be much of a st_umbling-block.In fact, the intention in the use of the word • ,::' here instead of'cr'is to express a double-meaning composite of the sense of both the expressions simultaneously.In elaboration of the point a Hadith will be very relevant.As the Holy Prophet (Allah's prace and blessings be.on him) has said, "the souls are grouped in classes" i.e.tbere are different categories of souls ; souls having common affinities are attracted toward each other and are attached to one another in close unity.It is evident thr.refore that the use of the word C: instead of 'er' is intended to point to the elevating truth that the favoured ones shall.apart from joining -- /.Suro Ha.Jr, ••rs• 32.32

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the ranks of Prophets, the Righteous and the wit- nesses, have in them t,he spirit of oneness; their community or affinity shall be expressed in tttrms of complete unity, rnutual attraction and oneness, so much so, that they will be presentir1g a spectacle of distinct homogeneous classes.It is with this object that the verse ends \Vith_ the expression 'a good company shall they be', so as to point out to their espirit de corps homt>geneity and sense of spiritual oneness that permeates the mass of every •favoured group.' It is in pointed reference to it that the Holy Prophet (peace be on him and His blessings) says: "The Prophets are like unto brethren, their mothers are different but their father is one and their faith is one".I -In the verse under reference also the word '~• has been employed in the composite sense of the terms , ~ and ,:r to indic•ate this underlying spiritual affinity.It is a great matter of regret that the Maulvies of today who are utterly ignorant of the Quranic beauty of expression and its inner realities, instead of diving in it& depths, to disC'over pearls are content with the flotsam and jets11m of their own creation.They could sec a weu.lth of wisdom and a depth of meaning in every letter and word of the Holy Book and its reason for preferenC'e of one term to another would have unfolded itself to them with the full weight of its significance.------ ' J.Muslim: Cl,ap.Fozai/ Isa.8-3

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I will now cite a Quranic verse.clearly promising the advent of Prophets among the followers of Islam : ••o ye children of Adam if Prophets come to you from among you reading my verses to you, then whosover turns to piety and mends his ways, they shall neither fear nor shall they grieve'', l Jn the above verse, Allah, addressing all mankind through the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings), says, "If at any time in future Prophets appear among you (since appointment of Prophets from among non-Muslim nations has ceased) reject them not; but fearing· God mend your ways as this is the only way to save yourselves from pain and grief".How clearly and unequivocally this verse, in a forceful language, opens the door to the coming of prophets, among the followers of the Holy Apostle Muhammad (Allah bless him) is evident.Would that people pondered on these truths.If a question is raised by someone that the verse under discussion refers to past nations and not to future ages, he is invited to study the entire context of the subject and satisfy himself that the reference, in no way, relates to preceding periods.And when it clearly establishes 1.Sura Aral, verse 36.84,

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the fact that it relates to future period of time and is not concerned with the past, it is the duty of a fair- minded person to ponder if there is not herein the greatest argument in favour of continuation of prophet- hood-the Holy Quran emphatically sending forth the call in so many words '0 ye the seed of Adam, give your ears and hear~ there will appear among you prophets at a.future period of time and they will be from amongst you -and shaU be subservient _to and beneficiaries of your prophet''.Friends and.brethren! I entreat you, weigh and consider seriously.This is a religious matter aud no plaything.It requires a most serious and responsible attitude of mind.Deliberate well this verse of the Holy Quran and judge for yourselves whether it pertains to past ages or to a future period.If it relates to the future, then does it not hold forth a promise of the appearance of Prophets? If it is clearly established that the verse holds forth such a promise then do accept it for the sake of truth and fairness, as there is no greater guidance than the Quran and no greater misfortune than its disregard.Now I propose to deal with the verse which forms the crux of the entire problem and which according to the wrong construction put upon it by our opponents, is supposed to bolt the door on prophethood.On the contrary, as it will be presently evident, this verse elevates him to the eminent station of prophet- maker (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings).Says the Holy Quran : ,J JI --~ ~,,,,.,, :":'\-: ,,,_ Ct"'h,;;,_:1'":'l;?'l;_,.,...,) -~ ~--J "Muhammad is ·not a father to any of your males but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of 35

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prophets".1 Before expounding the meaning of the above verse, it seems necessary to go into the circumstances surrounding its revelation so that the grounds for and the histo~c background against which the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) has been designated 'the Seal of prophets' are taken into account.It must be recalled in this connection, that as Heaven would have it, all the Holy Prophet's male children born of Hazrat Khadija the Pure, (may Allah be pleased with her) died while he was, still in Mecca.This gave an occasion to the evil-minded unbelievers to taunt him and say that he was a fruitless tree and without issue and that after his death his chapter will be finally closed.In reference to it Allah revealed the following verses : ,i, 1.....-:,...~--1ni:-at ==:;s-ir'i'1•..,_.....~, - ,,, ~.J ::,->-;;., ~ ' • :-:,PC:\ I.J,,, •,/.., ()7' I 0.1.1"') "We have granted thee abundance : pray therefore to thy Lord and sacrifice, verily thy enemy is fruitless (without issue)'·' ,2 When later the Holy Prophet migrated to Medina, here he disowned Zaid as his son on the ground that in accordance with _Divine Commandment an adopted son could no more be treated as ~on.This again gave occasion to the accursed infidels to repeat the taunt saying that the repudiation of his adopted son had advanced a stage further still his aberrativeness, which had been completed after the demise of his son earlier.On this occasion was revealed the verse under reference which announced that while, Allah had in His wisdom 10 willed it that the Prophet should have no male issue, but as the Messenger of Allah he was the 1.Sura Al-Ahzab, Verse 41.2.Suro Al-Kausar.86

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spiritual father of countless children and among Apostles the Seal of Prophets under whose wings Prophets and apostles shall receive tution: he therefore is not without issue and is on the contrary the founde:r of a glorious spiritual dispensation and chief among the forerunners and succeeding generations.This is the historic background against which the verse, under reference was revealed, with the word· 'Seal of Prophets' as its greatest highlight.It is deeply to be regretted that the expression which is so eloquent of the illustrious status of the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings) has been miscon• strued as "the terminator of Divine grace".It is interpreted as drying up the stream of prophethood after him and that irrespective of the fact whether a person be his disciple, follower, and servant, there is no more any one worthy of being a prophet.But we will presently r,,rove this as wholly incorrect, as both according to Arabic idiom and the background against which it was revealed, it is susceptible of only two interpretations: Fir8tly, "Muhammad is not the father of any of your males but as the Messenger of Allah he is the spiritual father of all ·the faithful, even Seal of Prophets and as such a father to them, (Prophets) as well and there shall not be a prophet henceforth as does not bear his certifying seal." Secondly, "Muhammad is father of none of your males but as the "Messenger of Allah" he is the spiritual father of all the faithful and as a Prophet he holds a position of such eminence.as is unexcelled and in virtuous station he stands unique, at the last point of the pinnacle of excellence." According to Arabic idiom both the above constructions are correct, but., the former is far·more so, in view of the content-matter of tlie verse and its ·87

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back-ground.Whichever of the.two meanings is preferred, the conclusion is obvious that the verse is not susceptible of the s~nse of termination of every category of Prophethood after the Holy Prophet (peace be on him and blessings of Allah) which the non- Ahmadi Ulema wish to impart to it.The internal evidence consists of the combined content of the two words '~'l • and 'I"' l.:.' of this verse and without a reasonable interpretation of the combined sense of these two expressions, the meaning of the verse becomes incomprehensible.According to Arabic usage the expression •~'l• is employed in- variably to convey an import which is opposite to the intent expressed in the preceding part of speech, or to remove a doubt created by an earlier statement.For instance, if the preceding part of a sentence is of a negative character, the expression •.:,S-'l• is employed to emph1t-sizea positive aspect in contradistinction to the preceding import and vice versa.This usage ifJ ter:med 'adversative conjunction' in Arabic,? and all lexicons agree on its employment being limited to the· sense of clarifying any possible doubt that an earlier statement may prompt.In the light of this exposition it will be clear that the expression l"'l.:.(Seal of Prophets) if understood as bearing the import preferred by the opposite part.would render the expression•J'l• as altQgether meaningless, thus making the verse equally meaningless.Taken in this sense the verse will be capable of the following rendering : ••Muhammad is not the father of any of your males but a terminator of Prophets." • Lt!aving alone God, the Knowing, the Wise, no man of an average level of commonsense, can be capable of such meani~less speech wherein the preceding interjection '~ "':J• as :well as the one follow- ing it, ~arry the same import_ a~Gl instead of_ removin_g 1m earber doubt only confirm 1t.As an mstance 10 88

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point the followh..J sentence would make an apt illustration : "All the persons got up but Saeed too got up".Can any sensihie person talk such nonsense I Can a perfect and eloquent book like the Holy Quran carry such a meaningless expression? Reflect in the name of God and say whether, in fairness, the interjection •~'j• is susceptiqle of the meaning that our opponents seek to impart to it?.On the contrary, the construction that we advance accords an appropriate sense to interjection •,:,f'~• leaving little room for any complexity.Our interpretation is hereunder: "Muhammad is not the father of any of your males but spiritual father of all the faithful, even of the prophets".In the above construction the interjection • ~'j• carries a most appropriate import.In the verse under reference the -other important word.is •,.Sl..• which occurs with fatah of•.::.,• in the- versions of the Holy Quran currently accepted by both Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis.It is, however, true that it occurs in one version with '•.;-S'• on •.::.,•.Whichever of the two readings, is accepted the verse is not susceptible of the sense of cessation of prophet- hood in either case.~he use of 'r-!L:.' with fatah on •.::.,• in the sense of Seal, as.-noted in lexicons, further elaborates this point.According to Tajulurus •~l..• (Khatam) is the seal that is stamped on wax, earth or paper.As an instance a reference to Hadith will show that our Holy Prophet (peace be on him and blessings of Allah) used to affix his seal to the evangelistic despatches he.addressed to the Emperors of Byzantine and Iran.In this sense the verse would mean : ••Muhammad...is not, in physical relationship, the father of any of your males but in the 89

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spiritual sense, as a Messenger of Allah, father of all the faithful and the Seal of Prophets and onl)I one bearing his certifying ·seal shall hence- forth be an accredited.Prophet".The above meaning is too plain to need any uncommon ability to appreciate.Besides, this meaning highlights the exalted rank of the Holy Prophet (peace be on him and blessings of Allah) and shows thnt he is not only a prophet in the.popular conception of the tem1 but n prophet maker as well, m1reserved allegiance to him •meriting.his spiritual care can lead one to the position of a.prophet, thus making him the spiritual father · of 11postles.In short, if in the verse under discussion, his male progeny forms a negative quantity, on the other hand the adversative interjection of • J~• confirms an alternate spiritual progeny, over and above he has been granted the Seal of prophethood and thus made the spiritual father of the Apostles.Besides we should bear in mind that since, symbolically the word khatam stands for a ring, ari article of ornamentation, Khatamannabiyeen would mean a person who is an ornament of all Prophets i.e.one who adds lustre to their office.This meaning in it~elf constitutes a very delightful conception of the Holy Prophet's rank.Even the rendering of the word •~l.:..•with '•.1-l' under '~l:,;..' does not mean cessat.ion of prophethood.According to this, in simple and straight la11guage, the verse would signify that all the excellences of prophet hood reached their· perfection in the person of the Holy Prophet (peace be on him and blessings of Allah) and that he is the Prophet-in-Chief, far from being the terminator of the grace.called prophethood and not one who dried up a running stream, According to the great lexicon, Aqrabul Ma••arid, when it is said : 40

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"Allah caused all excellence to end with him it means that all excellence found greatest expres- sion in him,,.When it is said of an artist that a particular art ended with him, even a schoolboy knows that the person under reference attained the utmost perfection in his art and not that there would henceforth be no artist after him.Such expressions are common in e,•ery language.Anyway its meaning ev·en with 0.1-3 under_.::..is clear and too plain to present any difficulty.It is in this sense that Hazrat Maulana Rumi (died in A.H.672) said in his l\:lasnavi : I ,;.:J,, ~,):li;,~'{7- l..,..,.,,;;_.,; i..J, ~ ,.~, ·• ~ , 'fr ;,v;;, if,,,; l.f ?)..He is Khatam for the reason of his being with- out a peer in bounty, both before and after (his time)."1 B~iefly.spea½ing,..the '!ord ,..;1;.read in ei~h~r render mg with e-' on ·...., or with o ;J under ~ (as 1t 1s found ii\ the former form in all the copies of the Holy Book in Pakistan, India and other countries and in the latte1· form in some oft.he works embodying com- mentaries), does not carry the meaning of termination of prophethood.In tite former rendering the expression means 'the Seal of Prophets', thus signifying that there shall henceforth be no prophet but one bearing the certifying seal or the Holy Prophet (peace be on him and Allah's blessings), his disciple, servant and spiritual beneficiary, With o_,....f" under o the expression indicates pei:fection in excellences of Prophethood, l.· M,isna1·i R11nli, Vo/.vi, p.6.

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thus elevating him to the top rank among Prophets, an eminence inaccessible to others of the class.What have our opponents to offer against this clear exposi- tion ? The answer to this question is evident from • the construction they put on the verse under reference, 'l'heir interpretation is as follows : ''Muhammad is not physically the father of any of your male members but is a messenger of Allah and such a prophet as has put a period on prophethood after him".Does this cheap and worthless constructiqn com• pare in any degree with the rendering advocated by us in the foregoing lines? Leaving aside unreasonat,I~ in- transigence, a just minded person will feel in the.Jeart of his heart that, on its own merits, our construction is by far the most appropriate compliment to the dignity of the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings).In short the verse ~:.Jl~l.:.which is the founda- tion-stone of the view-point of opposition, endorses our stand aa, instead of closing the door to prophethood, it proves that due to the exalted office of the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings) even his servants and disciples can, through his spiri- tual grace and with his certifying seal, attain to the excellences of prophethood.'J'his is so, because he is the Supreme Prophet and with his emergence as the Chief all others automatically take the back seat.Moreover he is not without progeny but he is the possessor of abundance and the spring of every spiritual grace issues forth from his august person and all the former generations and the latter ones bow their heads to him in obeisance.It is therefore that he says : ,2

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•'I am the chief among all the progeny of Adam and I pride not thereon".And he again says: ct:..r..J! J y-} L, ,/; /.1,/.1.,.:;Jl,:! 1 ; "If Moses and Jusus were alive they would have· no alternative but to follow me".How exalted ia his eminence and how elevated his rank-not only his predecessor-prnphets even the Messiah of our days at whose hands Islam is destined to achieve its renaissance in its second cycle, are lined up with his servants and his holy seal is certifying the bonafides of those who have been and those who shall follow.iflr.'1,;1 ~,~J'IJ..;.,'!':::...,,~.i..._...,,1,.,.f f, f, -.., J ;-- v- ~ ~.,.1...:,, "1l..i \;., Bless the Prophet O Lord and his generations and grant him peace.Amen ! ----- l.Al-yw11qeet wal Jwal,ar complied by litloln ShtiOrdnl.,ot, a p, 20,

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THE KHATME NABUWAT POSTULATE IN THE LIGHT OF 'l'RADITIONS After- a brief but by the grace of God, comp- rehensive examination of the • Khatme nabuwat issue in the light of the Holy Quran, I propose to turn here to Hadith.As stated at the outset, the traditions, however highly placed, hold only a secondary position in the order of reliability, in comparison to the Holy Quran; Since however, I have to satisfy the opposite camp, and also because considerations of space hardly admit of a detailed discussion in this short brochure, I would not go into the question of authenticity or inconclusiveness of the relevant traditions but would, for the sake of argument, accept all the Hadith referred to here under as correct and would only confine mysdf to an elucidation thereof.I would at the first instance pick up the traditions having.in our opinion a bearing on the continu~ty of reflect-prophethood after the Exalted Apostle Uuhammad (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings).Such Traditions as close the door to the appearance of a law-giving Prophet after the advent of our Holy Master and similarly rule out.the appointment of a non-law-giving but independent prophet-one who claims to have been invested with the honoul' of prophethood directly and independent of the favour of our Exalted Apostle Hazrat Muhammad (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings),-but such ones as declare the appear- ance of a subservinet-prophet to be open-one who receives the favour through the grace of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) and radiates his light.We of the Ahmadiyya Community.regard the founder of our Movement Hazrat Promised Messiah (peace of Allali be on him) as a member of the latter category i.e,, a, reflector and subservient prophet

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wllo received the robe of prophetic honour in service to and discipleship of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace of Allah be on him and His blessmgs), In brief we propose to deal here with the positive traditions first and later, Allah willing, shall deal with the traditiol)s of the negative category which according to the notions of our opponents, impose a total embargo on all categories of prophets after the Holy Prophet.(peace of Allah be on him and His blessings).After this introductory note, the flrst tradition I would like to quote in this connection, is the one relating to Ibrahim, the loved son of our Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings).Ibrahim was born to Hazrat Maria Kibtia in the 8th year of Hijri (Tabri, Zurqani and Tarikhe.Khamis).Since during his term of prophethood, he was the first son of the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His blessings), all his sons from his wife Hazrat Khadija (Allah be pleased with her) having died prematurely, the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings) loved him very much.But, as Allah decreed, this child died when he was hardly a year and a half old.Naturally his death grieved the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah· be on him and His choicest blessings) deeply and tears· welled up in his eyes.His only observation however was: "0 Ibrahim we are deeply grieved over your separation", adding at the same time, r\!.i.J~"' ~~~( 4 \ ':.t;;f.• ~ --~ ,..,!Ji!,'->" "Had Ibrahim lived he would have certainly been a righteous Prophet."! 1.lbn-e-Maja, Kitab al-Janaiz.65

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In this tradition, the use of the composite term 'Righteous Prophet' points to the high status of the child Ibrahim.It means that had Ibrahim lived he would have combined in himself the twin grace-excellences of prophethood as well as of righteousness~ the Holy Quran, speaking highly of Hazrat Idris, (there is only Hazrat Idris in reference to whom this composite term has been used, besides Hazrat Ibrahim of cours~) used the composite term 'righteous Prophet' in respect of him, at the same time adding.,,,...J l--- ~ ,-:: ,.,.~ I ,,.{0"~'(/•.1.r-') -.:....\j~~; "And we elvated him to a high positon."l The Holy Prophet's (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings) observation similarly hinted at the high position Ibrahim would have occupied had he lived, gifted with inherent qualitities of the f,irst-rate order.Besides, by the use of the composite term 'righteous prophet' the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings) pointed out that "ar;; a Siddique 'righteous' is subordinate in rank to a prophet, so Ibrahim, not- withstanding his elevated position as a prophet, w,ould have been a follower of my law and recepient of divine favours through me".In ·other words he would be a reflector and subordinate prophet and not a law-giving or an independent prophet.In short, in this tradition, which, finds mention in ibne Maja, the famous authority of the Six Authentic Series (.t.;:..cl:,,,,,.,), our Ma8ter tlie Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choices blessings ever and evermore) has in very clear words -and plain language asserted that •Hacl Ibrahim lived he would have been a Prophet."After this clear verdict only two courses are now open to our opponents.I.Sura Maryam, v,,,-se 58.4,6

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J:''irstly that they should advance the plea that Allah caused Ibrahim to die so that he should not live to become a prophet.This plea would be treated by any right-minded person as an insane argument and utterly absurd, for it admits of the assumption that Allah had originally erred in sending Ibrahim.into the world and, as soon as He realized that He had made His apostle Muhammad a "terminator of Prophets" (u~-::JI ~la.), He caused Ibrahim to die and thus put a finale to this story·.One can hardly think of a more absurd exposition of the tr.adi- tion under reference.Secondly, that our opponents, in fear of God, give their intransigence and accord their agreement to the view that inspite of the verse relating to •~.:JI 19Jla.•, a prophet may appear from among the followers of the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings for ever and evermore) and that the '~.:.JI ~ l.:.' verse bans law-bearing prophethood as well as independent apostleship and is in no way an embargo on non-law-giving reflex-prophethood.It should be rememberd in this connection that the verse relating to 'u---:·ll~la.• was revealed in fhe 5th year of the Hijri (vide lbne Hisham, Tabri and Tarikhe Khamis) while Ibrahim died in the year 9 or 10 of the era, that is some five years after the revelation (vide Tabri and zurqani).It clearly means that the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings for ever and evermore) made the observation ''Had Ibrahim Jived he would have become a righteous prophet"; some five years after the revelation to him of the Khatamannabiyyeen verse.That the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings), knowing fully well and notwith- standing the divine decision regarding Khatmenabu- wat, made the statement "Had Ibrahim lived he would have been a righreous prophet" conclusively and 4,7

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finally qlinches the argument in favour of the view that, in his ·own mind, the Khatme nabuwat verse was in ·no manner a bar to Ibrahim becoming a prophet.How clearly and unequivocally this • tradition opens to the Muslims the door to prophethood inspite of the Khatme-nabuwat.Would that our frie.tds care to deliberate and seriously.take into account the.fact that the Khatamannabiyyeen verse had been 1evealed and our Master the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and--His choicest blessings for ever and evermore) had been invested with the insignia of the seal of prophethood, when quite a few years later on the death of.his son Ibrahim, he observes: •·Had Ibrahim lived he would certainly have been a righteous propl'iet." What does it amount to in final analysis? If our observation is unpalatable to you, then we irvite you to hear what Hazrat Mulla Ali Bin Muhammad Sultana! Qari (died in 1014 A.H.) a towering divine of the Hanafi section:· 1ias to say: "Had Ibrahim lived and become a prophet, he would be among the followers of the Holy Prophet.It would • not contradict the Divine word Khatammannabiyyin which means that there shall not- be a prophet abi:ogating his law and being 48

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from outside his follower&."I A hasty-minded person might raise the point that Hazrat Mulla Ali Qari at heart personally subscribed to the view that there wou)d be no prophet after the Ho)y Prophet, (peace of AIJah be on him and His choicest blessings) and that the above view is a purely hypothetic one.It must be primarily home in mind in this connection, tha\ the expression and language employed by Hnzrat ),Iulla Ali Qari, are so clear and conclush.-e, that it is incomprehensible to attribute to him a duality of opinion and belief, without a decisive supporting evidence.'l'he truth of the matter is that his personal belief was identical with his above-quoted opinion, as wou)d be evident from the content-matter of \he words he has prefixed to the above observation.The full t.ext of his.statement is a1 under: c,,e~\.s.J \:a;~.;\-J ~\r.' I J.,~ _,.) \.;..,.C:-, ~ 9'1...-: ~,l~\.;._-'I~~.._;·.~;\.:..i)IJ...,..ct...5W\ -~,- ~ :,- ~ •• I • "I say (the words "l say") are note-worthy that.inspite of all this had Ibrahim lived and become a prophet he would be of the follower11 of the Holy Prophet.It does not contradict the dh·ine word • Khatamannabiyyeen (which means that there shaU not be a prophet abrogating his law nor one who was not of his followers." 2 Who would now dispute the personal belief of Hazrat Mulla Ali Qari in face of his own aftirmati.on'I Assuming, however, that Hazrat Mullah Ali Qari's above view waa a purely hypothetical one, J.Mauz1111t, POI• 27.2.MouzuM, pare 67.

