Introduction
Dear Readers
Assalamo alaikum
Muslims from the time of Holy Prophet Muhammad SAAW till today unanimously believe in the absolute Finality of the Prophethood of Syedna Muhammad SAAW, and the Finality of Holy Quran as the Last message from Allah to guide His creations till the day of Qiyamah. This concept of finality of the Message and the Messenger is the cornerstone of the whole building of Islam which plays a pivotal role in the life of Muslims individually as well as collectively, creating a bond of such brotherhood that transcends all geographical, racial and cultural boundries. This Universal Brotherhood of Islam makes the whole Ummah as one unit, one body, so that whenever one part is hurt, the whole body feels the pain and react to it. This of course is a very scary phenomenon for the anti-Islamic forces, who have been trying to disrupt this bond since the advent of Islam. Anti-Islamic forces had thus always tried to create divisions among the Muslims by distorting the teachings of Quran and by creating literature in an atempt to reduce the influence of Holy Prophet Muhammad SAAW in our lives. As Al-Hafiz Bashir Masri put it in his article, Henchmen of Europe,
“whereever the opponents of Islam plan to strike at the roots of Islam, they start challenging the validity of Quran-e-Majeed and maligning the Personality of the Holy Prophet SAAW. We are used to such attacks from without and know how to deal with them. The real problem arises, however, when someone from within start playing the traitor, as the Qadianis are doing. You can fend off a danger which you can see, but you more liable to be taken unaware and be bitten by a snake in the grass. And this is what happened to some of our Muslims.
Khatme Nabuwwat is one such facet of the lives of Muslims which are constantly threatened by such forces. Why do we believe in the Finality of Prophethood of Holy Prophet Muhammad SAAW and what is it that Qadianis have to say in this matter. Who is right and who is wrong? This is the question that we are going to answer in this article.
From Quran: Detailed issue of Finality of Prophethood has been dealt with by Syed Abul Ala Muadudi in his article, The Finality of Prophethood. Suffice to say here is that Allah testifies in Quran:
O people ! Muhammad has no sons among ye men, but verily, He is the Apostle of God
and the Last in the line of Prophets (Khatam-un-Nabiyeen). And God is Aware of everything.”
(Surah Al Ahzab 33.40)
The basic principle for interpreting the verses of Quran is to interpret them in the light of other verses, and in the light of what has been said by Holy Prophet Muhammad SAAW or His Companions. The word Khatam is translated here as ‘LAST’. The literal meaning of this word is SEAL, as something which is sealed. There are many other verses in Quran which support this translation of the word Khatam and thus the finality of the Messenger and the Message.
The Last Sermon:
Holy Prophet Muhammad SAAW on His Last Hajj gave a sermon, where he announced:
“O’ people! No Prophet would be raised after me and no new Ummah (would be rasied) after you.” (Seerat Ibne Hisham, The Last Sermon)
From the Books of Hadith:
Many Hadith are quoted in the article by Syed Maududi, but I would specially like to quote here one authentic hadith which contain the word KHATAM.
Holy Prophet SAAW used the word Khatam-un-Nabiyeen for Himself and then qualified the meaning of this word by adding that “there is no Prophet after me.” Most certainly He knew that there will be some sick minded people in his ummah who will make all sorts of far flung distorted meanings.