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our afore-mentioned argument remains 11-n-affeded.For, here the personal belief of Hazrat Mulla Ali Qari, in respect of the actual advent of a prophet, is not the point at issu_e; what is really germain to the matter is his interpretation· of the Hadith '(\::.:lU:!.>..,., 4.)!;:J ~l,;11 ~~_,)) and his view about the appearance of a non-law-giving disciple-prophet in face of the • verse ( i:r.=-::JI_ ~l..: ).In othel • words, here the point at issue.is.not the advent or non- appearance of a prophet but of the possibility of such an eventuality.In this respect the above- quoted observation of Hazrat Mulla Ali Qari is so manifestly clear and self-evident that it is hardly suceptible of any explanati(?n other than the obvious one.He has in plain words observed that if according to the Holy Prophet's tra,dition'(l::-:-i\i:!.>..,.,IJts:'.I I"=• l,;1 I~~.,,) Ibrahim ha,d become a prophet, it would have in no way constituted a breach of the verse (~I ~l..).},or, in his opinion, the verse in question means no more than that there can be no law-giving nor an independen_t prophet.after the Holy Apostle Muhammad • (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings) and not that there cannot come one who is both a non-law-giving prophet and a follower of the Holy Apostle Muhammad (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings for ever and evermore).Supposing however that Hazrat Mulla Ali Qari held the personal belief that there would appear no prophet after the Holy Apostle (peace of Allah be -on him and His choicest blessings), it would in no way materially affect our argument; _for, in his eluddation of tbe Hadith '( L.-:i ~.>..,., l.lts:'.I ~ l,;11 ~l~.,1 )' be affirms the possib- ility of the emergence of a non-law-giving subordinate prophet among the followers of the Faith, not- withstanding the verse ( ~I ~l.._ ).Obviously, the point at issue here is the possibility of the phenomena and not the actual incidence of the phenomena which is altogether a separate issue.I.:;o

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strongly hope our readers will appreciate this vital difference and avoid the traps laid in their way by some clever twisters and · the doubts raised by superficial obse'rvers.They would be well-advised observing this basic appreciation in l'egard to the views of other divines whose obsetvations are like- wise subject to misinterpretations by l!lelf-seekus.1'he other tradition that J· would like to quote here carries a well-known statement of the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be oil him and His choicest ·bleasings for ever and evermore) made in respect-of Hazrat·Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him).Says our Master, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest ble1Jiing1 for ever and evermore) : -t -:: '· A~1 li,,~~ •J.-t,i.-.!r""'!'~ C "p ~ do' cS',i;..(LI ,;;..d r;jl;;J,J 1/.J..,, ''Abu Bakr is the best of this people except that there should rise a prophet.''l And again he says : ~.-- (""....,_:;,, '~\,......-~., • ~ c,_yi, C)I., !, V' ~ ~ ~ Y, I (A~rf.J' &1,0 ~l(;vt ,J If.tf-"~_lcJ~.dJ_y.!.) "Abu Bakr is the best of people except that there be a prophet."2 Both the above-quoted traditions have identical meaning and occur in three different works on Haditla ------- 1.Dai/my quoted by Kanuzul Haqaiq of Imam Munadi Page 7, published in Eg)·Pt,....2.• Tabrani Kabir ve Kamil lbne Adi quoted by Jam.iosaogir of Imam Suynti, page 5 published in Egypt.•

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and are too clear to need any elaboratir -'• According to these, the Holy Prophet ( Peace of Allah be on him and llis choicest blessings) is reported to have praised Hazrat Abu Bakr as the foremost figure in Islam, except in case a prophet appeared at.a later stage, for a Prophet is in any case higher in status to a non-prophet.'l'hese traditions are clear • in · their wordings_ and self-evident in their meaning• and admit of no dispute.Be11ides, these are not of our making and have.been widely known and accepted in the Muslim world for hundreds of years.The~ have been banded down by two top-divines of l1dam Imam Maunavi and "Imam Suyuti.Their above rendering into Urdu by us has been scrupulously done in strict _accord to the rules of Arabic grammar, which earn be readily checked up by apy scholar of Arabi<;.Had, however, the.word "Nabiyyun" been used in- the form 'Nabiyyan', in that case the meaning of course would be : "Abu Bakr is the best of the people except if he ~c01;nes a prophet ( at a later date )." In this case the entire construction would become senseless and· meaningless, f o r , it • is evident that Hazrat Abu Bakr would· still retain his position of pre-eminence.Thus the interjectory• •except ( ~t ) would become not only redundant but incorrect.To cut it short, as we have already explajped ( and the authenticity of our quotations can be verified by a reference to the original works ), the word Nabiyyun (~) and not Nabiyyan (.c.r-i ).• has been use~ in the_ tr~dition under d111cuauon.Ita correct interpretation 1s as Wider:- Abu Dakar is the bel!t among this people except that a prophet appears_ later"..This tradition speaks for itself.But every call is wuted on deaf ears when a people heed not the ~ : How can one m.ake a person hear who is not disposed to 52

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listen and how can one make one understand when he is not wiJiing to understand ? In how aggrieved a tone says the Holy Book :..Do they not reflect over the Quran or have they locks over their eus ? " Now I will quote a tradition of· the Holy Prophet (Peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings) which relates to the different periods of Islamic history ; therein the Holy Prophet has eleborated that as Islam started with prophethood which was followed by the Caliphate based on the Prophetic standard of values, so shall, in the latter da~·s of Islam, re-emerge Caliphate.likwise based on the prophetic standard of value.s with however a long period inter- vening between the two cycles.Says the Holy Prophet (Peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings): ~ ~ ;J e>,.SS C) \.a.\ ';\J.\...P.i;-:...~,C>.,(S ~ ,..'.,'-:l.i;'..: ~~'t:.4!-- J.s:: ci..;~g.,.U.,...J"il\.,.i.-, \ $, • I • • ("., I L !-,J..~_,.(t _;.:,•~ la),i;.,1 ~.>.:' _μ c.:>~C>I a&Aat -is,~~;Je>/Jo\~\:t':.t.'-='~~ - • I ~ • "- (""., -.;l,hl::.L..~-~ L~~~,-v..:J-cl\;.;; • C)~ -· •• ~ ~c:.,,-j~ -JW- ~t t...-.;.>.:'_.;j CJ,.G o, cr-·rr"..-r>~ -L·· •= :..ti ;s-;.;.~1 #~ nB

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"Prophetic period will remain with you as long as Allah wills that it remain, then Allah the Supreme will lift it; then will emerge Caliphate based on the prophetic standard of values and remain as long as Allah wills that it remain ; then Allah will lift it ; then will start absolute monarchy and remain so long as Allah wills that it remain : then • Allah will lift it; then will start absolute n1onarchy and remain so long as Allah wills that it remain ; then Allah· will lift it ; then will emerge the Caliphate based on the prophetic standard of values", 1 Thia tradition of exquisite beauty is an interesting and complete epito_me of the undulat- ing, hiitory of Islam.Our Ho~y Master, ~uhammad ( Peace.of Allah be on.him and His choicest bles1ings ) has used choice language which describes the whole story in a nutshell, covering, in a graphic manner, every epoch of the Muslim era.He places foremost the.period of prophethood which- is, so to say, the pivotal point of the entire organism; it is succeeded by the Caliphate, not the commonly understood Caliphate when at times even tyrants shared the honorific title but Caliphate which had its roots in the standard of values defined and determined by Prophethood, a Caliphate that succeeds a true Prophet under Div:ine direction for the implementation of the scheme laid down by the presiding Prophet of the diijpensation.In a manner of s p e a k i II g the Caliphate of this pattern is a complementary adjunct of prophethood as was the Culiph~te of Hazrat Abu Bakr,.Hazrat Omar, Hazrat Osman and Hazrat Ali ( Allah be pleased with them all ) in succession to our Holy Prophet Muhammad J Musnad Ahmad, Vo/uMe V.Pagi 404.

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( Peace of Allah be on him and His choic;est blessings for ever and evermore ).This term, says the Holy Prophet, shall be followed by that of tyrannical imperialism, a period of hacking and harrying.This description is exactly applicable to the period which begins with the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Husain ( Allah be pleased with hirn} and heart.less pei'secut.ion of the members of the Prophet's family.Also Hazrat Abu Bakr's worthy grandson Hazrat Abdullah Bin Zubair fell a martyr during these days.It was during these days when the fiery sword of Hajjaj bin yusuf played havoc with the lives of thousands of innocent M~slims.This period undoubtedly presents a true spectacle of the tyrannical imperialism foretold by our Holy Master ( Peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermo~ ); blood-smeared fangs of the savage beasts were no doubt engaged in tearing the righteous from limb to limb.The Hadith under review then makes me;0tioo· f>f the period of· absolute monarchy an hnper.ialism.which, though not as tytannical as its preceding epoch but, nevertheless, far removed fl'Olll the· Islamic conception of popular government and to all intents e,od purposes a despotic and oppressive rule when monarchs held power not deJegated to them through a people's referendum but acquired by them through brute force or as heirs in lineal succession.This period of Islam is spread over hundreds of years and though was not as bloody as that of yazid bin Muaviya and Hujjaj bin yusuf, was nevertheless, on the whole, • a despotic and oppressive one during the course of which the conCf'ption of Islamic standard of ,administration was totally non-existent.This,.observes, the Holy Prophet (Peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore ) will be followed • by 55

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the ~-emergence of Caliphate with its foundation firmly laid on the Prophetic conception of moral values.In other words, Allah the High, will then raise a servant of the threshold of the Holv Prophet Muhammad lpeace of Allah be on him and His _choicest blessings) with the honorific insignia of r9ftex-prophethood and shall, through him, initiate ;.the era of true Islamic Caliphate., 'l'his tradition is self-evident in that, besides its panorami~ beauty, it.declar.es in clear, plain and unambiguous words -that as Islam began with the Caliphate• founded on the prophethood bastion, so shall it re-emerge in the latter days through a '!imihlrly constituted Caliphate.Its significance unfolds.itself in the appointment.of a servant ot' the Holy Prophet (Peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore) as a reftex-ProJ>het in whose footsteps shall ri'se the second cycle of Cali- phate.According to the narrator of this tradition, after making this observation, the Holy Prophet bt'came silent.It was a very significant pause indeed, in that, it hinted that,.with the commencement of this see.ond cycle of C'aliphate, the old order will end bringing in the new.This rennaissance has found its emergence.by the grace of God, with the appel\r- ance of the Founder of the Abmadiyya Movement.ln &lishkat, the famotis work on Hadith, the following words occur in between the lines of the above-tradi- tion : -tS.J.•· \f.., ~(:)Aj +,,t ,l.,-J\c:.>1..;,A\Ji.\\ cr''f,r<(if~w,~, d.' ;J1:.,) "E,·idently this in truth means the Caliphate of the period Isa nnd Mahdi."I' ---- 1.J,1111hkat p11bli1hrd by As/rah al Mntahi, Karac-hi page 461.

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This is the testimony of those whose children al'e today bent destroying us root and branch.May Allah guide _t.hemaright I A point may arise here that, according to some people, the II hove reference to the second cycle of Caliphate is applicable to the term of Hazrat Omar bin Abdul Aziz of the Umwite dynasty.That would indeed be too far.fetched an interpretation of the tradition.for, the Caliphate based on prophet- ic values prt'sumes the existence of an appropriate or.ianisation and implies· a reiular epoch· in "terms of time.'fhe Caliphate of Hazrat Omar bin Abdul Aziz was confined to one individual's term which again was too ·short.lh•ed {lasting a little over 2 · years) to have been the subject of the Holy Prophet's (peil<'e of Allah he on him and His choicest blessings for ever and evermore) prediction of a cycle of ren- naisanC'e on the pattern of the early Caliphate of the Holy companions.It is known to all students of history that the caliphate of Hazrat Omar bin Abdal Aziz was sand-wiched between tyrannical imperialism and oppressive rule and not an indepen- dent epoch.Oppressive despotism long continued after the brief rule of Hazrat Omar bin Abdul Aziz.'rhe tradition under discussion foretells the emerg- en<'e of the second cycle of caliphate after the expiry ot the term of oppressivedespotic rule.Clearly therefore the Caliphate of Hazrat Omar bin Abdul Aziz could not have bet'n the subject of the prophecy.Besides the last words of the tradition "then the Prophet was silmt " definitelv indicate that the reference here was to the cycie of caliphate which was desti- ned to initinte a new chapter in the history of Islam, by the foundation of a new revolutionary epoch.The Caliphate of Hazrat Omar bin Abdul Azi1.is in no way a milestone on the road to a new era.From whatever angle we examine the subiect, it would be sheer obstinacy to foree this 57

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Hadith on the caliphate of Hazrat Omar bin Abdul Aziz.Those who insist on taking this line are victims of a grave error of judgement.In brief, the hadith under reference holds out to the Muslims, the promise of a full-fledged caliphate based on the prophetic standard, and it presumes the advent of a subord- inate reflect-prophet to lay the foundations of its edifice.A section of the people, little used to serious thought but quick in wanton criticism, are inclined to point out that since the hadith, in its reference to the emergence of caliphate in the latter days, makes no mention of a prophet, therefore it is wrong to build upon it a case for the appearance of a prophet.This is a very thin argument indeed.For, it is readily comprehended that when the very words of the Hadith •o,-:i e::.Lr:-- ~.::,J"#,• , i.e.(caliphate founded on the Prophetic bastion) comprise both the elements, caliphate and prophet• hood, in other words, mean •Caliphate that follows or succeeds prophethood : a separate reference to prophethood is hardly called for.Caliphate, it must be understood, is a complementary addenda t o prophethood and clearly justifies the presumption that one must succeed the other; logical conclusion being that there is ne caliphate without prophethood preceding it immediately.Besides, it appears that our opponents have not cared to take into account the basic factor in this controversy, namely that the Promised Messiah '(peace of Allah be on him), founder of the Ahmadiva Movement does not daim an independent prophethood; on the contrary he olaims reflex-prophethood which is a part and a reflection of the real prophethood · of the Holy Apostle Muhammad (peace of Ailah be on him and His choicest blessings for ever and evermore).It wiH be 1·eadily appreciated on all hands that, under the circumstanees, a Separate mention of the appear- 58

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a.nee of a prophet was not called for in the hadith under reference.An apt illustration of it may well be pointed out in the Sura Juma of the Holy Quran.S8,fs 'the Book of Allah : ,,, " ,,:., ,,,,.41!,....,,.,,,__,.--~- •.-: _,_," • "' -J '"""..!:It.''···--~'-,~ ,~-~'-,S'J.Jr:,..~~ ;,,_,- ,..,,,,,,.,._.,.,...,..\l~:J.:, 1:0'i~ ,r,,.~1.J.',..,.,...) ~r !'t-...~ , '' Allah raised a prophet o.mong the illiterate (the Arabs), from among them,...............and a latter people from among them.who have not yet joined with them."l Herein the lotter people have been simply treated upon a par with the early companions of the Holy Prophet whose appearance from among them has been clearly hinted at, impliedly in the form of a similitudf.In.an exactly identical manner, in reference to the latter epoch of Islam.the tradition in hand, omits the mention of prophethood in word only, sufficing with.a hint.implied in its reference to caliphate founded on the bastion of prophethbod, so thal the attention of the people may be drawn, as in the abve-mentioned Quranic verse, to the subtle truth that the prophet of latter day" is not an indepedent office-bearer but a servant and disciple and a reflection of the Holy Prophet Muhammad ( peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore); for, after the advent of the Seal of Prophets there is ·no room for another in the realm of faith.Truly henceforth, it is through and through the era of.Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah and.whosoever comes after him, even though he attained to the excellence • of prophet.hood, even J.Sura Juma, Verses 3 and 4.

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so, he shall be a.tributory, a servant, and a reflector of Muhammad the Apostle of Allah, and shall, as such, receive of his light and not have an independent entity.How • beautiful, bright, pleasin2 and attractive to the eye appears the full ·moon.It but reflects and radiates the ravs of the sun and is not an independent • source ·or light:.Pointing.to the same truth, says the Promised Messiah, in the course of his expression of his love and devotion to his Master Hazrat Muhammad, the chosen ( peace of.Allah be on him and His choicest blessings for ever and evermore) J, , J.~ v.t:l~CJ! if.o(./1'-',: l--J-{..1-" <,/1 ,,,.~· ,., '1-~~(f.""/, - ~~ +u I am devoted to that Light I am to Him a slave He it is, I am nothing This ·is the Last word'l In short, this hadith hint11 at the appearance of a reflex prophet from among the d~votees of the Holy Prophet (peaee of Allah be on him and His blessings• for ever and· evermore) in the latter days and the.re-establishment of caliphate, inspired by the prophetic standard of mo~al Yalues, in.his feet.Here a veile.d reference to the eme1·gence of a prophetic term is intended to imply that the prophethood immediately preceding the emergence of this second cycle of spiritual caliphate is a reflection and a part of the real prophethood of the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on hiII.1 and His choicest blessings for ever and· evermore ) 1, IJuT-·i-Snmin.fiO

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and neither independent nor self-sustained.It is a great pity, howev~r, that owing to lack of insight.people are inclined to ignore these truths, paying scant attention to the subtle realities embedded therein.Now I come to a tradition which explicitly terms the coming Messiah a prophet.Our :&laster the Holy Prophet ,has bestowed on him this tit.le.Says the Hadith: ~ _.i.,J,.-ci», J~., J\,; cJli •J.:'.,..u., ~..,..,~ "·~.....(;_,,....,:..f..,~,!.(,'il; ~\ e:,:,.,..,-..•l?,i8" i~ ,_}.:,)I' U.,.• ~ ~· ~ u- \..Jl\ c):; li.J......• u-~b ~ I ,, \...·'\ ":',...., '""'""" _., ,'!.!.,, I..-.:.'J, t eA1 ~~ _,..:,-i~ I ~.,;::~ ~.....,Jir;ll&,}--.,\{11,ll'"t.:(,Jl,J.I).~_ ►..)\ 11 From Abu Huraira.He said the Prophet of Allah ( peace of Allah be on him and His blessings) said "there is no prophet between me and him i.e.Isa, and he will verily descend and therefore as you see him accept him......he i& a middle•statured man of reddish, fair complexion.He will then fight the people for Islam and then break the cross and kill the swine and remit Jizia.,.1 The above tradition is too clearly•worded to need any elaboration and expostulation; for, our l, Yltle Abu Doood Boole AhrHllalta111 Ch: KJ111rr1j11ddajjal, 81

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Master the Holy Prophet ( Peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ) has been pleased to term the coming Messiah a prophet, in his own blessed words.- Lest, in the light of the erroneous copception of the verse \J-."11 ~l.;.• the term 'prophet' used in reference to the coming Messiah be • misunder- stood to have been , eIDployed in a loose and non-technical sense, simply to invest it with a wider significance, the Holy Prophet avoided the usual tenure and tone of conversation and used the following words which contain a world of wisdom:..e ,.'.i:...,,, ,,.....,,.~....:..., -~~,~~ "There ii; b~tween me and him no prophet." This form of speech, which is in a class by itself, decidedly intended to point out that "the coming Messiah was not to be treated as a titular Prophet in a non-technical sense but,.in so far as, the fact of prophethood was concerned ( and not its category or order of precedence ) he is as much a prophet of God as I am".How marvellous is the speech of our Holy Prophet, every word of it is a verita,ble treasure of wisdom and truth.It deserves to be seriously considered ~hat if he h1ad simply said that the coming Messiah would be a prophet, the mis-conception that has r is.en in this respect, would have ·confounded many a doubting mind le11ding hi91 to regard the use of the term in a non-technical sense and not in the real sense of the term prophethood.• But by making this profound observation '.'there is no propbet between , him and me" the Holy Prophet ( peace of Allah be -on hini and His choicest blessings ever.and evermore) confirmed the fact that "the coming

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Messiah ,ras as much a prophet of God as am I and.though· he is my servant, my disciple and my reflection nonetheless, he undoubtedly is a proph~t.For, I stan~ on one end of the dispens- ation and he stands at the other and there is no prophet in between." This tradition is so manifestly clear that no open: minded person will have any hesitation in acceptiμg it without the least shadow of· a doub~.Beside, the observation °there is no prophet between me and him" warns against accepting ariy claimant.to prophethood as genuine before the advent of.the· Promised Messiah, as, ''There is no prophet between him a_nd m_e".It is 11 double-edged weapon ; on the one •h an d it confirms the bonatides of the Promised Messiah and on_ the other wams the Muslims against the claimants rising before his.appearance, condemning them as anti-Christ and false.There may be a tendency in some minds, to apply this hadith to the Messiah of Nazarath (peace of Allah be on him).It would be sheer insanity to do so, for, the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him •and His choicest blessings ever and evermore) says Jj\i 4il • "verily he is coming.".In the face of this clear and definite observat• ion, no person, in his senses,.would connect it with the Messiah of Nazareth.Moreover, the further observation in this context "he will fight the people for Islam" shows that the coming M~ssiah will appear in the Islamic dispensation, at a time when Islam will be exposed to the attacks of other faiths and he wiU then fight other religio11s in support of Islain ; and again the words • •He will break the cross" i.e.this Divine reformer will appear at a time when the religion of cross will have reached the summit of its glory and he will then shatter 68

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the Christian doctrine to shreds ; these furnish the additional.testimony that ·here the referen~~es are in respect to the coming Messiah of the l\luhammadan dispensation a~d not to the past Messiah of the Mosaic dispensation.· We will strongly urge upon our friends to coolly deliberate the two statements -of our Master the H9ly Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest bl~ssjngs), firstly that he is verily coming (i.e.shall appear.at a future date), in other words this annomwement does not relate to the Messiah of the Mosaic: dispensation who has been but to the Messiah of the lluhammadan dispensation" who will be coming at a later date : and aecondly his prtmouncement ••there is no prophet between him and me''.In the face of these two decisive and convincing expositions; it would· be shetr pig-headedness to question the verdict of our l\laster and Guide.l\luhammnd the Chosen • (Allah bless.him ever aud eve1; more) about the coming Messiah being a prophet of Allah, in the true sense of the term ; and that he has not been given this title in a general and non-teachnical sense, simply to impart a wide1· meaning to the term-but.us a prophet, true and worthy, about whom it can be claimed that there is not one bearing that insignia between him and the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermc.re).Briefly speaking the following three facts emerge forth clearly from.the above hadith of Abu Daood : (1) The Messiah of the Muhammadan dispen- sation, •is, according to the observation of the Holy_ Prophe_t, an apostle of Allah, ~etail-_ ed to the • 1ast tip-end for the protection.o1 the Muslim people ·as does our Master the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and choie1:st blessings eyer and e.vcrmore) gra<.-e the first· tip, 84,

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(2) Appearance of a prophet, to serve Islam in the light of the observation : • ~,I r - l "'- u.\ l :-,..ti) ~ ":J c.:,-0" '-""""'.."He wil fight the people for Islam" is not derogatory to the verse ••~I ~la." for, in that capacity he is a spiritual heir to the Holy Prophet {peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and _evermore) and is a part of him ; that is why the Holy Prophet calls him a prophet notwithstanding the verse ~I ~l.,;.( t) Every claimant to prophethood, during the period intervening between the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore), is to be rejected as impostor, for, the period of '[.Y:.I ~' hus been reserved for false prophets from eternity.The above tradition of Abu Daood finds support in a similar tradition occuring in Sahib Muslim, in the course of which,the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore) used the term prophet, no less than four times, in reference to the coming Messiah.Said the Holy Prophet (pea·ce of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings for ever and eve1·more.) I !., • • • A • - I •-t , ~ , -...a.....&:::.cU,11 ' o,w _,.s:.~ • • • • • • • ~ ~ ' _.,-;,, u--;-;--- I.ii"..• :.,,,r.~ • 6&

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•'Isa the Prophet of Allah and his companions will be besieged...then Isa and the Prophet of Allah and his companions will turn to Allah._....then Isa the Prophet of Allah and his companions will invade the camps of the eaemy......again Isa the Prophet of Allah and his companions will turn to Allah......"I.In this lengthy tradition which need not be quoted here in full, because of limited space ( which definitely relates to the troublous times of latter days and the coming Messiah as a reference to the original text will convince), the Holy Prophet ( Peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ) has mentioned the Promised Messiah four times as the Prophet of Allah.This form of speech is as uncommon as that of the tradition of Abu Daood.It purports clearly to warn that ••I am the 111st Prophet and there is no such prophet after me as would be independent of my grace or repealed my law ; but that since the coming Messiah is a spiritual heir to me and mv reflection, his advent does not breach the seal of prophethood, since he receives grace from out of my bounty and his prophethood is but an extension of my original prophethood.Therefore doubt him not nor his prophethood, for the offshot is not apart from the.tree and ihe shadow is not independent of.the.substance." It was with this object that he called.the coming )lessiah a prophet, no less than four • times, in the course of a single observation.Undoubtedly such speech is not without its significance; its import being- a f o r e w a r n i n g against the misapprehensions that were likely to arise at a later date, lest the followers of the Faith should mistakenly reject the true claimant, in their ----- 1, Muslim Chapter Zikruddaj}al.66

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hastiness.It is clear that there was otherwise, no occasion for this repetition of the term Prophet in respect of the Promised • Messiah on four occasions in the c.ourse of a single sentence.The Holy Prophet ( peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore ) has never made a similar reference in respect of any other prophet on any occasion.Now I will take up a tradition which our opponents are rather nastily fond of quoting in support of their views, but which as I will presently show, in fact confirms our case.F'or all the evidence that can be adduced from this hadith, supports at best the conclusion that the door to legislative pro}:fhethood is closed after the Holy Prophet ( peace of AJlah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore) and that the door to non-legislative and subordinate prophethood shall remain wide open till eternity.The Holy Prophet ( peace of Allah be on him and His choices blessings) says:- ''Naught remains of prophethood but Mubashshirat".They said."What is meant by Mubashirat".He said, 11 True visions."1 An elaboration of this Hf!,dilh is to be found in another tradition.It is as under:- I.Solrl1' Bulclrllrl Cl,.Arn,ya.8'2'

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&....,\J1Jl:...\l~..-t:.._,~.~~IJ.::-~r'=>1 u,.L.ov-\.:..\~4.~L.i.sJ.j1..._._.,..J~,......~ 1 -~~ ~ I ~l:J I \.,;.,I\: JW fa.'-\l..:.l:i,.(t"•Or1r~(f.1L}le)1_6J1J;_1.,t'efi ••verily the Holy Prophet ( peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ) had his head tightly wrapped because of illness of which he died subsequently, and he lifted the curtain while the people stood lined up for pr8,f-er behind Abu Bakr (and he ) the Prophet said "0 ye p e o p l e verily there is naught left of prophethood except mubashshirat (true dreams.)1 This traditiop is put forth by our opponents as barring the door to prophethood of every descript- ion after the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore) and it is argued that now all that a Mussalman may be eligible to have is a true dream, as a rare gift.'l'his conclusion is not borne out by the tradition which, a little deliberation will show, only reinforces our interpretation, namely that independent and legislative categories of prophethood have ended with the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore) but that door to subordinate or reflelC;-prophethood is still open, through allegiance and devotion, to the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore) and that it ■ hall stand ajar till the world lasts..In respect of this hadith, it is of utmost impor tance to note at the very outset, that the observat- J.Sohlh Muallm quoted by Fathulbari J/ol.12 pa,e JOS.68

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ions it carries were made by the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings for ever and evermore) at a time when he was at his death-bed and had a feeling of imminent separ~tion from his dear comrades.At such a moment one is naturally moved· to lighten the feeling of bereavement and by way of consolation impress the connection that will continue to bind him to those he will be leaving behind.It is evident that the Holy Prophet's (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore) relationship with his companions was that of a law-giving prophet.In this context the content-meaning of the Holy Prophet's observation would naturally be considered as specifically limited to legislative prophethood and not to prophethood in general.In other words, he said "0 my dear comrades, I am now about to depart from you.With my death ends the legislative word of God that· was being revealed through me.But lose not heart, keep looking· to Him.He will not neglect you but will reveal Himself to the believers through baaharat.and happy dreams.0 This was particular type of speech related to a particular occasion, on the eve of his death, and in refetence to his particular prophethood.He intended to point out to a parti• cular p~riod which was to immediately follow his death and not to a timeless future.This is precise- ly the sense that leading Divines of Islam have arttibuted to this tradition.Allama lbne Hajr(died in 85g A.H.) who is respected as an authority (Imam) on hadith says in the course of his cqmmen- tary on the tradition under reference :-...J u\a-J 1, Aj~ :.t,.Jt, M.JJ i',;.: ":)I J..,.Si,J.~l,l+Jlif cJ.ct...:=--,Jt,i;:-:)t~~ • • -11Ji.;,e) 69

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"The prophethood under reference here is his i.e., the Holy Prophet's particular prophet- hood and it means that naught will remain ef his particular prophethood except mubashi- rat) (true visions)l Accordingly our view of this tradition is that the Holy Prophet (Allah's blessings he on him) had in mind his particular prophethood when he made the observation ; this meaning is not only borne out by the context of the hadith but also shared by the preceding Divines.And it relates to.the period folJowing his death, the imminence of which impelled him to give his companions.the consolation that the mercy of God would reveal itself· to them in_ the form of happy visions, even though he himself may no longer be in their midst.Since there was no question of a prophet arising soon after the death of the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on hiμi and His choicest blessings ever and evermore), he confined his interpretation of Mubashshirat to good dreams only, as the time indeed called for little else It must •be home in niind in this connection, that it was in the fitness of things that during the life-time of· the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on hini and His choicest blessings) and even for some time after his demise, revefation could not be on an extensive scale lest there should be a mix-up with the basic Quranic re,telation in progress during the period.It waa precisely in view of this ronsideration that he· confined the extent of mubah- •l&irld during bis time to mere good dreams.Allama lbne Hajar says in his notes on this subject :- -- 1.,,_,,,,.,, Vol.12 pqe JOS.70

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(1"•0)'-1,-~(f;\:JI ~ J.l..!.l) ~ J u-+lJI 'The secret under.lying the scarcity of general revelation during his own time and its abundan- ce after him was that Allah decreed security for the former against a mix-up."1 It is an excellent and a most agreeable exposit• ion that should be acceptable to every open-minded person who cares to ponder the full context of the tradition.It will be clear to him that the observat- ions made by the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore) refer to his own period of time and the limitation of Mubuhirat only to true dreams applied to the same period and was not meant in a general sense.If, however, the limited meaning of the tradition is considered to be of general appli- cation, it makes little difference as a multiplicity of cogent interpretations is a well-recognized principle.As we have stated in the course of our introduct- ory remarks, prophethood is classified in three cate- gories : Firatly, law-bearing prophethood which introduces a new code such as the one granted •to our Master the Holy Prophet ( peace of Allah be on him and His choicest bl:essings ever· and evermore).Secondly, the prophethood which is independent though unaccompanied by any new law and is a gift independent of a for~er prophet's channel; the recipient of such prophethood obtains •the l.Fathalbari Vol, 11 page 305 71

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favour directly without owing allegiance to or being disciple of a preceding prophet, Such prophethood is self-sustained and is not dependent on any other prophet and is a direct gift, such as the prophethood of Hazrat David and Hazrat Isa.Thirdly, there is the reflex-prophethood which is unaccompanied by any new law.The recipient of this category of prophethood does not obtain the favour independently; it is in fact a reflection and a shadow of the preceding or current legislative prophethood, is dependent thereon· and is devoted to its service, such as was decreed for the Promised Messiah, appointed.to come· after the Holy Prophet ( peace of Allah be on him • and His choicest blessings for ever and evermore ).If therefore the term Mubashirat is taken.in a general sense, the purport of the tradition under discussion would crystalize in the postulate that while there shall not be a law-giving prophet after the Holy Prophet ( peace of Allah be on him- and His choicest.bl e s s i n g s ), a :prophet gifted with m u b a a la , h i r at and mum:irat may come as a disciple and devotee of the Holy Prophet ( peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore).The truth of the matter is that Mubaahirat and mtmzirt ( munzitrat are a necessary concomitant of Mubashiarat ) are no ordinary gift ; when one receives these in the fullness of perfection, ·both.qualitatively as well quantitatively, he.is designated as prophet.We agree that on a lower level the gift is granted to all the believers, more or less.But as the possessor of one rupee cannot be called wealthy, a recipient of an.ordinary portion of munzirat· and mubaahim cannot.be called a prophet.Only one who receives the ·gift in • an extra-ordinary measure and.to the.degree of perfectness deserves the title; Really the · difference 72

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between the two is one of degree and extent, mubaahirat and mun.uirat being synonymous with prophethood.Says the Holy Quran on this subject:- "..~ ,..,-c........_..,..-:.."':.....,,"''.,:-;-: \ ~-- ~ ,,~\ --~\:-: :::-~.•W)~.J C>'.'~,;, _,~_.>- v-:;'.T._., \;1"'9""'-f.•,-,,,,..._.,.- ,,,_,_ G.,,,, ,,, , :..., _~,, - - ' ~ /.-:....."'.., -..:i...~ ~ ~~ • ,--t, o-- r C,),,,, ~- r--- ;/, \---;:7-.Cr'1 q.~~ 1 :.1~) "We send not our messengers but as recipients of M u b a a h i r a t and mumirat whoso therefore believe and reform shall neither fear nor grieve."I The above Quranic verse makes it clear in no uncertain terms, that in so far as their content matter is concerned, mubaahirat and munzirat are iclentical with prophethood and bearing a new law or being recipient of prophethood independently are.mere peripherical quantities w h i ch so m e prophets hold as additional qualifications and some do not.The Founder of the Ahmadiyya Mo v em en t.the Promised Messiah observes in this oonnection:- "This misfortune is due to the error that the true · meaning of the term prophet has not been probed.Nabi simply means one who receives.intelligence from God • through revelation and is favoured with the gift of Divine speech and address.It is not necessary that he should also bring a law nor that he should not be the follower of a law-giver prophet."2 He again says: •As the Mu~ddtlatl Sahib 1.Sura Anam verse 49.8.Zamima Bara/line Ahmadiyya V Pag• 138, 78

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Sirhindi observes in his Maktubat ( letters ) that though there are among this Ummat (people) some who have been honoured with the wort! of God and His address and such ones shall continue to be till the doomsday, but only such a one as is graced with Divine word and Address in exceeding generous measure • and is g i v e n intelligence of hidden things in abundance, is designated as prophet." • "Even if therefore the tradition under discussion is taken in a general sense, it will simply resolve itself into one basic concept that there can be no law-giver prophet in future and thnt only subordinate non-law-bearing prophet mt.y appear with a prophethood confined to only mubaahiral and -Munzirat.In connection with this tradition, it must be home in mind that this specific meaning of the term mubaahirat relates only to the mass of Muslims.It does not at all mean that the onlv portion that has been allocated to this,.the be;t people, consists • of mere dreams ( the personal testimony of thousands of saints and reformers who grare the pages of Islamic history is a co~firmatory pl"OOf ) and tha·t there shall not be one such as receives revelation.Imam Abul Hasan says in his commentary on.lbne Maja:•...w~u i b..ie ,....lt ~ ~:.,..) w, =>\,,J, - ~,w=-.,.._; 't;J _, ~ CA :.,c., >I, "True dreams are meant here in reference to the mass of Muslims and revelatio!l and Divine word are still there for the righteous (the 74

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.saints)l In short the hadith under discussion:.(ol~I °'ii o~I ~ ~ ,J) refers to the particular prophethood of the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore) and does not apply to prophet- hood: in general.Even if it is differently construed, it does not •negate prophethood in principle and is applici:ble only to law-bearing and independent prophethood.; the purport of the tradition being that the advent of the Holy' Prophet (peace of Allah be on him and· His choicest blessings) bars the door to law-bearing and independent prophethood and does not so bar the door to mubashirat and munzirat as this is but a reftt>ction of his own prophethood and not an original gift nor independent of him.Besides, the above tradition contains a subtle reference to the coming of the Promised Messiah in the latter days.'l'o elaborate this point, suffice it to sav, that, as our readers are aware, Ha:z.i-at Isa was· gifted with lnjil which literally means Basharat (vide Aqrabulwawarid).In other words the non-law-bearing prophethood of Hazrat Isa was termed Baaharat by GQ(l; the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be •on him and His choicest blesaings ever and evermore) in his observation under discussion, in a subtle ma.nner pointed out that while he was about to depart, the people should remain on the lookout for a Messiah bearing Mubaaluhirat like the Mosaic Messiah bearing the lnjil (Basharat) 1 this l\luhammadan Messiah beiftg a follower in his steps and a recipient of his (the Prophet's) light.What a beautiful expression that fell from the august lips of our Master, the Holy Prophet.(peace Sharah Sunani lbne Maja edited by Imam.Chui Hasan Page 448.• 'IS

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of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and evermore).In other words he repeated the prophecy relating to the Promised Messiah, namely that as the Messiah of Nazareth who was gifted with lnjil (Ba,hm-at) to serve the :M.osaic dispensat• ion, so shall in the latter days come a.Muhammadan Messiah with a like Baaharat to serve the Quranic law.In brief in his explanation of the term Mubashirat the Holy Prophet (j>eace of Allah be on him and His choicest blessings ever and ever- more) limited its operation to 'true dreams' in relation to the immediate period of time so that no other revelation gets mixed up with Quranic revelation, but for the distant •period of time, in this one expression, he implied a reference to thf' appearance of the Promised Messiah.Would that our opponents gave up their superficial observations and pondered these profound truths in which the Quran and Haditk abound I '18

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AN EXAMINATION OF NEGATIVE TRADITIONS.After discussing the positive traditions, relating to the finality of prophethood, I now propoc;e to take up negative traditions.By these I mean the traditions that are apparently understood to close the door of prophethood after the Holy Apostle.These traditions are of different categories and in their reported versions, words of varying meaning have been used by the Holy Prophet.For instance, in some, the expression used is 41.,., : ':~ <S~~ 11 There is no prophet after me".In othen it has been said, -~~\w!r.}u-~G"'J 0 Had there been a prophet after me, he would be Omar;'.Yet in some, words used are, , """ ~ I ~ ,l.~::,,••'Sff~,.~! u1 am the last of the prophet".A,ain in others the following words have been ullt!d."I and prophets preceding me are like a house with a stone missing.My advent befittingly marks to the emplacement of this brick." 77

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And still in some other reports the expressions.used are: ~I.u ii_r.ll.1 4Jl....,JI cJI "Verily Messcngership and Prophethood has ceased".And: " -w ~, ~J:: ~ ~tl.rc,,l\; ~ t:,.,:l~ "There will appear thirty impostors after • me, each of them claiming to be a.prophet"..This represents a summary of the traditions which are, in their apparent • meaning, understood to bolt the door on prophethood.I would not here go into the authenticity or unreliability of these traditions as considerations of sp11ce do not admit of a detailed ""iticism.However (as I will bv the grace of God presently prove it) it is not correct to adduce from these traditions the evidence that our opponents seek to draw.A careful examination will, on the contrary, reveal that while legislative prophethood and independent apostleship ceased with the advent of the Holy Prophet, subordinate prophet- hood which is a reflex projection and in point of fact part and parcel of Muh.ammadan prophetbood, has certainly not so ceased.Not one of the forego- ing traditions put a period to subordinate prophet- hood of the type above described.Before I take up these traditions, piece by piece, I would like to draw attention in a IJCneral manner, to a basic point which will lead to a clearer understanding of this question.In relevance to the question of the finality of Prophethood, we cite a number of traditions which prove the continuity of prophethood ; our opponents simlilarly put forth some traditions.which apparent• 78

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ly close the door of prophethood.This apparent conflict is a basic point and it has to be recognized that if it is not resolved, it leads to the unfortu- nate criticism that the Holy Prophet made state- ments which were contradictory in terms, that he said at times th!lt "there will be no prophet after me, and at others that ''there <'ould be a prophet after me" ; and again "I am the last prophet" and yet again that "after me will appear among my followers a Messiah who will be a prophet".This apparent conflict must be resolved.It is as much our dutv as that of the other Musalmans to give it the· most serious consideration and honest- ly lend ourselves to a sincere effort to reconcile or resolve this apparent contradiction (as in our sincere view the conflict is only a superficial one and there can be no material contradiction in the statements of the Holy Prophet).We have as it will be agreed on all hands, only two alternatives before us, to dispose of this apparent conflict : Firstly that the contradictions in these conflict- ing traditions be referred to the arbitration of the word of the Holy Quran.The tradition receiving Quranic support should be.accepted and the other rejected as unauthentic.1.'his is the course to which Quran has guided us..It says ""~1, 4.,..,.,..., ~.,~,-·~ l_,.,.........U ((~I~• •.1~) O<:)~Y,_ ,, •• '-'~~~~'it;, "Which tradition shall they accept beside Allah and his verses."1 If, however, our opponents are not agreeable to this simple and straight course.then there is the other alternative.We must hit upon a way to reconcile the traditic-ns of both the categories, the ---~ 1.Sura Jaria V,rn 1.19

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positive and the negative.A conclusion must be reached elucidating the category of prophethood, continuance of which is supported by the relevant group of traditions and similarly specifying the type of prophethood, cessation of which has been prono- unced by the relevant mass of negative traditions.It will save us from an unnecessarily unending controversy and at the same time open the way to the acceptance of traditions of both the categories.Quran's Verdict is In oar Favour.The above are the only two courses whereby this seeming conflict can be resolved.It is the duty of every true Muslim to give this question which involves fundamentals of faith, his most sensible and honest consideration, to seek a solution of this problem.The method of reference to the Quran is a clear one.As I have said in the open- ing chapter of this treatise, there is not a single verse, or even a • part of a verse of the Holy Quran that puts a period to Prophethood after the advent of the Holy Prophet.On the other hand, the entire narrative of the Holy Quran highlights the theme that the gates of the bounties and mercies of Heaven have been opened wider then ever:taefore since the advent of our Master (may peace be on him).Our opp- onents have nothing to put forth except the verse relating to 'Khatamannabiyyin' which, as we have already proved, far from closing the door of prophet- hood, only confirms the pre-eminent status and grace- bearing character of the Holy Prophet whose seal must henceforth be the hall-mark of his devoted and devout followers who shall, through him, be worthy of Divine graces granted directly heretofore to prophets of yore.This is precisely the view that we propound.Briefly speaking, not a single verse of the Quran 80

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lends colour to the theory of cessation of prophet.hood after the Holy Prophet.It is with consummate wisdom that Allah, in the opening chapter of the Quran, pointedly starts with the grand theme •that the bounties granted to preceding dispensations seve- rally shall henceforth, without exception, be granted in their fullest measure and perfected form to the followers of the Holy Prophet.Can a book that starts with such an all-embracing outlook lend support to narrow perspective of the prophet's mission end- ing up in the anti-climax of drying up the flow of Divine grace and bounty and arresting at once the current hitherto pursuing its normal course.So far as the apparent contradictions in the various traditions are concerned, its resolution does hardly present ·any insuperable difficulty, as the conflict is one of a super-ficial nature and in no way a real one.On the one hand, we cite a number of traditions which conclusively establish the fact that after the Holy Prophet • a follower of his, seek• ing the grace of his light and bearing his reflex, can 'attain to the pedestal of prophethood.On the other hand, the other party comes forth with a few traditions which countenance the view that there is no prophet after the Holy Prophet who is the last of the line.At the surface, a major contrad- iction confronts us.But cannot this conflict be resolved with the simple stroke of-reason that the expre- ssion c.S~~~ "There is no prophet after me" and (2) • y':)'1 ,;..:..T uil "I am the last prophet" used by the Holy Prophet ban the advent of a prJphet independent of him, nullifying his dispensation and otherwise detached, in respect of his status, vis~a-vis the prophethood of the Holy Prophet.Viewed in this sense a new significance thus becomes manifest in the afore-men- tioned traditions.In respect of the other group of traciitions of the Holy Prophet, relating to the appearance of a prophet after him and pertaining 81

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to the Promised Messiah whose advent as a prophet has been foretold by him, the Holy Prophet clearly meant that a spiritual son of the Prophet can, in the- service of his religion, seeking light from his light as does the moon from 'the sun, attain prophet• hood.The prophethood of such a person is thus in no way derogatory to the status of the Holy Prophet and the significance of the tradition cS~ ~':/ "there is no prophet after me' is not belittled in any way, for, a branch is but an offshoot of the tree nor is the shadow apart from the substance.It will be appreciated that the view propounded above is a simple and straight answer to the super- ficial conflict in the traditions which is thus disposed of in a word by a slight change in our angle.Every tradition of the Holy Prophet thus turns into a balm for the heart and a source of inner satisfaction.Controversy is cut short.I am fully aware of the fact that the authenticity of these traditions has been the subject of unending argu- ment and there is plenty of room for polemics in this field ; but I do not want to enter into this controveny and am prepared, for the sake of argu• ment, to accept aJl the traditions under reference.I do believe that the Holy Prophet claimed that •there is no prophet after me,'' I also believe that the Holy Prophet claimed to be.the last Prophet.But I am not prepared to put such construction on these traditions as tend to contradict other traditions.I cannot interpret these traditions in a sense derogatory to the dignity of the Holy Prophet.In short, when accepting one category of traditions, I do equally credit the other group of tradition• which confirm that a disciple-prophet can appear after the• Holy Prophet following his foot- steps and that the Promised Messiah is a spiritual heir to the Holy Prophet and thus elevated to the dignity of Prophethoocl.I accept the traditions of 82

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both categories as, the resolution of their superfi.cial conflict, in the light of the foregoing inter- pretation, reveals the great glory of the Prophet whereby his servants may, through his bounty, attain to propbethood.Truly did say the Holy Prophet, -'-1'~'~!~,·w~~.,~,.~\S'..,i (t'•>'t-...J:'J_!f'rLti~!/.1,.:;,l.!,dlJ "Had Moses and Jesus been alive they would not but follow my lead."i A non-Muslim could very well characterize it as a tall order lacking testimony.But by choosing one c:;f his servants for the office of Pro- mised Messiah and granting him the honour of prophethood, God has implemented the truth of the Prophet's claim and facts have affixed the seal of veracity.Are our opponents prepared to mind this evideQce of hard facts ? Are they prepared, like us to accept all the relevant traditions to resolve this conflict ? If they cannot then let them ponder well, for, they reject the Quran totally and turn their back on what is better than half of the relevant.traditions.Their's is a losing bargain, for in final analysis, they only detract from the dignity of the Holy Prophet and dry up the strP.am of Divine grace.Now I will briefly deal with the negative traditions, severally.In this ca I egory the foremost tradition that we are up against is "there is no prophet after me".This tradition is often repeated hy our opponents in support of their claim that the Holy Prophet has clearly laid down that there 1.Al-Ywaqit woljllU1tlhar compiled by lmam Slaa,an,, Jlo/.11.P.IO.88

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shall be no prophet after him.They have quoted this tradition in their writings and in their speeches ad infinitum and have with their erroneous expos- ition considerably influenced the heads and hearts of the people.But God willing this magic wil dis- sipate itself before long.This is true that literally '->..I.a¾..r.i ':ii bears undoubtedly the meaning 'there is no prophet after me." But it requires no uncommon learning to see that at times, the word •':ii• (No) negatives a particular contingency and does not necessarily signify a general negation but only a restricted one which, according to Arabic grammar, is termed as "specific negative".In Urdu language too a parallel example will be found in the case of an eminently successful and able Headmaster of a school said to "have topped in merit the rest of his category in th~ area".An expression like this "Lo that is a headmaster and there is no other than him," would certainly not mean, literally that there is no Headmaster other than him in the whole area ; all that it will signify is that there is none of his ability and eimnence in the region.No sens- ible person will dispute the fact that such express- ions occur in every language and are in common use and in wide currency.- In this connection we indeed hardly need seek parallels in other languages, for, the Holy Prophet himself has illustrated an uample of this idiom giving the whole of this ~ntroversy the final quietus.Said the Holy Prophet.v~~til~,~~"jj..r,t:a,J~l:.l (..1.1.zJ•.,e,1l!UJ~VcfJtJ..,~lS'.H~ 11 There lhall not be another Caesar after the eath of the present Caesar nor another 8'

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Xerxes after the death of the present Xerxes."1 In the above tradition the expressions Caesar and Xerxes have been used in a general sense apparently and no qualification of a restrictive nature have bten affixed.For, the Caesar and Xerxes under reference were after their death succeeded by others ; in fact the Caesars continued to rule for a peripd of over.five to six hundred years.Scholars are agreed that when the Holy Prophet made the statement that there will be no Caesar nor Xerxes after the death of the ones ruling at the time he only meant that there will not be one equal to them in great- ness and grandeur or in vastness of dominion.It was precisely in the same sense that the Holy Prophet said "there will be no prophet after me' ; he simply meant that there shall not be a prophet after him.with a new law or recipient of office independent of him.He did not mean to say that there would· be absolutely no prophet after hiin.In a manner of speaking he elaborated the mean- ing of his statement "~~ ~ '1" ("there is no prophet after me").Thus, as the latter statement meant that there shall be no greater Caesar after the death of the present one, ''so shall there be no prophet bearing a law and holding office inde- pendent of me after my commission".This is too evident to leave any room for doubt.Besides, the word (IS~) commonly translated as "after me") deserves to be particularly examined.It must be.noted in this connection that the expression (~) (after) is used in Arabic language in the following three different senses : (1) Indicative of place.In one sense '.I.at' (after) would mean behind, as for instance, in respect of a house being behind(~) another house.• (2) In another sense, used idiomaticall),, the word 1.Bukhari Kitab ,,,./.Jman wa AI-Na:oor.85

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(.lat) (after) will convey the meaning of 'opposite' as, for instance, accepting one thing as against or besides (leaving aside) the other, which may be thus said to be behind it.Says the Quran for instance • _, J.A ~ _, ,_.II 1J ••II f/1' ;, ,,..,, • fl'I _,.._ r ~ (C: 4=1,,r.~ 1.1'1'J-1:>~~ f-., !.I, ~I~ 'f.~~l.,t ~ C'What statement will they believe besides (.lat) Allah a:nd his verses."l (3) Indicative- of period of time, as for instance after ( ~) the passing away of something or the expiry of its period, something else follows.There is no gainsaying the fact that the word is definitely used in the above three s e n s e s according to Arabic synt&JE and idiom., We need not indulge in a discussion of the meaning referred to in {l) above.For, insofar as the subject matter of our present discussion is concerned, this meaning is specific to the particular tradition which cantains the statement the Holy Prophet made to.Ali on the eve of his departure for the battle of Tabuk, "you are to me like Aaron to Moses" (i.e.as Moses left Aaron behind during his absence on a journey, so am I leaving you behind in my absence on a journey) "except that a prophet officiated Moses in his absence and there is no prophet in my absence".In this tradition the word (.la! ) { after or behind ) has been used as a ~is:., ~ ~ passive participle.It is unequivocally clear that Ha z r a t Ali who officiated the Holy Prophet in Medina during his absence.has been declared as a non-prophet in status.Since however this tradition is a singular one in that it relate& to a ·specific event and the words \S~ i.r-i ~ (There is no prophet after me) have been used in certain other traditions _as l.SuTa Jalia, Vt,st 1, 86

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well without reference to any particular context, I do not feel inclined to go into it and seek refuge behind it.I admit that the words ( There is no prophet.after me ) or similar expressions have been used on other occasions as well and the crux of the argument consists in these general references rather than in the specific incident relating to Hazrat Ali..The word ~ also means besides which carries with it a sense.of preference as, for instance, says the Quran : (c ,:,i',.i1,_;J ~::.j!.~I;~ I~ ~~&SW.....-.,,;;,-;;••·--,....,.,, :- "What will the peo_ple believe after (leaving aside or besides) Allah and his verses ?"1 In the light of this meaning, the import of the tradition ~~ u,:i "':/ (there is no prophet after me) bec·omes quite clear.It will in this sense, mean that there shall be no prophet after me who bears a.law besides my Law and declaring it void; whosoever comes shall walk in my steps and serve my law and bear my ftt\g.The third meaning which relates to the passage of time signifies succession of one by the other, after one bas run the due course, in 1.certain period of time.In point of time one comes after the other.In this sense the tradition ~~ ~ "':/ ( there is no prophet after me ) will mean •'There is no prophet after the expiry of my period." The meaning in this light is too unambiguous and manifest to call for any comment.It makes it clear that after the Holy Prophet shall come none who may in i t i a t e a new dispenstation declaring his ( the prophet's) period at an end.This meaning is certainly not 1, Suf'a Jaaia, Vcrae 'I.87

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susceptible of any objection as, it is admitted on all hands, that the Holy Prophet.was commissioned with a final and ever-lasting code and his period extends_ till the Doomsday.The Holy Prophet declared so very often.On one occasion raising his hand, he joined his two fingers and emphasizeq: i:,J~ ~l-11., lH..::..!~ "I and the Doomsday are adjacent to each other as are these two finger~ of my hand" ,1 (i.e.there is no gap between the two.)- Since the terdi of the Prophet's dispensation extends to eternity, IS~ ~ ':J ( There is no prophet after me ) sha.11,in the sense of vi L.j iJ _); necessarily mean that there is no such prophet after him as would put a period to his term which extends to the Doomsday.It is a pity that, due to their myopic conception, our opponents limit the meaning of <.S~ •( after me ) to the physical life-time of the Holy Prophet, while the Prophet meant ( and truly in consonance with his lofty station) that his term was ever-lasting and that there.could not be a prophet who will cut across his jurisdiction and.his te:::-m.The word cS-'--! ( after), it must be carefully noted, is thus capable of expressing • only one sense, that c,f termination of the Prophet's period and suspension of his Law and appearance of a new prophet.That has been expressly negatived as the Prophet's term extends to the Day of Judgment and shall not come to an end.The tradition cS~u:3 ':Jpoints to this subtle • and learned interpretation.It js painful to obierve how the materialistic- minded shallow thinkers have limited its significance to his physical life-time thus lowering the loftiness of its conception.1.Bakh,rri Kitab ,,J·l-Tofn,.88

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IR a word, we believe in the tradition ( there is no Prophet after me ) in the fullness of faith and declare openly that there • is no prophet after our Master the Holy Prophet.But we do not subscribe to the view that the water of his fountain has run dry ( God forbid I ) ; on the contrary we believe that his.prophethood is co- extensive with eternity and whosoever shall come henceforth, must come enwrapped in the mantle· of His prophethood and that his apostleship would thus be subordinate to and not independent of the Holy Prophet.For, there shall not be one, be he the Messiah of Nazareth or any other, who dare encroach upon the Holy Prophet's term of office _and put his foot on the pedestal of apostleship, in contravention of the Holy Prophet's seal of Prophethood till The Doomsday.Our Master is verily pre-eminent among all his predecessors and successors and the chief among the tribes of men.Those who preceded him prepared the ground for his advent as says he, ··• ~\1 \,_.t _,,.1 \:::, Lj.# ':J -er.--, pwJ~...,o>I-'.~.~ And those who succeed him shall do so a1 bis servants seeking his light and as his reflection.This is the true significan<'e of the verse u::~lr!jl.,;.and the tradition ~;.\af ~ 'j What a pity therefore that the materialist t.hinkers of today prefer the superficial sense of the term to the lofty truths embodied therein.In recapitulation, we reiterate our faith in the tradition (~~ ~ ':l) and verify its truth and authenticity except that it means that (1) There shall not be a prophet, such as can declare the Law of Muhammad as abrogated, for, his Law is eternal and shall not be replaced with •nother dispensation.(2).There shall not be a prophet who 89

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can cut across the term of the Muhammadan Prophet- hood, and initiate a new dispensation putting a period on Muhammadan dispensation.On the co!1t• rary whoever comes shall be to the Prophet hke a branch to the tree and shall seek his light from the apostle's and thus his.prophethood shall subsist in Muhammadan Prophethood and not be extraneous thereto.The great reformers and Divines of Islam have time and again upheld this sublime truth.Even tlie Holy P1,ophet's favourite wife Hazrat Aysha (Allah be pleased with her) said,.-~~ ~~ T,l,:u'y., s rt·~lr:lu..~!l,J,i I 1..••w A••-•-~-£!- ll>~.J~JJ..:.;;;.,I.JF.'lc;,>,,r) "Say that he is the seal of Prophets but say not that there is no prophet after hini".I The Maulvi of today is certainly hugging the low earth.and dare not reach out to our kind mother's loftiness of thought.She is clearly elabo- rating the tradition (lS.Nlf is:J ~) which she fears lest hasty-minded people, failing to reali~ its true meaning, should fall in the error of construing as finally bolting the door on prophethood after the Holy Prophet and warning in a revealing manner against this obvious mistake, enjoins reading the tradition (lS.Nlf ~ ~) in the light of the verse (.:,r,:.11 ~i;,:.) as the latter contains the essence of reality.Clearly -the tradition (lS.lai c,r.i ~) is capable only of two possible inter-pretations : one whil'h our opponents put forth, namely, that the door of every type of prophethood has been finally sealed l.TokmUa Mojma Ul-Bilur p 86 afld Dur-i-Manthur Yo/, Y.90

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after the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace of Allah on him) ; and the other interpre- tation advanced by us, that no such prophet as wouid cut short the term of the Holy P:rophet, shall appear after him ; but a subordinate reflect- or-Prophet, bearing the seal of his certificate, may appear as his disciple and follower.This is precisely what the verse (i:,-..::·JI ~l.:.) purports to convey as explained above.It is noteworthy how clearly our affectionate mot er Hazrat.Ayesha (peace of Allah be on her) supported our ,foregoing inter- pretation when she hinted a note of caution against the likelihood of a wrong construction and di- rected attention towards t,he general sense of the verse (ir-::~1.~l.:.) which, she stressed, stood for "Seal of the Prophets'.There shall be no prophet with a law nor a prophet independent of him hen- ceforth as such a phenomena violates the sanctity of the Seal of Prophethood.But on the other hand, a disciple-prophet reflecting the Holy Prophet, rad- iating his light and receiving his grace, will be in order, since his prophethood is under his Law and in fact, a projection of the Holy Prophets' own prophethood.I am lost in my admiration of the surprii;ing intuition of this eminent lady and affectionate mother who could, so unerringly, foresee 1400 years ahead, the coming dangers and warn against such const- ruction of the tradition (~~ ~ ~) as were against the spirit of the ·verse (~ ~l.:.) and advised a construction that was compatible with it.She thus, indirectly, expounded the meaning of the verse (i:,..:JI ~\,,;.) "that the verse does not end prophet- hood and on the other hand it promises continued flow of Divine grace through the Prophet and under his Seal." May Allah, bless the Prophet, his people and hili spouses ! 91

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I feel that this discussion has taken much longer space than I had mentally reserved for it.I will now therefore conclude it with only one more reference and then take up other traditions.Hazrat Imam Shirani (died in A.H.927) says : J~~~.,(J'~ ~ 'j.j.,l...._, ~dlilJ- ~,i cr,)1.~!/.t,~~1)-~~t..,..:.-~ ~ >t.,.Jl "The s\atement of the Prophet that there shall be no prophet after him simply means that there shall be no such prophet after him as bears a new law".1 The above explanation by Hazrat Imam Shirani is clear and unambiguous.No s"nsible person can entertain the least· doubt about it even for a mo- ment.It will be silly if not dishonest to raise, in this connection, a question with regard to the personal belief held by Imam Sllirani in this matter as we have disposed of this irrelevant issue in res- pect of Mullah Ali Qari's reference bearing on the tradition.Only an unreasonable person would trot out such· an irrelevant point.•As we have already clear- ly pointed out in our discussion of Mullah Ali Qari's reference, we are not concerned here with the personal belief of Imam Shirani aQout the ap- pearance of a prophet.The subject- under discuss- ion is the interpretation of the tradition (cS~ i.s:i ~) as put forth by Imam Shirani and this interpre- tation undoubtedly takes cognizance of the only fact that there is no law-giving prop~et after him.--..l...tl-YtNtil Wal-jawahar Vol.11 p 27.9:l

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Therefore i:t is imperative that you should be act- uated by a God-fearing sense of honesty and abst- ain from confusing the issue.For, we are not con- cerned here with the beliefs of Imam Shirani.The subject under discussion is limited only to the con- • struction he put upon the tradition (~.AA! u-:J ':l) It is evident from his above-quoted reference that bi~ interpretation conveys the one and only mean- ing, namely that there is no law-giving Prophet after the Holy Prophet.If, however, (I am qualifying this statement with a big 'if') Imam Shirani held the pers·onal belief that a Prophet invariably brought a new law, his view is in no way a correct one.For, says the Quran, ~i>lJ I ""'t"' ('jj= 1 " _l:..•\l.,.~••J • ,:,-_ihJf ,,._.,-:-,::1-~-:.f.., ~ :-'l.,,.-.....-.., •• J ~.,_ uw,,.~ "'-&JJ "And verily we gave Moses the Book and followed him up with Prophets" And again, ~..-=L.;.:t;..-r,...l'.i~;L•..~,,t:J~-.t!, :,....JYJCS~ -, '..),-.,- , _,..~~~,.~~.l,;.i-:''\,tl,-;;.'11 J':> (t.., _..l.l ~, c.,..,.,,,.A......,_...., Cr'•~I '""'" ,;,,1.rl., ""~ly!•.1'1'J "We granted the Torah wherein was guidance and light, thereby the Prophets who conformed thereto, did adjudicate for the Jews."l This is too clear and evident a verse to admit of any doubt.Many other verses of the Quran further confirm this and so do the tradltions.As, for instance, a tradition states that there have been l,H,000 l."-1-Baqara, Y.BB and.lfl-Malda, Y.41.98

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prophets of whom 815 were law-givers (Musnad Ahmad).Factual evidence furnishes further confirm- ation.In history we find a large number of prophets without a new law: they were appointed to serve • the preceding law and reform the faith and practice of the people.Such prophets were David, Solomon, Zakaria and Yahya who were commission- ed after Moses.Even commonsense would confirm this view• since, after all the divine object in raising prophets is public reformation which is sought through either a new law or through regeneration of a previous law.In face of this conclusive evidence which has the cumulative support of Quran, tradition, history and reason, it is unthinkable that Imam Shirani or any other responsible authority could entertain the belief that all prophets must necessarily bring a new law.It is however probable that, in coineidence with our own terminology en•mcia- ted in the foregoing pages ( ~ ~I J'J.J ), the Imam Sahib shared the belief that in reality real prophethood comprised only the law-giving content, as truly every prophet.ic dispensation originates with it and other categories of prophelhood flow therefrom and follow it and not that other categories of Prophethood are not entitled to be termed as Prophethood in any sense of the word.In short, the tradition ( ~~ ~ 'j ) ''There is no prophet after me' is authentic and we accept it whole-heartedly.But it does not finally bolt the door of prophethood after the Holy Prophet.On the contr•ry it simply means that since the Holy Prophet's term extends to the Day of Judgment, therefore there shall not appear a prophet who will abrogate his law or who may not be from among his following : only such a prophet shall henceforth appear as comes through the way kept open by the verse ( i:,.=-;:ll~l.i.) (according to the view of the Lady of Paradise our mother Hazrat

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:Ayesha, May Allah be pleased with her) i.e.a disciple and· a reflector-prophet , who, bearing the seal of the Holy Prophet, attains to prophethood.The other tradition that our opponents advance is the one based on the saying of the Holy Prophet •l:-:i'>'l.,.:.T uil ("'I am the la,t of the Prophets" This tradition is cited as the Holy Prophet's personal decision that he is the last prophet and that after his judgment, the matter must be treated as closed.In this connection it must be borne in mind that as, we believe that there is no prophet after the Holy Prophet's term of Prophethood, similarly do we whole-heartedly subscribe our faith to th.e belief that he is in the true sense of the word the last Prophet.It is· indeed very painful to note that our opponents at times without caring to understand our viewpoint aild at others.unfortunately deliberat- ely attribute to us the totally erroneous view that we do not accept the Holy Prophet as the final Prophet.The truth of ~he matter is that we do believe the Holy Prophet to be the last prophet in the sense in which he has so declared himself to be.This misunderstanding has originated, in fact, with the failure on the part of our opponents, to ponder over the nature of prophethood we claim for the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement.The mere word 'prophet', used in respect of his claim, causes such an uproar that a hue and cry is raised, 'Lo, here the prophet's seal has been violated, another one has been assigned the place of the prophet and declared to be the last of the line" Would that our misguided friends gave a moment's cool and patient consideration and try to understand the question in a dispassionate manner.What is prophethood? Which stream has the Holy Prophet stopped and which one has he caused to flow ? To refresh the memory of our readers, I will here 91

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like to repeat that according to the Holy Quran, the traditions and history, prophethood is divided into three categories :- (1) Law-bearing prophethood which initiates a new law and a new prophetic dispensation.Instances in point e.re the prophethood of Hazrat Moses which brought the law of Tora and the perfect and mature prophethood of our Master the Holy.Prophet (peace of Allah and his blessings be on him) who was graced with the ever-lasting code of the Quran.Such prophethood is both law-giving as well as independent; law-giving in the sense that it bears a new code of laws and independent in the sense that it is granted directly without allegiance or obedience to a preceding prophet and therefore it i1 occasionally termed· as "Real Prophethood." (2) Non- 1 1w-giving independent prophethood which is uuaccompanied by a new law and is granted by heaven directly, without allegiance or obedience to a preceding Prophet and is therefore termed "indepen- dent" prophethood as such, prophethood is not sustain- ed by a preceding prophethood but stands on its own feet.Instances in point are the prophethood of David, Solomon, Yahya and Christ.These sublime prophets were no doubt subject to the law· of Moses, but they were not graced witb prophethood because of following Moses: they were favoured independently and directly aad were only suDsequently charged with serving the Mosaic code.(8) Non-law-bearing and non-independent pro- phethood which, in other words, is called reftex- prophethood, such prophethood neither bears a new law nor is granted independent of allegiance to a preceding - law-giving prophethood.It is, in fact, granted only through allegiance and in subservience to a preceding prophet and through his grace as a reflex-beneficence.Since shadow is, in a sense, a 06

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reflex-action 0£ the original, such prophethood is in fact a part of the real (preceding prophet's pro- phethood) and r;iot something apart.Such prophe~ hood has started with the advent of our Holy Prophet, for, no prophet l;,efore him attained that height nor any previous law such point of perfection, as all- egiance.and subsdrvience thereto could.quaHfy a follower for the grace of prophetic gift.In the light of the foregoing exposition, it will be clear that insofar as the t.wo categories of Pro- phethood, namely law-giving propliethood and inde- pendent prophethood are concerned.the Holy ;pro- phet is clearly the most outstanding and thus the Final Prophet.For, here both the parties are agreed that nor there shall be a law-bearing prophet after the Holy Prophet nor one attaining to Prophethood independently and without the obligation to owe allegiance to him.In these respects the Holy Pro- phet is evidently the Final Prophet, Insofar as the third category of prophethood (refle;x:-prophethood) is concerned, a:.fter a little reflection, it wiU be clear to • everybody that in this respect too the Holy Prophet alone remains the Final Prophet, as one who is favoured with prophethood.through allegiance to him and through the grace of his prophethood, is but his own offshoot and part of him and not a foreign element; his person is bu_t a mirror which like the full moon radiates only the light of the sun ,llnd no more.Thus in this respect too, the Holy Prophet, to all intents and purposes, shall be called the Last Prophet and not the other one who radiates his light, for the latter is but a mirror or a shadow and not the real.A parable may well illustrate the p(?int.A man planted.an orchard wherein he raised a large variety of trees and as a finishing touch planted the last tree which was bes.tin quality, in beauty, in stature and in yield and in lusciousness of fruit.After a period 97

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of time; from the root of this last tree sprang forth an off-shoot, which formed but part of the main and was an offspring.Will this last tree then cease to be the last becaus~ of this off-shoot? Not so, on the contrary the original tr.ee remains the last tree, inspite of the offshoot, which forms only a part of the original tree and draws its sustenance from it.I anl sure if our opponents were to reflect a little, ,they will readily appreciate this distinction and this question which has become 11 puzzle, shall emerge clear like daylight before us, presenting no problem whatever.In respect of the tradition under discussion, we, in fact, need hardly have to ~ay any}hing on our own.For, our Holy master the Prophet has preferred an explanation which should stand as the_ last.word.The tradition containing the words -~~l_,.;.1 uil appears in iti; -fullest and completest context in the Sa,,hih Muslim.According to the Sahib Muslim version, the Holy Prophet is stated to have said....._.......~w~·,IJ~{:),.,,.r~·•~t~\J~ c::::..JY.J ;p,~~!r&'J "I am.the last Prophet and my this mosque.,is the last mosquc."1 May the blessings of Allah be on the Prophet thousand fold, verily he has placed for our guidance, a candle of light in every dark nook and saved us from pitfalls by leading us safely along _a clear path.Now this very tradition •l:-:f'J I.,,.:.I ; I ( I am the last prophet ) was such as could iead hasty and short-sighted persons to the erroneo\1s interpretation that ·there could be 1, Sohih Mu1lam.98

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no prophet of ,vhatever cattgory aft e r him whether from among his servants and devotees one with him in spirit, Against this one possible misconstruction the Holy Pro.phet placed a bright candlt of warniQg pointing out to his follo,vers so to say in so many words: Here •~~IJ"'"T~il means that I am the last prophet in • •the same sense as my tl}is mosque ( of Medina ) is the last mosque." If the words ~\..:.JI_,.! cS~- ~I.J that this my mosque is the last mosque do· not ,nean that there shall not be built in the world another mosque in future and these words only mean that there shall be no mosque in place of mine· and that no mosque shall henceforth be built except as a copy of my mosque which will only serve and reflect it, for, my law is everlasting and there is no law after it; •~i~I.,a,T ui• similarly therefore m e a n s that there is no prophet after me claiming· to have received grace independently of me.Only· my followers and disciples radiating my light shall be eligible to this favour." How admirably eloqμent are these words and how penetrating is the glance of • our Holy Prophet that he so clearly _ foresaw the possibility of erroneous interpretation that lay in the words •~":ilJ"'"T ~I -and at once disposed of it by the word$' I am the last prop~et in the same sense as my this mosque is the last mosque." Dear friends ! !\lay God OJICll your eyes, should you care to reflect and ponder that when inspite of lacs and crores of mosques having been built in.Muslim countries after the Holr, P1·ophet ( Allah bless him) the sense of the trad1tioQ : ~u,..,...:,ct~ i, "!\fy this mosque is the last mosque" Remains intact and breach proof, thenhow.the gtant 99

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of prophetbood tQ one who appears as his disciple and servant and gathers the fruits of Divine favour in his servitude and as his tributory and reflection, can be said to repudiate the sense of the tradition -~~I.,...1 ui' Believe it or not, the unvarnished truth is this: our Master the Holy Prophet is, to all intents and purposes, the last, for every category ofprophethood (Law-bearing prophethood, independent prophethood) continuation of which could militate against his status of finality has terminated.And instead the door of prophethood that remains open admits of only ~mbordinate Prophethood which hardly detracts from his office of • finality.Would that the other Muslims but grasp this point.Besides the word ( IS~ ) 'last' as an adjective, conveys in Arabic language, the sense of perfection of a person, in an accomplishment, to the last degree.Examples of this are to be found in abupdance in both Arabic and Persian.Since this discussion has already grown in volume, we do not want to go into it in any length.It will suffi<!e here to quote an example from the Urdu poems of Dr.Sir Mohammad Iqbal, in the hope that our readers, bulk of )Vhom are expected to be fond of Dr.Iqbal's poetry and philosophy, snail feel enlightend.Says the learned Doctor : not t::-· ~J, v;f,~;,,-.1t;,i, L:'<J.: ' V• • •• • < 1.,,J'~, ~J _,,..~ ~ ~ ( vl.r/L;;U-;1 "Gone is Dagh his dead body adores yesterday, the Last Poet' of Jehanabad lies silent." Evidently the expression 1 1S.,..T' •last poet' ia used here •in the literal sense : for poets J.Bafl/le Dara.100

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continued to appear after Dagh and shall go on appearing in future.Besides, our literary circles regard Doctor Iqbal himself as by far a greater poet than Dagli.What Dr.Iqbal meant however was that Dagh was at the height ~.f eminence as a classical poet.Similarly •'=-:J':)11..,,:.i- will mean that our Holy Prophet was at the height of eminence in tpe excellences of prophethood and that me1J.ning is, in itself, a very correct and a happy one indeed..The third tradition that our opponents put forward is_,.si:.>t;:"J~I.S..1.A!i:.>ts'.,J(Had there been a prophet after me it would have been Omar).From this tradition the evidence adduced is that there can be no prophet after the Holy Prophet since he said that had there been one it would have been Omar and sinoe Omar was not a prophet therefore the door of prophethood is closed after the Holy Prophet ( may peace of Allah be on him).On serious reflection it would appear that this conclusion is far from the correct one.After careful examin,-tion and close investigation our readers will recall that while explaining the tradition I.S~ ~ '1 we had explained that the word I.SJ.ltf ( after ) ~t;:...; ), means preference of o.ne thing to another, as savs the Quran "And then what story will they believe besides ( ~ ) Allah and His verses '' ? The use of word..i.,f ( after) in Arabic in this particular sense is too common and well-recognized to leave any ground for debate.In truth no further argument is called for after the conclusive evidence of the Holy Quran.This tradition.,.s ~t,:'.l u-:' ~~ ~ts' _,J "that had there been a prophet after me it would be Omar" me"us therefore that ''If I had not been made prophet Omar "'ould have been in my place." This is surely the correct and true interpretation.As a corroborative evidence we may again refer 101

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to the Holy Prophet who, as was his wont, used to dispel d_oubts likely to be created in respect.of one tradition by citing another.In another context the Holy Prophet, made the same statement:.~ - - r:.J , _.,, ~-= -:..,,,.~ _.,..11"'r~rJi;;j;_;./Jlf.lS"...sy.lJ-~'.:.::•~~!>,I_,>' "Had I not been raised amon~ you, Omar would have been raised instead.'1 Read together, the two traditions present a clear picture.The Holy Prophet ( may peace of Allah be 011 him) has furnished a clarification in effe<'t, in these words: that when I said that had there been a prophet after me, it • would have been.Omar, I meant that, if there had been a prophet someone other than me, it would have been Omar." The Holy Prophet's foregoing words embody great truth6~ On the one hand he was himself· a law-giving Prophet who had brought a new Divine rode.On the other hand we have the evidence of history and· tradition that Hazrat Omar was gifted with a singularly judicious mind.Not only his whole term of Caliphate but his life during the period of the Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him) furnish ample evidence of the fact that Hazrat Omar was.a legislator of great eminence.Accord- ing to the evidence of traditions, it so happeried on many occasions that Omnr offered one • opinion in a matter of importance and thr other comp- anions offered another view, the word of God sub..sequently coincided with Omar's view (see Bokhari, Muslim and Zurqani).When the ,Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) said that if there had been a prophet other than himself it would have been Omar; 1.lbn-e-Adee quotrd from kanazul Haqaiq Vol.fl.p.151.102

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he was merely pointing out to this distinguishing merit of Hazrat Omar and he meant that since the times called for a new law and if he had not been raised Omar would have been appointed, Hazrat Omar poS6essed such an highly developed sense'-- of judiciousness as to compel the admiration of sever• al noted European historians.Not only therefore the Holy Prophet's tradition means 'Had I not be~m raitted, Omar would have been", even Hazrat Omar's own life points to the fact that the Holy Prophet's statement under reference, of a certainty emphasized this distinguishing feature of Hazrat Omar who stood head and shoulders above the other companions in this field.What lends further support to our stand is the fact that in general terms Hazrat Abu Bakr· ~as ~onsidered to be by consensus of OJ?inion as the moss eminent companion.Even the words of the Holy Prophet (peace be on him) confirm the view· that Hazrat Abu Bakr wa$ the rop most companion.A tradition· has already been quot.ed in this connec- 1:ion which em bodies the Holy Prophet's (Allah bless him) statement: "Abu Bakr holds the highest rank in my followers except if there be a prophet later oil...Notw.ithstanding this when the Holy Prophet (peace be on him) leaves Abu Bakr out when he says that "Had there been a prophet inst.ead of him, it ~ukl h~ve been Omar", it clearly consti- tutes decisively conclusive evidenee of the fact that the object here was an emphasis on a particular trait of Hazrat Omar in which specifically he ex- -ceeded even Hazrat Abu Bakr and it was no other qualification than his lega.1-mind,edness.He had fur- nished ample evidence of this during the life of the Holy Prophet and dul'ing the term ·of his caliphate this partieulaT ability manifested itself with: still :greater prominenee.Viewed from any angle, the tradition undeT discussion is capable of only one 108

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construction, that the word •~, (after) has not been used here in term of period and it means that if there were to be a· prophe't other than the Holy Prophet it would have been Omar, for, he had in him the spitit of a law-maker.Briefly &peaking, the tradition does not relate to the question of appointment in terms of time but in terms of replacement of the Holy Prophet (peace be.on him).There is four-fold conclusive evidence which supports ·this construction :-.(1) The word '..\a!' (after) is very commonly' used in Arabic in the sense of 'instead,' and here the word•~• carries this meaning.•If there had been another Prophet instead of me it would have been Omar".(2) another tradition of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) furnjshes the saine explanation.It _clear- ly says 'Had I not been appointed, Omar would have been instead." (3) Hazrat Omar's own life sho"'s that he was an eminently gifted law-maker.And.since our Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) was a law-giving Prophet in the tradition • under reference he.merely pointed out that the time called for a Divine Law and that 'if I had not been •appointed Omar would have been." (4) According to the consensus of opinion as well as the statement of the • Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) Hazrat Abu Bakr held the posit- iQn of eminence in the holy order of -companions.If there h~d been a • question of absolute prophet- hood then 'surely Hazrat Abu Bakr deserved • the honour and not Hazrat Omar.'!'his further confirms the view that ·in this· tradition • an.emphasis has been laid on the legal • acumen of Hazra t Omar who excelled Hazrat Abu Bakr in this particular field.Since this discussion has become fairly lengthy I will now.confine myself to brief references in my 10,

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treatment of other traditions.I however hope that the foregoing discussion in term15of principles must satisfy (if God willing) a balanced and honest mind.This discussion of a general nature can_ help to solve all the traditions, that are cited by our opp- onents in this behalf.Undoubtedly the foregoing exposition of the Quranic verses and traditions of the Holy Proph~t has furnished a master-key which can be applied, by the grace of God, to open any lock that we may have to come across in this field.I propose therefore to confine myself to brief points and cover rest of this •subject in a few pages.It must be noted in this· connection that the further tradition which our opponents bring forth is worded as below : - ,tl!'.l -•J., ,1-:...b"'I ·•-~_-:,,,,,"!' u--~,,- t "'-■ ,......>:,,...,' • ~ lJ>J"'I,:-:,,,.J'-J'-.>-" e>,,, -~)I., "Prophethood and apostleship are closed henceforth and there shall neither be an apostle nor.a prophet after me." • It is argued on the basis of this tradition that the Holy Prophet has declareg the door.of prophethood closed and said that •there is no prophet after me." But every sensible person can comprehend that this tradi~ion bears no new point and re-iterates only the points enumerated in the different preceding trad- itions.The explanation given in respect of the tra- ditions •~~ ~ ~• ••~°YI.,...T ~I• equally befitt- ingly applies to this tradition and therefore no new point seems to have been made for any further scrutiny.In fact the word '·#Jl..)I' and 'o_r.:)I; used in this· tradition.with the emphasis on the letters 105

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•r~..;JI• the law-bearing Prophethood peculiar to the Holy Prophet ha~ been specifically particularized and not prophethood in general as borne out by the exposition made by Allama lbne Hajar, the pre-eminent ,.,uthori\y on traditions (see _Fathalbari vol.12 page 305), The closing words of this tradition, \s-/'Y.J ~.la.I J_,...J')\.i' point out as an added factor, to the similarity of diction in the _ early tradition about •~.la.I ~i ":/ 1 • In any case there has been raised in this tradition no issue in addition to the points covered by the pre<'eding traditions.1'he points that it raises are the same as hav~ be~n raised in the traditions'~.1.afy-:i":/' and •-~~I _,.:._I uil' namely that in the appearance of the Holy Prophet the door of law-bearing and of_ independent prophet hood has been closed and not that of reflex-prophethood which is but a part of the Holy Prophet's prophethood and its reflection and not something extraneous to it.This is the.self-same construction which all the eminent divines and reformers of Islam have been advocating.Hairat Shaikh Akbar Muhayyuddin lbne Arabi (died in A.H.688) says :- ~ WI ~.J ~.uilJ.-.uilJ,-.J.)~~ ~ii ~.i.JI o,i,JI 1)1 iJ--' '-::~ ~IJ,., 4J_,i i.i-- ll•.J......1+,U..~ ~.,..:.:JI o~I ~":/~I~ ";l_, ~.la.I Jy.-J '_)\j.::..alwl.Ai.,-::.11.:, :Ul-.,JI 1)1 - ~J.t; ~..::.~ C:,_,~ i)t(_ l~I J1 ~~ j&- IJ~ ~~ ( ,....4&.r.b.."-,.·lo:"'~ ,..u~ ~ ol.._,:i) "The prophethood that terminated with the person of the Prophet of Allah (peace be on him and His blessings) was no other than the law-bearing p r o p h e t h o o d not pro_phet- bood itself and this is the meaning of his (peace be on him and His blessings) words •verily Apostleship and Prophethood ceased with me therefore there shall be after me neither an 106

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apostle nor a prophet i.e.there shall not be after me a prophet with a law other than mine but that he shall be subje~t to my law." 1 How clear and explicit is the above-quoted reference which dates as far back as 700 years.It is the opinioll of a _high-placed authority commanding as much respect as an Imam.Should doubts of the kind referred to in respect of the opinion of Hazrat Mulla Ali Qari •and Hazrat Imam Shirani quoted in a foregoing chapter, arise in the mind of any reader he is directed to consult my note dealing with s,11ch object.ions in r_espe~t of the traditions ••'=:,i w.-'"" l.lis:..J ~ I.r- I J--l&._,J• and •~~ ~ ~• Should any doubts still persist, I shall lea,,e such cases to the pleasure of God as He guides whom- sover He pleases.Now I will take up the tradition in respec;t of the Holy Prophet's statement: ' ,-,~- I \_ I.e.l"'.'-l.Ji '"''"I,:.,:._· ·, ~~~~~.J~1,r.-~J-~:, v-,e.,v--c> ~_,;~LJ"\::.)\~~.,1.;o,o~ ~.,..'91 ~,., Jl:a;~t ,~~ -=~;j..~_tl~.,o.Jc,~,'-( _,.": -:11 ''\...\;1,ii..:.....Jlll:1 ~r->.."I and the Prophets preceding me may be COJJlpared to a house a man built with symmetry in every pro- portion and deeorated it artistically but left a gap in a corner for one stone.People went around the house and asked in wonderment why this one stone bad not heen placed I say I am the· self-same stone and I am the seal of Prophets." l.Futuhate lUakkiyya Vol, 2.P.'/3 107

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On the basis of this tradition our opponents· contend that in the edifice of.prophethood one stone had been left out and the advent of the _Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him) has filled the gap ; now therefore there is no more room for any one else.What a pity that our misguided brethren, in their zeal to.oppose, little mind the sublime position of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) and in putting a wrong construction on this tradition only detract from his dignity.The tradition under reference does not, in point of fact, illustrate the position of the Holy Prophet's apo!itleship ; it mere- ly points to the perfection of Liw.The tradition simply means that many law-giver prophets appear- ed and every new Law was one more brick added towards the construction of the edifice of prophet• hood till the appearance of the Holv Prophet (Peace of Allah be on him) marked the e·mplacement of the last brick, thus completing the Mansion of Law which comprised all the preceding fundamental truths in addition to new basic values, thereby perfecting a universal and eternal House of canons.This tradition clearly underlines the complem- entry 'role of the Holy Prophet and is not relev- ant to other aspects • of the question of prophet- hood.• The Ulema of early times have taken a simi- lar view of this tradition.Allama Ibne Hajar (died in A.H.S52), the author of Sharha Fathulbari, who is considered to be a leading light in traditions says, in his comments on this tradition : 4'.,...:Jl J J ~~ cJ.,..-•~.Jr J T~lla ~ ~l.;o.....~r • r =-,, - •.L.:i;'~t -~!>-O--IJAO e..( 'l"tf 1,Y-,R,(/;'-':JI 'eJ 108

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ult means that the Law of Muhammad is most perfect as compared to preceding laws which were perfect in themselves."1 It is only fair that this tradition should be confined in its implications to the perfection of Law.If, however, it is stretched to a comparison on a personal level, than it is definitely derogatory to the Holy Prophet ( may Allah bless him) reducing him ·in rank to a mere brick in the entire edifice of Prophethood.Says the Prophet: -~\,;(Jf~J~_,.>1'., l~.]~ "I was Prophet when Adam was yet in (the transitional stages) between water and mud." The tradition under reference is in fact a subtle expression of ihe Divine scheme that the preceding prophets came to pave for the perfect prophethood of the Holy Prophet as he was the • Central figure in the scheme of apostleship and the Divine law had to receive its perfect shape through him.To say of him whb holds such a position of eminence and singular sublimity and who has been honoured as chief among men and has been graced with tbe Divine favour : "Hadst thou not been, there would not have been created' the heavens" that he is but one brick in the vast edifice of Prophethood, is a very rotten apd far from acceptable interpretation of the tradition under discussion.The truth of the matter is that the tradition confines itself only to the perfection of Law and --- l.FallMJl-Bari Vo/.6.p.361.101

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to nothing besides it.Borrowing a current phrase from political terminology, the tradition described every prophet as representing a single unit and thus.if all law-giver prophets represent a unit.each, the Holy Prophet in his august person, is as a unit, the stone that was affixed in the fulne.ss of time, in its prt>per place, thus completing the mansion of Law for all times.The words "why has not the c9rner-stone yet been affixed" represents in a beautiful way, a q u e st ion and a thirst that humafi nature was feeling-the time had come for an everlasting and.global law so as to· perfect the edifice of values.Had it been a matter of prophethood in the absoulte sense, this reference to· a natural want and a natural thirst Wf!.S uncalled for.Thili is unques~ion- able therefore that the Holy.Prephet ( Allah bless him ) has been comparl"d here to a unit among the other law-giver prophets and as is well- known, as units all unit-members' have equal figure value, whether big or small.This example further makes it clear that as units, only law-gi1rcr a11d independent prophets are to be taken into account as the subordinate and reflex- prophet is but like a branch and not an independent tree and therefore out of the question.l\Ioreover our Master the Holy Prophet (peace be on him) has by adding the words~Jl·~l...attheend, disposed of the ci)tirc controversy..He has warned the l\luslims against construing this tradition in a sense contrary to the spirit of the Quranic term v-:Jl~l;.In ~ manner of speaking the Holy Prophet has said that "com- pared to precedidg Prophets I am no doubt the last brick.in the mansion of law but in the future scheme as ~ll~l...I am the foundation stone and hencefo1·ward my currency and my seal are the legal tender and rightlabel.•• 110

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In recapitulation, it a.p p e a r ·s from this significant wording of the tradition that the reference is not to the prophethood of the· Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him.) but to his law-giving role as a unit.The object is to emphasize the fa.et that human nature, under pressure of existing environments, called for an eterual and global law and the Holy Prophet's message satisfied.this natural demand for all times.This is the only explanation that befits the high rank of the Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him ) and is also in consonance with the loftiness of the Quranic code.Any other explanation would only tend •to reduce· the Prophet to a mere brick in the entire mansion.Thirty Dajjals.Now I come to the last tradition in the category of negative reports, which in fact contains nothing contrary to our 'belief but has been made a weapon of ridicule and derision in the hands of the iH-advised : C 1.:>..,.l\;.>)j; ~l.,,;J,Jc:,Y.\JJZ:.,_,:.~·~1Jc,;:;...,,,,,.,.,,,.,,, ~ - - ~.., "' ·,1 :-:.i:- ~,, "La.t.r..·a;,.~ ,.-1" -(S~~.:J~ r-' ~~ ~~i-- "'i'here will shortly rise among my followers thirty impostors (in one traditioo ••Thirty dajjals" each claitping to be prophet but I am the seal of Prophets and there is none after me.'' "'Our opponent Maulvis argue on the strength of this t.radition'that every claimant to prophethood after the Holy Pfophet (Allah bless him) is a Dajjal (anti- Christ) and impostor and by applying.this tradition to the Hazrat Promised Messiah, the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, this makes him the target of their _ridicule and abuse.But, as will be presently e\'ident, their objections originate in ignorance and are born of hastiness and lack of 111

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insight.This tradition is in point of.fact totally irrelevant to the claims of the Hazrat Promised Messiah.It must be borne in mind, in the first instance, in this connection, that, as the Holy Prophet ( peace be on him ) has by suffixing the expression •'=:J~I ~l.:.~I cle'arly ·pointed out that th.is warning relates to only such claimants to propheihood as aanul the Muhammadan Law and cu,t through the term of Muhammad in dispensation and claim to have brought a new Law and a new religion.This tradition is clearly in no way applicable to the case of the Holy Founder _ of the Ahmadiyya Movement.Another point that must be noted is that in this tradition the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) confines himself to the statement that there will appear thirty impostors and liars who will claim to be prophets, he did not say that whoever claim- ed to be a prophet must be an impostor and a liar.There is a world t>f difference in these two assertions and no sensible person will declare these to be as synonymous.When the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) said that there shall rise among his followers thirty imposters and liars who will claim to be prophets, could he not in one brief sentence warn thllt whosoever from among his follo- wers claimed to be a prophet shall be an impostor and anti-Christ.It is a great pity indeed that vis- ions have become so blurred that a simple and plain statement is being so unjustly twisted and misconstrued.The Holy Prophet declares simply this "There shall appear thirty false prophets from among my followers." But these words are being so guild- ed as to represent the statement that "whosoever claims to be a prophet shall be a liar and an im- postor." Thie i~ a most bra~en-faced distortion of a· very clearly-worded tradi~ion.One can only com• 112

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pare such people to the thief who makes bold to commit burglary holding candle in one hand.The figure thirty mentioned in this tradition is itself an evidence of the intention to delimit the number of Impostors lo a specific figure and not to extend it to every claimant.A little ,nflection will show that this specific figure in reality con- tains n covert warning against rejecting all and sundry who might also include the genuine claim- ants.Brethren, reflect a little, i( the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) had meant that every claimant shall be a liar, be would have certainly a:io_t limi- ted their number to thirty but would h~ve clear- ly declared that whosoever claimed to be a prophet after him shall be an impostor.He did not say so aud on the contrary limited the number of im- posters to thirty.It embodies a dear hint that there will be true claimants apart from these im- postors.This is exactly the position which has been explained in the tradition quoted by us from Sun- ani Abu Daud in the fore going pages.Thi~ tradit- ion consists of the following statement of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) :.Ir• I -•~ * ~ t,l ol • I •, ,_ -,., ,,,, •.,.\ c,....,.1'-t''-'"'-''~~ •U.JI.I iU ~ '-':-4' •.~!-'~,v=-' "There is no prophet in between ·me and him l the Promised Messiah ) and he shall undoubtedly appear.'' I The above tradition throws an illuminating flood of light on the inner content-matter of the tradit- ion relati11g to thirty impostors and expounds the fact that while, undoubtedly, there will rise thirty impostors umong the prophet's followers, there will all the same, appear a true Prophet and he will be the Messiah.of the latter days.In other.words.113

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these two traditions, read together, reveal that, be- fore the advent of the Promised l\lessiah, false prophets will arise, but their hash will be settled eventually and the advent of the true claimant shall be heralded forth.According to historical evidence, the number of impostors had decidedly reached the given figure of thirty, long before the appearance of the Holy }'ounder of the Ahmadiyya l\lovement.Allama Qastalani says in his famous book : Mowahib- illaddut1ia _\ -·· :., ~ ,..._ -!I.• , w; i • ~ _,,,__.,~.c:W\~~,~.JV-- • ~tl.s ~ ->~fl~ ~.,J ~ii_,~ t ~ ~~JI \~~~~~.)\::Jt~~u.~ ('."_;.,~~ ~..JJ•y,r!.,- J ''Qazi Ayaz says that the truth of this tradition has become manifest.A count of the known false prophets from ·the time of Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) to our day will show that the gh•en number has been reached and a student of history will recognize the truth of this statement"!, Similar evidence will be found in other works, like lkmalulikamal.Sharhi Muslim and Hujjujul Klrmah edited bv Nawab Siddiq Hasan Khan, Chief of the.A.hlihad.ia.When, inspite of respeated remonstrances, the Maulvies persisted in dubbing him as one of the impostors predicted to appear by the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him), the Promised Messiah 1.Yo/, 2 p.198, 11,

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felt impelled by a righteous sense of conviction, and said in the glory of his faith :- • "Some half-learned persons, deriding at me, point out that our Holy Prophet (May blessings of Allah be on him) has predicted the advent of thirty impostors who will all claim to be prophets, 0 ye ignorant unfortunates.Were thirty impostors only to be destined for you and no true reformer was ordained ? A quarter of the Hth century has well nigh passed, and the moon of Caliphate has covered the fourteen stages of its perfection, as hints the verse ' Jj~ UJ-li _,.ijl.J ' (and we have fixed stages for the moon) and the cycle of the world is nearing the end, but your impost- ors do not end.Perhaps they will stick to you till your demise.0 ye ill-informed, the impostor who is termed satan resides within you and so you know not the times and see not the signs of hea v.- en.But I blame you not, for the one, who came like me in the Hth century after Moses, was call.ed "Impostor" by the impious Jews.•~l!:i "="'-'l.i.lli• ,....JI ~ I Hearts have certainly become alike.Have mercy O Lord ! " \Vhat pathos and sincerity underlies these utterances.The long-suppressed feelings of pain over the misfortune of his people have suddenly burst forth.It is a pity indeed that those who made li~ht of (his weighty claims) did not turn sober.Those who had rejected did not turn believers, Those who slumbered stirred not out of their sleep and the bark of the nation, floundered, from one whirl, pool to another.Briefly speaking, the tradition relating to thirty impostors predicts the appearance of thirty false claimants and does not preclude the advent of a 115

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true CLAIMANT.We have already shown that the number of impostors did reach the said limit of thirty in the course of time and also a true refor- mer made his advent in fulfilment of the other prophecy ot our Master the Ho]y Prophet (May Allah bless him) namely "there is no prophet between him and me and verily he will appear." If still our brethren are expecting more impostors from among their people, then we only content ourselv- es with repeating what the Promised Messiah has said: - Today my peop]e recognize not my station A day will come when they will grieve for having missed my happy time.By the grace of God and through his merci- ful help, I have dealt with the traditions having a bearing on the question of prophethood..It is a happy coincidence that of these traditions six were of a positive category and six of a negative category.The foregoing review of these traditions is by the grace of God, convincing enough to any fair-minded person.During the c.ourse of this dis• cussion, a body of principles has emerged which can serve as guides in the elucidation of other traditions th~t relate to the subject, dealt with in the traditions under rderence.Such traditions have not been included in this discussion separate- ly owing to considerations of space.The guidance of the Quran which transcends every other evid- ence is an added factor, But only a clear mind, gifted with the light of truth-seeking search, can 116

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avail of the light of Quran and Hadith, for, the light of the sun is of little use to the blind in the eye.Before I resume the thread, I will request my readers once more to deliberate the arguments of the Quran and the Ha<Jith, with a god-fearing sense of piety and, as seekers of truth, whether such truth be Against or in conformity to their existing beliefs.The question of faith, it must be realized, is an issue of the highest delicacy ; a little lapse is liable to render one an object of God's displeasure.Dear brethren, take not into account your existing beliefs nor what you heard from your fore-fathers, nor what your Maulvies say.On the contrary attend to what the Quran enjoins, what the Hadith commands and what your own inner light certifies.As far as our inner feelings are concer- ned, Heaven knows, we are consumed with a burn- ing desire to sincerely serve, in love and faith, the truth of God.We proclaim t ith our Imam : • t-- ·~ "l, • ·r'L ".~ i •• :(.• v::'f cJ:: A~ '1J':c ~:hv'~~,J'~"J~r.tJJ We have naught of ill-will, ye brethren This is but a humble advice Whoever is pure of heart We are devoted to serve him heart and soul.11'/

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LEADING LIGHTS OF ISLAM ON FINALITY OF PROPHETHOOD.After concluding the treatment of the tradit- ions I would now quote the authoritative pro- nouncements of the dignitaries of Islam, which coin- cide with the views professed today by the Ahmadiyya community, on the question of prophethood.I do not cite these views, with the object that all the pronouncements of the dignitaries must be accepted by us or by oor opponents as the last word on any given subject, that authority vesta only in Allah and in His prophet.I am cit- ing their views simply as an argument that our beliefs in this regard are not an innovation and are, more or less, shared by the early dignitaries of different periods.The Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) predicted that as of yore, the.beliefs and deeds of his followers would, with the passage of time, grow corrupt, they would not however, degenerate en masse but that a section shall hold on to truth and justice.'fhus runs a relevant tradition.c.:>'° ~»--~~lJ-':~l ~~U,J1p~ ccfA''~~Ji.,~i; ~41.,i,.-rJ\;~~\.11 A group of my people ahall adhere to the truth : their opponents shall not succeed in harming them until Allah comes with His decree." 1 In quoting below the views of the preceding dignitaries, the writer is actuated by a two-fold objective :- Firstly, that since, on the one hand, the views held by the Ahmadiyya community on the question -- 1.Abu Daud, Kitaba/.Fitn.118

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ot the finality of prophethood, more or le!!!!, coin- cide with those held by the early dignitaries of Islam, the Ahmadiyy11 community cannot therefore be declared Kafir and outside tbe • pale of Islam.If, on the other hand, the Ahmadis ~ave to be subject to the anathema of excommunication because of thetr views, what is the verdict about these luminaries for their having expressed similar beliefs.Secondly, that these specific beliefs in respect of a specific question, represent in fulfilment of the Holy Prophet's (Allah bless him) prophecy "a group of my followers shall adhere to the truth" by the grace and mercy of Allah, in the person of the Ahmadiyya community which has been chosen· for the simultane~ms pro- mise of triumph embodied in the latter part of the same tradition : •'Tht"ir opponents shall never.suCC't"ed in har- ming them until Allah eomes "'ith His Decree." The Origin of Misconception Before reproducing individual.views it appears necessary to answer the question how and when a misconception about the meaning of the 'St"al of Prophethood' arose among the mass of Muslims.While answe.dng this question it must be clearly borne in mind that as explicitly laid down in the Quran and the Hadith, our Holy Prophet (Allah.bless him) is the Central point in the propht"tic dispensation.The Holy Prophet claimed :..~1.,,~f~J~_.-~,.,~.,1.•\ ••I was a prophet when Adam was yet in (the transitional stage) between water and'mud." 119

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'l'his significant utterance meant that Allah had so designed thedispensationofproplwthood and apostle- ship and evolved it in such a manner as to ultimately lead to th~ perfection-point of the Holy Prophet mature.complete and full prophethood.According to a tradition Allah spoke to the Prophet thus :.li!,lj..:,~I•~ ;, ; W~)l,J "Had I not created thee I would have created neither heaven nor earth." It manifestly means that the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) was the ultimate objeeti\·e and final aim of prophetic dispensation as well as of the spirit- ual realm.It.is therefore that the Holy Prophet, time and agam repeated : ~J\!I r j'I l;I J _;.; \!J l".)I..u_, ~ lil fa ~., ~..,..~'., 11 1 am the Chief of the generation of man but I pride not thereon and I am eminent among all predeeessors and successors but I pride not thereon." That is why he was favoured with the eternal and global law which transcends all other eodes and shall not be replaced with another till the Day of.Judgment.When his status is so exalted and his law so transcend- ent it was only befitting that to stress and incul- cate the dignity of this God-granted office, such choice and impressive language should be employed as would demonstrate to the world that all the former lines of Prophethood have ended up in him and all the future lines will henee-forth emanate from his person.All the pronouncements of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) made in respect 120

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of his prophethood converge on the point of hia central position in the spiritual realm.All the ear- ly excelleuces terminated in his person and all the lights shall henceforward issue forth through him.His person may be compared to a transformer to which one current of electricity passes and is rad, iated forth another, in a sense a different one.In order to define the character of His singular and grand station, the Quran has used the comprehensive term..the Seal of Prophets".The traditions reveal t h i s incomparable lofti- ness through the employment of various par- ables and terms.The Holy Prophet (peace of Allah be on him) at time claimed 'I am the last prophet' at others •There is no prophet after me' ; on some occasions he se.id "prophethood and apostleship end- ed with me" and on another he said, "I am the last brick in the Palace of Prophethood." In fact all these expressions carried one meaning and de- monstrated one reality' which was none other than that expressed by the Holy Quran in the compre- hensive term "-.J--."11 ~l.i." which meant that the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) was the central point in the spiritual realm.All the former lines ter- minated in his person and henceforward every line shall issue forth from his person in new form.The holy group of the honoured companions of the blessed Prophet (peace of Allah be on him), being direct disciples of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him), generally comprehended this rare truth and were too well-informed about its underlying philosophy to entertain any misconceptions in this , respect.But when after the death of the Holy Pro- phet (Allah bless him) people from the far-flung parts of Arabia and t'rom foreign countrit>s joined Islam in growing numbers, and the era of 121

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_,_...,, I 4 •• _, J., a, ).; ,,; ' ~ \ ~~~c,;t..~ 11 They shall enter Islam, hosts of them" set in, a section of the converts, being little acquainted with the true concept of these terms, began to express divergent views in the exposition of these express- ions.They used to hear these significant expressions •c.S~ ,.s-:i ~• and ••~°YI.,.:.T ~I' and some of them used to ponder their meaning.They had not yet become acquainted with the basic truth of the pro- found spiritual philosophy that underlay the conce- pt in ·which the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) has indicated his person as the central junction of the former and succeeding lines of spiritual comm- unication.Since the central point of Islamic faith is the Holy Kalima •There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is His Prophet" and it does not contain any reference to'O,-:.i ~• nor does ·the Hadith relating to five pillars of faith mention anything about •o_,.; ~• they therefore looked at it al an academic question, It must be borne in mind, in this connection, that the outward criteria of faith in Islam as the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) emphasized on manv occasions, is merely pronouncement of the Holy Kalima -~lt};!; il f ~t.,:u,fl 6..!H~ - , ~~ ••There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet." Whoever therefore believes in the Kalima, and in the Onene1s of God and the prophethood of Muhammad the Apostle of Allah (May peare be on him) according to the formula concept of Islam.becomes entitled to be termed as a ?tluslim and a member of the following of the Prophet (Allah bless him).Other matters concern 122

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perfection in faith and inner virtue and are not related to the formal concept of Islam..\ reciter of the Kalima, whoever he may be and with whi- chever sect he may be connected, shall be consid- ered to be a Muslim in so far as his civic and political ri~hts are concerned, even though, due to some shortcomings and failure to come up to the standard of faithfulness, he may not be regarded as a robust Muslim.This truth is borne out both by the Quran and the Hadith and the entire out• ward and political structure of Islam has been so shaped as to take full account of this fact.The early Muslims, as also the scholars of all ages, re- cognised Holy Kalima as the outward criteria of faith and did not go in to the discussion of •o r.i p>' in this connection nor did they recogni~e it as a question applicable to this fundamental issue.'fhe Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) has, time and again declared the holy Kalima· as the central concept of faith when expounding the outward concept of Islam- As further details, he has mentioned angels of God, divine books, the Prophets, life after death and or- dination of good and evil but has made no refer- ence to •o ~ ~ ; though udoubtedly every true Muslim sincerely believes in •o~ ~• as enjoined by the Quran.This is an important point which our friends should always bear in mind.After this marginal note, I resume discussion of the subject in hand.As I have already stated a little confusion had started to grow in the minds of a section of the new converts about the concep~ of and the meaning of the tradition •~..\af ~ ":l' in the early days, during the period of the com- panions.Since this confusion was not widespread nor very vocal and only limited to a nebulous form and to a very small section of the converts, it was sensed by only a few cornpanions who tried to clear it up in their own way.The reports, which 128

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we will quote below, are decisive evidence of the efforts made by Hazrat Ali (Allah bless him) and Hazrat Ayesha (Allah be pleased with her) to re- form this wrong tendency and inculcate correct views.Since this wrong tendency was then in the form of a tiny seed and was limited to a small section of t:he new converts who were probably tar oft' from the centre of Islam, it was not considered as serious; nor could adequate attenion be puid to it under the circumstances then prevailing.The result was that, with the passage of time, the wrong notion that every grace has terminated with the Holy Prophet (peace be on him) and that no one can be favoured with any form of prophethood after him became confirmed in the minds of a section till these notions became more deep-rooted and wide-spread as the early period of the Prophet (Allah bless him) receded in terms of time.A group of Muslim divines and reformers in every period.as we will.by the grace of God, prove, h'lve been drawing the attention of the Muslim masses towards this conception and this co11flictof views has continued throughout to the darkest period about which the warning that •f~'~--=-r~·o--,;...;~~ "the learned among them will be worst of all under the canopy of heaven" had gone forth till this erroneous conception took hold of the entlre mass of Muslims and with the exception of the enlightened elect, the bulk of the people adhered to the view that all Lhe former as well as, future dis• pensations had ended up with the person of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) and that the doors of all cate- gories of prophethood had been closed henceforward.This is the true picture of the process which led from a small beginning in the form of a seed, of 124

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this wrong concept, to its gradual growth in the shape of a nation-wide creed, obsessing the heads and hearts of all the sundry and because of ever- growing distance in time from the Holy Prophet's days, the Muslim masses began to believ thnt it was in no way creditable to the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) to be one who starts a new spiritual stream but that his greatness lay in being the terminator of all the former currents.I am con- fident that on a dispassionate examination of this issue, anybody with detached mind, will most cer- tainly !!,nd himself at one with us in the conclus- ion that the whole of this misconception has ,been due to a lack of appreciation of the true status of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him).Would that our opponents cared to grasp this point.Now I will briefly to1ich upon individual op• inions.The first pronouncement that we come ac- ross in this connection, is that of Hazrat Ali (May Allah de pleased with him).He was a cousin of our Holy Prophet, husbnnd of the Blessed Prophet's dear daughter Hazrat Fatima (may Allah be pleas- ed with her) and the fourth Khlllifa of Islam.His high station is well-expressed in the words of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) "I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate".This luminary, it is stated, employed one Abu Abdur Rahman bin Salma to coach his two sons, Hazrat Hassan and Hussain.Allah be pleased with them).Says Abu Abdur Rahman : ~;.J~cll>,~.,1~1,~,~~, ~ JJ\..,; U.,31u ,., ~ ciis1 UWt.J ~u.~ r ~ ~ I..ll -·.•.'!' -:,,..l..i.·".., ,.~~~r-' ,~_,., Pi;~Ct.;J4~,,;;"~.:;J 12S'

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'"I was coaching Hassan and Hussain ( Allah be pleased with them) and Ali bin Abu Talib ( Allah be pleased with him ) passed by while I taught, he said to me, teach them the expression ~1,._il..with ei on the O'," Our readers are well aware that the word p,il..:.( component letters ,...o.~1-t) is read in the Arabic language in two forms-one with o having ~ over it as ,._it.which means seal or ring and the other with _r-j under o as ,._ii..:.which generally sl.ands for the last and mav also mean the seal.Since however in the latter - form there was the likelihood of an erroneous construction of the term, Hazrat Ali in the perfectness of his wisdom, foreseeing this danger warned Abu Abdur Rahman against teaching his sons the word ,._i\.i.with _r-j UDder o and advised him to, teach the word with E!_ on o so that its meaning "the Seal of the Prophets" becomes manifest and no room it left for any misconstruction.This marvellous tradition furnishes a clue to the fact that in early days a tendency to conceive the expression ~;\.,:.with.,,ij under o and interpret it as the "terminator of prophets" had started gaining ground among some <Jonverts.Hazrat Ali ( Allah be pleased with him) at once cautioned Abu Abdur Rahman and led him to the straight approach.If both the forms of ~\..and ,._i\..( one with eJ on o and the other with.,,ij under o) are s y 11 on y m o u s and have not the least shade of variation in their meaning, then why did Haztat Ali ( Allah be pleased with him) warn Abu, Abd(lr Rahman against reading the word in the latter form and advis(d him to read it in the former form.This point is certainly deserving of consider• ation.'.l'he underlying idea definitely was that the two holy pupils, as well as their teacher, should conceive of the expressioD as ''the Seal of the Pro- phets" in their ininds and they should be discour- 126

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aged to construe it •• the last prophet and in this respect no room for doubt should be left.But it is a pity that, in spite of this affectionate warning of Hazrat Ali ( Allah be pleased with him), the Musalmans of today insist that the exp}'.ession 'i::i-.' II ~l;.• stands for "the last Prophet" and that the door to every category of prophethood is closed after the Prophet ( Allah bless him).However, this is the first evidence to be found, in Islamic history, which· is in full accord with our belief.This evidence is unquestionably highly trustworthy coming as it does from no less a person than the cousin and son-in-law of our Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him), fourth of the Guided Khalifas who was likened to "a gateway of the city of knowledge", to • whom Sunnies and Shias both bow their heads in deference.Now -we come to the statement.of the affec- tionate mother of the Faithfuls, Hazrat Ayesha ( Allah be pleased with her ) who was the most favourite and exceedingly learned spouse of the Holy Prophet ( peace of Allah be on him ) and about whom it is said that whenever the • com• panions referred to her any point for clarfication, they were never disappointed.She says : -•~Cr.,.j'{I-'....~'' -.~ ~,, ;:~~ti I •• •...,-..r-.:1-' ~ ~ -- _,J.,., I ,,..~i,.J•c//4~foJ,; "Say that he verily 11 toe •-..J~II':' i.but say not that there i1 no prophet after him".According to period of time this pronouncement seems to have been made sometime after the statement of Hazrat Ali ( Allah be pleased with him) when prooabl~ an erroneous conception of propht- 12'7

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hood had gained some ground; for, it is more explicit and expansive than the statement of Hazrat Ali ( Allah be pleased with him ).It seems Hazrat Avesha the righteous ( Allah be pleased with her) got wind of the wrong tendency among some con- verts who hnd not been fully initiated in I he realities of faith, to interpret the tradition 'IS.>.~ ~ -:J• as finally barring the appearance of any type of Prohet after the Holy Prophet ( Allah blei.s him ) and bolting for good the door of apostleship.like a conscientious teacher she was prompt in taking notice of this tendency and remonstrated that since there was apparently a lock of realization of the full significance of the tradition 'IS.la¾ ~ ')• she drew attention to' ti.le expression •lr.,i~I ~l:.:.which stood for •the Seal of the Prophets'.The entire concept of the ~tati~n of the H~ly Prophet is fully covered by tlus simple expression and the misunderstanding which 'IS~ u:i":Y' gives rise to, in certain immature minds, is at once disposed of So explicit and illuminating- is the warning of Hazrat Ayesha the righteous ( Allah be pleased with her) that little room is left for any doubt or hesitation.Since this pronouncement of Hazrat Ayesha ( Alloh be pleased with her) has been dealt with at length in the foregoing pages, we need not add anything further to it, It.is clear that during the early days Hazrat Ayesha the righteous ( Allah be pleased with her ) noticed a wrong tendency in respect of the significa,,ce of 'IS~ ~ '1' and promptly attended to its rectification.After quoting the statements of Hazrat Ali ( Allah grace his face with honour) and Hazrat Ayesha the righteous ( Allah be pleased with her), I • would now refer to the pronouncement of Hazrat Shaikh-i-Akbar l\lohayyuddin Ibne Arabi ( died in A.H.688) who was a great luminary of the middle ages of Islam.In his pronouncement he is very 128

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explicit and reiterates that only the door to Law- bearing prophethood and not to general prophethood has been closed, He says : - ~, ~dl,,J~_; ),+,r.·..,b"iil ~fi,'-:J,)11!,l..• • • • • \.g..t&,.~ ~.,.-U H i;;:.ll ~ w 1.J..;;.J ~ ;LJ\-:,.)\c,!_...L, ~ ~,J-,~~ JLa..\~_,..,J.._, J ~ cil,1 j- ~.,.; j.........\L,u._,~'t ~ J ~\.:4.Et~~ C>~ (,~ ~y ~, ~ ~) ;, -~~~ci.~~c.;)'6\~\~cJ-r' {/V~l">'t'>.~1,pJ "'fhe prophethood that terminated with the Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him ) is verily the law-bearing prophethood since there remains no need in this field ; therefore there is no further law to abrogate his law nor to add to his Jaw any new ordinance and this is the mean- ing of his statement that 'verily apostleship and prophethood ceased' and therefore there shall not be another apostle after him nor such a prophet as 'would follow a law other than mine but he shall be subject to my law" ,1 And again on the same subject he says : I, Futahate M.uk,..ia No 2, p,3, printed in Egypt.129

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l;)~~l,~IJL~L,oJ:!~l~Jl...iiJ.:3.)1 • ~ ~h I.►.• I~ i~ ~ \,; ~I~ ~..,t.:,Jl !i'2" ~, •.;,,.,~~'7-~;J; "Prophethood is open to people till the Day of Judgement and while only law-making has stopped and law-making is but one of the parts of Prophethood-."1 And yet in A.nother book, Hazrat lbrie ~abi 1ays: • +~J/~·.;~6-)~\Se9~ti~L;r "In so far as the law-bearing prophethood is concerned,.it has verily ceased and ter- minated in Muhammad (Allah bless him) and therefore there is no law-giving prophet after him but Allah bas in His graciousness to His servants, continued general propqethood.without the' law-bearing elements."2 ,, The above three pronouncements of a leading luminary and eminent scholar of Islam, made some 700 years ago, decisively establish the four cardinal principles : ( 1) That according to Hazrat Shaikh Muhayud- 1.Putahate Mukkla 2, p,J00 printed in Eygpt.2, Fusutal-Hikam Page, U0-161 180

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din lbne Arabi, • only the door of law-bearing Prophethood has been closed after the appointment of the Holy Prophet ( Alhh bless _him) and not of every category of prophethood.( 2 ) That Q._ccording to Hazrat Shaikh, the door to non-law-bearing prophethood.is kept open after the advent of the Holy Prophet ( Allah · bless him ) aud shall remain open tjll the Day of Judgement and· such type of prophethood has been termed as ''general prophethood" by him.( 8 ) That whosoever comes after the Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him) shall follow his law and be subject to his command.' (,) That Prophethood is compo~ed of several elements, and law-giving is but one of the com• ponents of prophethood.'fhese •are four important postulates that the above-quoted references conclusively establish.If however any doubts were to arise in: the mind of any person as to the veracity of · our.translation he may refer the same to· the Maulvi.of his choice for his satisfaction in this behalf.These references as would.be readily conceded, are.indisputable, clear-cut and explicit.Hazrat Shaikh-i~Akbar more or less, shares the view with us that only the door to law- bearing prophethood has been closed with the advent of the Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him).and that since law-bearing prophethood is but a part and not the whole of prophethood, the door to general prophet hood has bee;n left open and shall never be bolted.As is the wont of some person$.who are shy of accepting anything contrary to their firmly establish- ed beliefs and are given to nagging criticiQ of every new point, a.question has been raised by.them.that Hazrat Shaikh.Muhyyuddin lbne Arabi perhaps re- garded mere Wilayat (saintliness) aa syno11ymous with UH

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prophethood and that his own personal view was that every prophet must necessarily bring a new law and since there is no new law to replace the one brought by the Holy prophet (Allah bless him) till the Day of judgement, there can therefore be no prophet after him in a true sense of the term.In this regard, it mU11t, at the outset, be noted, as a point of guiding principle, that we do not stipulate, unqualified agree- ment with the views of Hazrat Shaikh-i-Akbar in all matters.According to us authoritativeness vests only in Allah and in His Prophet as their commands and verdicts.are obligatory in every respect and with- out the slightest deviation, qualification or reserve and non~ other commands that finality of authority.'fhe views of all others will be subject to scrutiny' in the light of the Quran and Hadith with due • reg_ard to their status, the principle J.>.f"\..t:,-' \.i.,..I..J.,i.."accept what is correct and reject what is incong- ruous" being the determining rule.We have not cited here the evidence of Hazrat Shaikh Muhyyuddin lbne Arabi in re1pect of all his views and beliefs collective- ly but as strictly limited to his stand on a specific issue, to show that the Shaikh shares our belief that only the door of law-bearing prophethood is closed after the advent of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) and not of all categories of prophethood.His evidenc:e in this particular question is quite clear and explicit, leaving little room for d;;,ubt.Even if Hazrat Shaikh lbne Arabi held the belief (supposing it only for the sake of argument) that every prophet must bring a 1ew law, our conclusion is hardly affected, as firstly this is irrelevent to the issue in hand, secondly because, we have already dealt with this aspect of the question when discussing our reference of Imarn Shirani and proved with the cumulative force of evidence adduced from the Quran, the Hadith, history and reason that it is not necessary for every prophet to bring a new law.Hazrat Shaikh-i-Akbar however divides prophethood in 182

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two categories, the law-bearing which he terms as special prophethood and declares as totally banned and the other he terms 'genral prophethood' which he de- clares, to be open for all times.In point of fact, Hazrat Shaikh Muhayyuddin Ibni Arabi has never expressed the view.that it is necessary for every prophet to bring a new law.On the contrary he says in very clear terms : ,,..;..,,.~.;(s:,1,;;) i;~, ,.,~,o-o i - ► --~_j.:i.l\ "Law-bearing attribute is one of the elements of prophethood".1 According to the Shaikh, when law-bearing is not a necessary accompaniment of prophethood, the view that every prophet must necessarily have a new law, cannot be justly attributed to him.If therefore he has on any occasion characterized 'general prophethood' (non-law-bearing prophethood) as Wilayat (saintliness), it must be as a -simile, employed for the purpose of• explaining non-law-bearing prophet hood to the common man in his own way ; his.object obviously was to impress that every prophet· was primarily a Wali (saint) and that 'general Prophethood' was only a graduated form of Wilayat (saintliness), Hazrat Shaikh Muhayyuddin Ibne Arabi has, accordingly, accepted Hazrat Harun {peace be on him) as prophet in the light of the Quranic verdict'.••And we granted him Haroon, Prophet", at the same time agreeing that he brought no law btit was subject to the law of !\loses (Allah be pleased with him).Maulan ■ Rumi's e,ide ■ ce.Evidence number two is to be found in the work ■ of Muul~ria Jalaluddin Rumi who belongs to the Fi,tallale Mokkio Bookr2 Page 100.188

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l\fiddle period of Islam (died in A.H, 872).It should be remembered that I am not_ reproducing here ali the references but only quoting a few to serve as ex- ampl~s, to show that the views of the Ahmadiyya Community on •o ,:i ~' are, in no way novel ones and that, on the contrary 1 these have been, at large, shared by leading scholars, reformers, and Divines in every period of Islamic era.With this object in view, some opinions.have been quoted above and a few more are being reporduced in the following pages.Hazrat Maulana Rumi, whose MasnaYi is widely popular among Muslims and is accepted as a repository of spiritual truths and lofty wisdom, says : J.J, ~,; L ,,;1:...;', J: :: ,,yi; h:j.Aj;, ('° Iii.!.~.;A"j/.~t~f1L.; ~,,c,~~~.,f~ , ~r p;;,r,,; L°d/uP) 11 He (the Holy Prophet) has been declared the seal, for he had no peer in generosity before him, nor shall there be one after him.When an artist excels others in art, you say not 'The art has ended with thee'."I This is a very clear and lucid·.exposition indeed.Hazrat Maul1ma R umi (May Allah have mercy on him) warns against interpreting Khatamannabiyeen in the sense that-the Holy Prophet had thereby discontinu- ed the current of Allah's favours; on the contrary he (Allah bless him)°is exalted among prophets and epito- mizes in his person all the perfection of prophets in their highest degree and most proportionate form.As an example, he says, as no one says of a matchless artist that art had ended with him ao dnea the ending of J.Mu,navi· Section ·6 Page 8.

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prophethood with the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) means that the excellences of prophethood had culmi- nated in perfection in his august person.Our friends who find us Kafir on account of our construction of the expression •~~ ~• should ponder well and seriously reflect whether our interpretation materially differs from the above-mentioned exposition.They should further ponder whether our construction is in conformity to the exalted station of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) or their interpretation which virtual- ly amounts to cutting short the flow ofrunning streams.We would prefer to refrain from comment and leave it to their own conscience to judge and answer in the witness of God.I now come to the supporting evidence of another leading divine of· the Middle ages of Islam, Hazrat Imam Mohammad Tahir (died in A.H.986); he has been accepted as Imam by some and his work Majmaalbahar, is considered to be a masterpiece on the subject of Hadith.The Imam says : 9_,i:;)I., ,.~.:8r ~u.J..J I 1_,.;_;; ~.;u, t.io~ G~ & l~•-•ll" I I J •• l\f \!\_;,~ 11,,\..al~~\I ~- ,)JJJ ~ JJ-' l.' ,;-., i....~ w ~.) tJ I ~L:8 " ;., ) - iu.r "The statement of· Ayesha (Allah be pleased with her) that 'say that he verily is the seal of prophets but say not that there is no prophet after him~ is in view of the advent of l\lessiah and this does not cancel the Holy Prophet's statement 'there is no prophet after me' as he verily meant that there shall be no such prophet 185

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after him as would nullify his law."I 'l'his exquisite pronouncement of Imam l\lohammad Tahir further elucidates the point that ( •) the door of law-bearing prophethood alone is closed after the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) and not of every form of prophethood, and (2) that the Messiah whose advent has been promised in Islam will be a prophet of God and since, he will be s11bject to the law of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him), his appear- ance in no way infringes the spirit of the tradition "there is no prophet after me".The self-same two postulates are advanced by the Ahmadiyya Community in respect of the doctrine of •.::., _,~; ,..:.:.' (Seal of Prophethood).But it is a tragedy that in spite of the clear testimony of such leading dignitaries of Islam, we are being declared outside the pale of Islam, If it were said that the above quotation refers to Hazrat Isa (peace be on him} who was raised among the Israelites tiOO years before the advent of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him} it wiJl be nothing short of adding insult to injury.Jship, still become the Imam (leader) of Islam and continue to be called prophet, then wherefore a s~rvant and pupil of the Holy Prophet the Chief among men (Allah ble1s him) and one who 1, D11rte Manthrir ,oa Takmila Jllajmaa/-Baha1', p.85 186

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receive41 grace through his graciousness and.light cannot attain to this office ? It is painful indeed to note that our misguided brethren have so miserably failed to appreciate the exalted station of their Master, the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) and have chosen to place him under the obligation of l\loses (Allah be pleased with him) and the Isrealites, barring a servant and disciple of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) from attainment to the exi.lted office of apostleship, through the blessings of his grace and the favour of his light.Someone has aptly said: ~\i ,._; j'.,-.~~~ jl ~ ,).,f" l~T~T ,)f •~.,-.i:,..~ '->.I bemoan not the hands of others.For whatever woe befell me came through my own friends.Views of Hazrat Imam Shirani (died in A, H.976) and Hazrat Imam Ali bin Mohammad Sultan Alqari (died ip A.H.10,1) have been quoted above and need not be reproduced here as it would unnecessarily overburden the discussion.If the readers wish to refresh their memories they are referred back to the trea.tment of the subject-matter, in reference to the traditions • ~~ u-:i ~ ' and w ~ I - iJVI -Al..ii ,;l&..I •• -- 1),,1 ,~..,.I,}".,, • After quoting opinions held during the Middle Ages of Islam, we now enter upon the threshold of the modern era.of Islam which commences practically with the 11th century A.H.The most ~minent personailty of this century is Hazrat Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi, the Mujjadad Alaf Sani (Allah have mercy on him) who is venerated by a large number of Muslims as the greatest reformer ordained co appear before the advent of the Promised Messiah, Hazrat l\lujjaddad Alif Sani (died A.H.1084) says : U.'1

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"Attainment to the excellent'es of prophethood by his followers in 'the way of allegiance and as legacy after the advent of the Seal of Prophets (salam and salutations to him and to all the Prophets) does not contravene his finality.Therefore be not of the doubting ones iri this matter."1 Does not the above view correspond with the one held by the Ahmadiyya Community ? Do we say anything other than this that the door to law-bearing prophethood and independent apostleship has been undoudtebly closed after the advent of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) but that the prophethood attainable through the discipleship of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) and as a spiritual heritage by virtue of the grace of subordination to him has not been banned; that on the contrary this gift of propl)ethood testifies to the glorious station and exalted position of our Master (Allah bless him) being, as it is, within the reach o.f his pupils and devotees.Therefore we say with Hazrat Mujjaddad Alif Sani to every Muslim, "This is the truth so be not of those who doubt.".The period of Hazrat Ahmad is followed by the times of Hazrat Shah Waliulhh Muhaddis of Delhi (died in A.H.1176).Hazrat Shah Sahib has been acclaimed as.the reformer of the 12th century Alhijri and Muslims of Pakistan and India, all and sundry, pay homage to his wide learning and great erudition.Says Hazrat Shah Sahib : - c, ~ ~, '!S..,..- ~ \..'6~ "4--~ ')J t:::-'.~l ~ ~ ( ~~~,9~j ;; (.)" t;:.1, ~ ~...t:J l:- ·•Prophets ended with him i.e.there shall not be after him one whom Allah the Holy invests I.11-laktubriti Ahmndi1111a, J'ol.1, mnktub No.171.• 18b

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with law to exercise it over.man."1 1'he above pronouncement of Hazrat Shah Waliullah (Allah have mercy on him) is self-explana- tory.Hazrat Shah Sahib is at one with us when he declares the door of law-bearing prophethood only to have been closed ·after the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him).We have already proved that every prophet need not necessarily bear a new law, for, as Hazrat Muhayyuddin 11:>ne Ai:abi says, law is but a part of prophethood and not the whole prophethood.The Quran, the Hadith and history bear.testimany to the fact that many a prophet ·came to the world without a new law and were enjoined to serve the former laws.This verdict of Hazrat Shah Waliullah Dehlavi is a decisive finding for those Muslims who respect his authority.Not only Hazrat Shah Waliullah but his entire family is held in high esteem in the Indo-Pak sub-continent because of their learning and erudition.It is there- fore up to you to accept this.testimony.Now we enter upon what may be rightly termed as our own times, on account of the close proximity of this period with our early days, which are possibly for man:v people the days of their living memory.The testimony now I am about to cite should have a special significance!' for the spiritually con- scientious, as, it is of comparatively early time~ and to be more exact, was placed on record hardly a few years before the Hazrat Promised Messiah, Founder of the Ahmadiyy·a Movement (peace of Allah be on him) announced his claims.This testi- mony was given by Hazrat • Maulvi Muhammad Qasim Nanotvi, the ·renowned founder of the Madrasa- tululum, Deoband (died in 1889 A.D.).Says the Maulvi Sahib : "In the conception of the masses the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) was Khatam in the 1.Ta/himat,i-llahiyya Ta/him.63.189

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sense that his term ca.me after the time of the preceding prophets and he is the last prophet of all.But it is evident to the wise that there is no superiority whatever inherent in precedence or subsequence in terms of period of time.How can then the expression •.,:,:r..~11 r!l.:..J..:iii J,..J ~.J' (and but he is the Apostle of Allah and the Seal of Prophets) denote praise, in this context.But if tnis description is not in the sense of praise _and this status not one worthy of praise then.Khatamiyyat can certainly be correct in the sense of subsequence in terms of period or time.But I know none of the Muslims will tolerate this view.''l And again the Maulana says : •'If a prophet appeared after the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) it would in no way affect his finality (Khatamtyyat)" ,2 • Will the Ulema of Deoband take into account this verdict of the revered founder of their institution ? Will they care to be as liberal and • progressive in their view of the •o ,-:l rt=,:.' as.has been their respected chief ? It might be said in this connection that Maulana Nanotvi conceded this as only a hypothetical question- and that at other occasions he has expressed the view that there shall be no prophet after the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him).I would again say, as I have said before that we ha.ve not quoted the above to show that the M1p!.lana was expecting the advent of a prophet but in support of the contention that according to him the.verse 'li~I il.:.' (the Seal of Prophets) and tradition •..s.,.,,, ~ ~• (there is no prophet after me) did J.Tah:irunas, Saharanpur publication.1..Page 3, a.~ ·• •· ·• "'"'' as.140

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not preclude the possibility · of the advent of a prophet after the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him).The point at issue here, it will be appreciated, is not that of the advent of anyone but that of the possibility of the advent of one.The quotation under.reference is quite clear on the point.With the help of God, I have been able to deal with the quotations (ten in number) which I had proposed to cite by way of illustration, in connection with the treatment of Khatam-e- Nabuwat.As will be remarked, the references relate to every period of Islamic era and comprise , quotations of opinions held by the dignitaries of the early, the middle and the modern periods, The foremost reference is of Hazrat Ali (Allah grant him grace) which relates to the early period, the era of the Blessed Companions, and the last relates to the days when the Founder of our Community, H azrat Promised Messiah (peace of Allah be on him) laid the foundation of the Ahmadiyya Movement, under Divine Command.I do not at all claim that from the age of Blessed Companions down to our times all the l\luslims have unanimously held the view that the door to non-law-bearing prophethood is open after the assumption of office by the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him).In that event there will be no controversy.But I do claim and I have established this contention beyond any shadow of doubt with the supporting evidence of the foregoing quotations, that in every period of Islamic era, invariably one or the other leading Divine has been openly of the view that the Khatm-e-Nabuwat of our Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) is in no way a bar to the advent of non-law-giving prophet; in fact the projection of the light of prophethood had become further expanded since the advent of Hazrat Khatamannabiyeen, the Chief of mankir.d (Allah bless him).14,1

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THE CONSENSUS OF MASS MUSLIM OPINION So far I have dealt.with the pronouncements of selected Divines.Now I propose, by the guce of God, to relate how, in a way, every member of the Muslim community, has been subscribing t'l the be Ii e f that notwithstanding the khatm-e- nabuwat of the Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him), one non-law-giving prophet.must, at any rate, appear among·the Muslims.In 11mplification of this brief s t ate me n t , I refer to the widely known prophecy in Islam, about the coming of the M~ssiah ( peace be on him ) in the latter days and that Islam will gain through him extra-ordinary power, the F~ith of Muhammad ( Allah bless him) shall dominate all other religions, thattheDajjal(aiiti-Chirst) will be annihilated, the cross will be broken into bits,' the infidels, will be overpowerd and punished and that all the internal differences among Muslims will be justly settled , and so on and so forth.'fhis prophecy has been briefly touched upon · in the Holy Quran and its detaile.d narrative is to be found in every book of Hadith.The Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him ) laid such emphasis on it, repeating it so often that it tops the list of Islamic prophecies; so much so that every Muslim is acquainted with it; in short, its widespread knowledge surpasses all comprehension, The.Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him) himself had such tremendous faith in it that he stressed its • importance with the added weight of solemn affirma- tion in the name of God.'fhe most authentic book of.Hadith, Bokhari quotes the_ fo How in g version of his ( Allah bless him ) statement: ~J." l~ ,...,..iif I ~ J,;:.t c)I ~ ,J -~~ \S.iJI_, ~,r.JI ~.J.,.,;:;.JIJ:ii.J ~I A (~.1• i)! tJ-r J,_;: ~Lt Jl.i.ll.J.1 ~l:S"" ~J~ ~)

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"And I swear by the Lord who holds my life in His hands that the son of Mary shall surely appear among you as just arbiter and shall break the cross, annihilate the swine and abolish jazia"l This is the' great prophecy in Islam relatini to the coming of the Messiah.Though the Ahmad- iyya Community does not share the view that it _relates to the coming of the self-same Messiah, son of Mary, but it holds the belief that it foretells ·about the appearance of a Messiah in the likeness of the son of Mary ( peace be on him ); all • the_ other sects· of Islam believe in the coming of, the self-same ·Messiah of Nazueth who appeared 600 years before the advent of th~ Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him) in the Mosaic dispensation.They, at the same· time, believe that • this Messiah shall retain his status of prophethood and shall not be divested of this dignity.Says Imam Jalaluddin &n~= • ~ ~ J..y...~ -.\ ~ 1-;, ':.'-...~- • , \ \ \,;" • cC,$, ~~ ~ ~u w:a,....,--~~ ~ ~ (r't"l~~!.91l•JIF,J -i~'l,,J,IOJ 11 One who said that he will be divested of prophethood is a true heretic, for, verily he is a prophet and shall not be relieved of the property of prophethood."2 Since therefore all the Muslims unanimously believ.e in the appointed appearance of Messiah in the latter da)s and further agree that he shall hold the exalted rank of prophet, there can there- fore be no escape from the logical and necessary 1.Sahih Bokhr,ri Book Badul khalq chapter' Nazuli iaa bin Mapyam, - • • • 2.Hujjajul kirama l'a,e 4,31.

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corollary that the mass of Muslims have subscribed to the view that a prophet shall appear after the Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him).It is thus evident that not only the elect of Islam but even the mass of l\luslims testify to the fact that the door to prophethood is in a manner, still open after the appearance of our Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him ).Will our friends pause and reflect that when the Muslims believe that the coming l\Iessiah shall not be divested of his pro- phethood but that he bhall appear as a prophet, do not the twin beliefs add up to the conclusion that the l\luslhns as a whole do concede one pro- phet after the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him)? It may be said here that the Muslims do agree on the appearance of a Prophet after the Holy Propket (Allah bless him) who was exalted to prophethood six centuries before the advent of the Holy Prophet (Allah_ bless him) and that the appearance of such a prophet does not infringe the Khatm-e-Nabuwat, the finality of prophethood in the Holy Prophet Muhammad.(Allah bless him), while the advent of.a new prophet does amount to a breach.May God.guide our ill-advised brethren aright I The point of precedence or sub- sequence in adv en t is in no way relevant to the issue.It is a simple matter of appearing as a prophet and functioning as such after the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) that forms the crux of the matter.The Messiah of Nazareth, though an earlier prophet, will, all -the same, accor• ding to the belief of Muslims, come to the world after the Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him ) and function as a prophet.If the door of prophethood is absolutely sealed, his appearance, in any case, constitutes a violation of the Seal Of prophethood (Khatm-e-Nabuwat ), only if you care to realize.In fact the appearance of such a prophet as ia

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~ot of the Holy Prophet's ( Allah bless him) follow.mg and has not received the rank of prophet.hood through his grace and as a result of owing allegi- ance to him, in the· spirit of a disciple, is a smsshing challenge to the very organization of Islamic dispensation, leaving intact neither the Seal of Prophethood nor the finality of the Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him ).In contra-distinction to the above belief, the elevation to the rank of prophet- hood •of a pupil and spiritual son of the Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him ), through the favour of his grace and with a lighi from his light, constitutes no breach but redounds to the eminence of his glory as a testimony of the fact that the sun of his spiritual effulgence is capable 'of producing a moon of sph:itual reflection for _the illumination of the world in a period •of darkn~ss.May Allah bless the Holy Prophet Muhammad and bis people I A Rational Treatment t>f the Question After dealing with the testimony furnished by the early Divines and the· mass_ of Muslims I now come to the closing p!lrt of my discussion.As I said at the outset, human reason, in • spite of its possible lapses which are· sometimes prompted by environmental darkness is the natural light.par excellence, granted to man by Heaven, to help him discriminate truth from falsehood.· Most of the questions confronting man in life are decided in.the light of reason.In this ·connection, it must therefore.be borne in mind, - as a basic· fact, corroborated by the evidence of history, that it is an eternal law of God that Be invariably raises chose.n men of holy nature for the guidance and reformation of mankind whenever degenerate views and vicious deeds hold _ the fiel~ in the.world.This efol'matoryr action is determined by the prevalent 145

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conditions; if, for instance, conditio~s warrant the ~e~~ssity of a· new law, reformatorr process • is.uutia-ted through a new • code.But 1f a new law is not called for, a.prophet without a· fre~h law,· is raised to initi~te reform~ This principl_e has been operative from eternity and has never been suspended.The appointment of 1,24,000 prophets, of whom nearly 815 were law-bearing apostles, bears decisive testimony to this eternal trut_h.Since it is an eternal Divine law that whenever evils of great magnitude appear, Allah raises reformers.'!'here is no reason why • that law should be regarded as inoperative in our times..It cannot be urged that since the appearance of the Khatamannabiyyeen this • law which no doubt held good has been-suspended.For, we hav~ already eastablished hi" our exposition of the_ term,.that Khatamannabiyyeen does not spell an end of the prophetic· circle, but that it only means that a current that flowed independently has now • been diverted into one channel, namely the Holy Prophet (Allah be pleased with him).Besides, we are ·not treating the subject here in the •light of the Quran and Hadith.(that ground has already be1 n covered) but our approach • is_ from· a purely rational angle.According to· the - rational viewpoint, it is manifestly clear.that.the Divine modus operandi in ·respect of human moral reform11tion, effective from eternity, was confined to the appointment of Prophets, could not have been dropped in our age.What rational argument can justify the damming of this ancient stream.The·- question •why the eternally established Divine - procedure of irrigating the.spirit of in~n through- an eternal stream should be considered as abandoned in· our age, deserves serious considera- tion.'fhis is a.clear-cut rational argument.that has a direct appeal to unbiased minds, endowed with clear vision.No.amount of ineenious reasoning can dislodge it.146

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There is yet another aspect of the question.Those who claini that the eternal Divine Law of · raising.a prophet· io reform mankind in every dark period has now.become inoperative, carry the onus of su~tantiating..their contention with evidence.Our claim is self-sustained, as, it is in line with.an eternally operative Divine Law.Those who claim a new departure from this Divine Law, must cite relative.evidence in support of their contention.If they cannot and by the grace of God they surely cannot, then the logically correct position, confirms our stand.that w·e cannot be called upon to cite any evidence ; and when our opponents who bear ~he onus cannot • produce supporting evidence to their claim, the controversy must be treated as closed.In the field of rational approach, the argument that extraordinary deterioration in religious.persu- asion ·and.deeds in general is evident during the present era, the dominance of materialistic views and prevalence of irreligeousness and fraudulence, against which all· prophets, have, according to the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) been fore-warning, resulting in general in the.inner degeneratipn of races and ·nations, call for a prophet who should radiate the light of the spiritual sun of the Holy Prophet (Allah· bless him) to illuminate the world, as an heir and votary of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him).No doubt the preceding centuries huve had their share of.darkness but the cimmerian darkness of the present age and the degeneration in faith and practice that has set in during these days, are indescribably great and without parallel in history.If therefore reformers of the Mujjaddad level were needed to attend to the evils of the past ages, present times call for a master-reformer gifted with prophetic properties through the favour of the Holy Prophet's (Allah bless him) grace.That is why the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him), in 147

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view of the extreme darkness and deterioration of the present age, while foretelling the appearance of reformers in everv century, predicted the appoint- ment of a person ~f a calibre adequate for meeting the anti-Christ plague and spoke of him in these words: ,.r,i~.J.~,.,,,ri "There is no prophet between me and him." It is precisely this age in reference to which the national poet of Pakistan Alle:ma Iqbal savs: ;.Y..L w.., ~ d'f/.":•:U 1 _,,j~;,- ~I ~ if,)?JJ.:::::.J~\/i'.1J..i~d'~......,.....~ •• I..f'., •• ,f-1,.1 ~.II <.l!'.1j j-;'.J., !.J~ (.!I.~ ; (/."u1 ~ (/.i?.J ~ ~411(:I'~ t.r~~/<!!4--( ❖ Ji.~·u~ki;d'_,....4:-1} ~ ✓ -,Y£f.u~~u1, ❖ )~u.1;iJ"JL.a1.r/"-i'., { &.f{.,,r.) •., "Hands are feeble and hearts are seized of heresy.Idol-breakers are gone-the rest ue idol-makers.The Father was Abraham but sons are Azars"."There is an outcry: Muslims ba~e become • extinct in the world.We ask •were there Muslims anywhere at all' ? "In stile you ai:c Christian, in culture Hindus Such are these Muslims, • even Jews will be scanda.Iized at their sight."l In these lines Allama Iqbal bas certainly used rather harsh language in the excess of excitement.But one should pass it over as bitter words have J.Jawab Shik'Wa.14,8

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•to be employed at times as a corrective.Our readers should therefore set aside the harshness of tone and see the underlying spirit and the good motive behind them.However, whether people in this age of darkness which has affected Muslims and non- Muslims alike, are vocal in their demand for or their pitiable condition is sending forth an appeal, they all join in the c11 II of times for ·a reformer from Heaven, a Master-reformer gifted with prophetic wisdom.Even Maulana Abulala Maududi who is at present leading the opposition front against us, observes: "'Most people are in search of such a perfect man for the rehabilitation of faith as would be an embodiment of the idealistic perfect- ness of all and sundry and should be sound in all respects.Though they orally reiterate faith in ~.H ~::;.(Khatim-e-nabuwat) ·and if anybody hints at continuation of prophet.hood, they would at once pull his tongue out of its root, but in their heart of hearts, they demand a prophet and would not accept anything short of a prophet.I Leaving aside therefore the evidence of the Quran, the Hadith a~d the pronounc;ements of early Divines, the times and the inner voice of mankind, call for a prophet in our age.Hazrat Promised Messiah (Allah bless him) said so aptly l.Tarjamanul Quran., Dec.and Jan.42-43 P 4fJ,6 149

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..;1 0, (.:.,I ✓ '/~¾;½ l;..,,U.:, <, i r Yr~' i;:,u Ll;f.i' J "'Hear ye yearners, a call has come from the Unseen.A reformer is needed, for everywhere evil multiplies." 1 Heaven rains signs.''The hour has struck" says the earth.These two witnesses staQd upright in testifying form for me."l "0 ye.people who yearn for truth, listen with your ears open, the cry.coming forth from the Unseen that •the times call.for a great Divine reformer for everywhere faith and re~igiori have deteriorated.Look ye to the signs that.heaven hath rained and the earth from underneeth cries forth, •The hour of a Divine reformer has come', These two witnesses, the Heaven and earth, stand to attention to testify to my truth." Then referring· to his specific claim, he says : dj t,r~~;~o; , ,.• ,~ ,,.,_ f".,-,.,...• ~ ~ ~., (',..IJ I U-" j t l~U:,...._J (~f.J) "l t was the time of :Messiah and not of any other.Had I· not come, another would have come."3 ''The irreligious materialism and fraudulence ---·- 1,..4yinai Kamafate lalam P.IJB.f.Durre-Samin.150

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• that dominate this period and the attacks to which Islam has been exposed, en.II for a person no less than a vicegerent of the Prophet whom God raised in the likeness of Messiah, for the service of faith, one who would follow·_ the Holy.Prophet (Allah bless him) ·as Messiah followed M9ses.Such a Messiah is the caW of times and if I hPd not come anot_her would have been raised." In brief, the call of the hour -and the testi- • mony of.the time, underline the need.for a.reformer who should receive light from the light.of our Holy Prophet (Allah bless hini)" and with the fav:our of his grace initi1,te·world_ reformation.This des~ription.is applicable to a reflex-prophet or disciple-prophet for, such a one ·is the spiritual son of our Holy Prophet (Allah bless him), a.branch of his holy tree and part and parcel of him.Would that our brethren appreciate this point •.I now take up the last argument in this connection; which of the tw-> views about the •i::.i ,:I ~' is endorsed by human reason and which is more in consonance with the exalted station of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) - the view advanced by the Ahmadiyya Community or the one advocated by the non-Ahmadi Maulvies, In order to make an appraisal of these views, we need hardly here enter into any detailed examina- tion.It will be enough fot our purpose to place both the views together and subject them to a ·.comparative examination.A comparative statement of the two views is hence.tecorded in the following table.Readers can consult their clear conscience in finding out the truth.It is however important to study the table with a God-fearing • sense of honesty as it is a matter of faith and must be· treated with utmost seriousness.151

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The Belief of non-Ahmadi The belief of the Ahmadi MusHms of today.Community.The Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him) is '~JI ~ l.:.' i.e., he is the terminator of all prophets, that the door to prophethood of every category is finally closed after him and nobody can attain to prophe thood henceforward.The prophets who had to appear have already appeared before him and there is no prophet after him, neither from among his followers, nor from outside of their membership; for, all the streams of Pr ophethood have ceased to flow after his advent.Therefore • none of his servants and votaries shall henceforward attain to prophethood.The Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him) is.the '~ I ~l;.' i.e., the Seal of Prophets.In him the excellences of Prophethood have reached their perfection and there- fore the door to receiving prophethood independently is closed since his appoint- ment to this office, for henceforwad every kind of grace • is attainable only through his service.His advent has thus not closed the stream of Divine grace but its course has been channelized through his person which is now, so to say, the new Headwork.A prophet, henceforth, shall appear only through allegi- ance to him by receiving light from his light and as his shadow and reflecion and not otherwise.The above is a comparative statement represent- ing on the one hand the view of the non-Ahmadis who believe the door to every kind of prophethood to have been bolted.They, in other words, mean that before the advent of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) the chances of becoming prophets, Siddiq, Shaheed and Salih were open to mankind but since his (Allah bless him) advent, while the chances of becoming Siddiq.Shaheed and Salih conti1iue to remain open, the c-hances of becoming prophets huve been ter- minated.152

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The other view is that of the Ahmadiyya Com- munity according to which the doors to every eategory of Divine grace are not only still open as before but that they have been opened wider and that because of the exalted station a,nd glorious position of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) the springs of Divine favour and spiritual light are flowmg in full stream, that the graces that flowed independent- ly before have now been aligned to allegiance to him (Allah bless him).• • The Pl'omised ME:ssiah, in an address, to shi soveriegn master the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) says: (f') ;;.'-, "'.:..Jr' UJ-~ (..L (,k l,,J.L,r..;~ ~~~- ' (l~h.;:, uu;li., "We became the best of the people because of thee O best of Proph<·ts I We marched for- ward as thou went ahead." Now which of the two views.is in conformity with the eminent status of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) will be clear after a dispassionate comparative appraisal of.the two statements.Whether it is to his (Allah bless him) credit that his advent should result in the termination of prophethood of every form and that the drying up of a current should be attributed to him or that his elevated rank mak.es his holy person the fountain-head of prophethood and that the grace that was granted before him in~ dependently shnll henceforth be attainable through subordination to him,· through devotion to him and J.AyinaiKamalati-Islam, urn

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through his _grace and his certifying· seal.Give vour testimony therefore, being honest to God, in whose hands lie the lives of us all and.before ·whom we must one day appear and answer for our deeds.Does the greatne1>s of the- Holy prophet (Allah bless him) lie in the cessation'.of every kind of proph~t- hood 11fter him or in its denial to others ·than his followers and its grant being made contingent.on allegiance to him? I am s11re every Muslim who has.true love for the Holy Prophet ( Allah bless him) who is conscious of comparative height.of ·his rank, will, with true· conviction, and heartfelt faith, endorse the view that it is inherent in the exalted position •of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) that the door to reflex-prophethood should remain open to his followers and votaries.Moses.was followed by a host of prophets.Though they d-id.·not receive ·this grace t_hrough allegiance• to _him they were never- theless commissioned to serve his law and were under him.It i,ii a pity indeed that you caQnot bear up with one devotee of the Roly Prophet (Allah bless him) bei()g graced_ with the rank of prophethood- his claim rankles so in your sides.• Since unfortunately a great misunderstanding persists among non-Ahmadi Muslims in re~pect of the sense in which the Holy·· I<'ouridt!r • of· the· Ahrnacliyya.Movement (peace be on him) claimed or in the sense, we beJieye him, ~o be a prophet, it is well worthwhile adding here by way of further ·clarification, that it is certainly not at all in the sense generally held by the Muslims.According to the erroneous concept of Prophethood persisting among them, every prophet • must bring a new law, or rriodify the preceding law, or must be-.independent of the preceding prophet, should initiate a new creed of his own or found a new faith.When they come acrciss the Ahmadiyya literature er learn from Ahmadis ·of references to th,e Protnised.l\fessiah's (Allah bless· him) claim to 154

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prophethood, they at once ascribe.fo him a prophetic status in terms of their own concept and accord.ingly believe th.at he has initiated a ne,v creed has founded a new faith and..is therefore in • n~ way related to Islam any more, Nothing is further from the truth.We solemnly affirm that the Prorn.ised Messiah made n? such claim ; we do not believe hirn.to be a prophet m the above sense.0!1 ~he contrary we believe him to h~ve _bee~ commissioned, as he has repeatedly explamed m his Works, to serve Islarn.in subordinate devotion to the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) and.to ~ave brought no ne~ religion nor a new creed; his creed and that of his followe being the one and eternal creed that Muhammad tbs Apostle of Allah (Allah bless· him) was grantede namely: •.AlJI JJMJ.,.,..AlJI ~I ~I~ "There is no God except Allah and Muharnrn d is His Apostle." a..O ye earth and O ye heavens, 0 ye genii and 0 men, be witnes~es therefore tha~ _we testify th' on solemn affirmation and Allah wdlmg we shall 18 depart from this world that "Islam is our religio so the Quran is our book and Muhammad the bless n, ~ho is th~ Seal of Prophets, is our apostle; and hd 1s the chief of _messengers exalted a~ove all h'e predecessors and his followers and we are his (UMMAT) people." Whosoever attributes to us a belief oth than this, is guilty of falsehood and commits a wr er for which he must answer God.We do not asc:ng to the Promised· Messiah (peace be on hirn) t~e prophethood of the non-Ahmadiyya concept.h'e station.in spiritual eminence is so granted hi~ bis virtue of allegiance, devot.ion and subordination { the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Allah b!e<,;s him) · 0 dembnstrate his glory and in simple terms it is 'u~~ 155

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favour of..Freqent communion with God and com- munication of intelligence concerning coming events" and nothing besides this.And as we have said be• fore this, in fact, is, in its essence, prophethood which does not necessarily consist in the revt>lation of a new law as law is only an adjunct.Would that our friends ponμered this truth I.A ConclucUng Note I have, by the grace of God, dealt with all the aspects of this subject.In the_ openinf! chapter the question of Khatm-e-nabuwat has been disposed of in the light of Quranic verses.This has been followed up with a treatment in reference to the traditions.The third part relates to the views of leading Divines of preceding ages in support of our viewpoint.In the end, it has been proved in the light of human reason that, not only a reflex-prophet can appear among the followers of the Holy Apostle (Allah bless him), owing allegiance to him and as his pupil but that it is the clarion call of times that a reformer of the prophetic level should appear in this age, These are the four possible approaches to the.treat- ment of an Islamic question coming up for discussion.All the four criteria.Allah be praised, support our view.The Holy Quran is emphaticl'l.lly of the view that for the Holy Prophet's followers, the doors to Divine grace have been thrC1wn wide open-wider than ever ns they are best of people (UMMAT): for, in the preceding dispensation.the grant of prophethood was not contingent, on allegiance to the preceding prophet and the recepient was favoured directly but now, due to the grace atteT1ding the Holy Prophet's seal.of Prophethood, the aate of this favour has been thrown open to the followers of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him), through subordination to him and in his disciple-ship.I \ 156

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So far as the Hadith is concerned, several tradi- tions confirm the.view that a non-law-giving prophet can appear after the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him).Even the traditions considered as doubtful, show on scrutiny that while the door to law-bearing and in- dependent prophethood is closed,· the door to reflex prophethood has not been closed.The term reflex prophethood is synonymous with elevation.to prophet- hood of a servant and devotee of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless ·him) through the· favour of· his grace and the radiation of tlie light of his reflection.· The prophethood as is so granted, along the path of Jana firasul.(self-oblteration in the love of the Holy P:rophet), is truly a part of his own prophetic pro- perties and not something extraneous thereto and therefore in spite of it the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) remains the last prophet.After tradition come the pronouncements of the Leading Divines-in strict order of precedence.We have shown in the foregoing pages that from the erQ.of the Blessed companions to date there is no such period to be found when someone or the other leading Divine did not express views approximating our beliefs; This sacred chain.of evidence begins with the initial links furnished by the views of Hazrat Ali (Allah bless him) and Hazrat Ayesha (Allah bless her), is followed up by those of Hazrat Shaikh Mohayyμddin lbne Arabi, Hazrat SJ1aikh Ahmad Sirhandi Mujjaddad alfe sani and Bazrat Shah Wali- ullah, till it ends up with the last link, the opinion of Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanotvi founder of the Deobad school.If therefore we are liable to be declafed llafirs, heretics, and outside the pale of Islam then whflt ,·erdict have our opponents reserved for these eminent luminaries who have expressed identical views.Last of all comes the approach of human reason.We have shown in this connection that our beliefs 157

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are· in line with the eternal Divine law and the call of times and the thirst in· the minds of men further reinforces the argument in our favour; this cumula- tive evidence has been still further supported by the unambiguous word of Allama Iqbal and Maulve Abulala Maududi.After this formidable four-fold evidence, eve.ry part of which is a lofty tower of truth, it is a glaring falsehood, an unmitigated in- justice and unreasonable aggressiveness fa say that we have no· faith in the -~~ ~:,;..• of the Holy Ptophet (Allah bless him) that we, God forbid, insult him, have abandoned Islam, have founded a.new faith and coined a new creed, With what deep feel- ings c.lid our Imam Hazrat Promised Messiah (peace be on him) said : • t./.1 (J)IJ-1/;al f (."..11../ll;: ~(}f~JJ v:: /I f ·· (fil~~-'.,U:;....,..;,,, c.t.,..i ~.>, , t, Jt,;,....,,,."' , 'rcJk'~ J~ '-.1~..'r'<,~o ~v1J..,.J (;).tr LJv4~,J,4a t • ' JJ6'.< :,:.,: • I d W 1.).1.J,: ,J(.14 If ~--'7- 158

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We profess the faith of Muslims ·we fi.re devoted servants of the.Khatmal• • mursaieen · • We shun shirk and innovation We are mere dust in the passage trodden by.Ahmad the chosen We believe in all commandments We are devoted heart and soul to this way.We have given away the heart already· only the.earthern frame now remains.It is our sincere desire that this too be sacrific- ed in His cause 0 ye people,· you call us Kafir, wherefore you· fear not' consquences th.ereof.The above-quoted lines are from the pen of the Founder of.Our Movement, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib of Qa:dian, the Promised Messiah.\Ve believe in every word of it and We invpke the wrath of Heaven on those who ·perjure.Whether the world shall believe rne or not, truth shall, lnaha Allah ultimately prevail.Those who are today condemnP-d as.enemies of faith and detractors of the Holy Prophet, shall in t}i.e.end, prove in the· right, and the bugle of Islam's victory shall sound in their honour; The world today is at a critical crossing whence roads branch off to different directions.The eternal decree of God has ordained that the Ahmadiyya Communi- ty shall take to the right path that leads to con- quest and vietory.The.time is not for off when the world will acknowledge and • the children r,I our denouncers will testify to the fact that the eminence of the • Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) and the 159

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excellences of Islam lay not in the beliefs of the opposition camp but in those professed by us.The concept of Khatm-e,nabuwat is the last ditch in- tervening between us and the other Muslims.Once this ditch has been crossed, through the grace and mercy of Allah, the entire field will have been cleared.l\Iay that day draw nearer.May our misguided brethren also see the light that we.have seen &.nd may they too taste of the elixir of life that we have tasted.1\lay they appreciate the eminence and true status of the Seal of Prophets.the Chief of Apostles and the ;Leader of mankind, Muhammad the Hol.,·? May they then lend us a hand.in the service of faith so that Islam regains it.s glory in the world and that as there is One.God of the World, so there be One Book and One Prophet for all men who may come all under.one flag-his flag.This is the ordination of the Powerful, the Wise Lord and our last appeal is unto.Him, the· Lord of the Universe who is altogether praiseworthy.Humble Servant of the l\tillat MIRZA BASHIR AlUlAD 160

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