Commentary
The verse quoted above refutes the contention of those people who, in accordance with the custom of the days of ignorance, used to call Sayyidna Zayd Ibn Harithah رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہ as son of the Messenger of Allah and used to taunt at the nikah (marriage) of the Holy Prophet ﷺ with Sayyidah Zainab ؓ ، after she had been divorced by Sayyidna Zayd Ibn Harithah ؓ that the Holy Prophet ﷺ had married his son's wife. It was enough to say in refutation that the father of Sayyidna Zayd ؓ is not the Holy Prophet ﷺ but Harithah ؓ . But in order to emphasis the matter, the statement has been generalized in the following words: مَّا كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبَا أَحَدٍ مِّن رِّجَالِكُمْ (Muhammad is not a father of any of your men). The sense is that the Holy Prophet ﷺ has no son at all. How can it be asserted against him that he has a son and that his divorced wife is forbidden to him because of being his son's wife?
A brief expression for this statement could have been (Muhammad is not a father of any of you). But the wise Qur'an, by adding the word (مَّا كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبَا أَحَدٍ مِّن رِّجَالِكُمْ ) (any of your men) has removed a possible objection that the Holy Prophet ﷺ is father of four sons - three sons Qasim, Tayyib and Tahir ؓ born to Sayyidah Khadijah ؓ and Ibrahim born to Sayyidah Mariyah al- Qibtiyyah ؓ but all of them died during childhood and none of them reached manhood. It can also be said that at the time of revelation of this verse, none of his sons was alive, because Qasim, Tayyib and Tahir had died, while Ibrahim ؓ was not born at that time.
Although the objection of the opponents had been adequately replied by the above sentence, yet in order to remove other doubts as well, it is stated لَـٰكِن رَّسُولَ اللَّـهِ (but a messenger of Allah). The word لٰکِن lakin (but) is used in Arabic language to remove any doubt that could be raised about the preceding statement. In this case, a doubt could be raised against the negation of the statement that the Holy Prophet ﷺ is not a father of any one. One could say that every prophet and messenger is the father of every man and women of his Ummah, and therefore the negation of his fatherhood would be tantamount to negation of his prophethood. This doubt has been dispelled by لَـٰكِن رَّسُولَ اللَّـهِ )but a messenger of Allah) which means that the rules regarding permissibility or impermissibility of marriage are applicable to the real and biological fatherhood that is quite different from a spiritual fatherhood enjoyed by the prophets in relation to the members of their Ummah. In this relationship these laws do not apply. Now the meaning of the full sentence is that the Holy Prophet ﷺ is not the biological father of any of the men of the Ummah but he is the spiritual father of all of them.
This is also a rejoinder for another sarcasm that some Mushriks (polytheists) had uttered against the Holy Prophet ﷺ that (Allah forbid) he is اَبتَر (issueless) that is, since he has no male offspring to continue the lineage and to propagate his message further; after a few days the whole story would come to an end. The above words have made it clear that although he has no biological sons, yet the biological sons are not in any case essential to spread the message of prophethood or to maintain and propagate it. This function is normally performed by one's followers who are his spiritual children, and since he is the spiritual father of the whole Ummah who are there to carry forward his mission, he excels all of you in the number of his (spiritual) children.
Then, once the prophethood and messenger-ship of the Holy Prophet ﷺ was mentioned here in which he carries a very special and distinct excellence over all other prophets, this distinctive eminence surpassing all other prophets has been indicated by the following words: وَخَاتَمَ النَّبِيِّينَ ( and the Last of the Prophets).
There are two ways to read the word Imam Hasan ؓ and 'Asim read this word as خَاتَمَ khatam whereas other leading scholars read it as khatim. The meaning remains the same in both cases, that is, 'the last of the prophets'. In both the cases, the word means the 'last' as well as the 'seal'. The meaning of the seal is also the 'last' because the seal is applied to something when it is intended to be closed. The Holy Prophet ﷺ has been called the seal of the prophets because the process of sending new prophets has come to an end on his advent. This is the gist of the explanation given in Tafsir Ruh ul Ma’ ani, Tafsir of Al-Baydawi and Ahmadi. The fact that both the words ' khatam' and 'khatim' carry the same meaning in this sentence has been affirmed by all the famous lexicons of the Arabic language.
Ibn Sidah, for example, in his Almuhkam states that the the words 'khatim' and 'khatimah' with regard to everything means its end and its termination.
The gist is that both readings of the verse (khatam and khatim) convey the same meaning, that is, the Holy Prophet has concluded the line of prophets; he has succeeded all the prophets and he is the last among all of them.
The Holy Prophet's ﷺ attribute of being the last of all the prophets demonstrates his excellence and distinction in all the perfections of prophethood and messenger-ship, because in general, all things progress gradually reaching completion at the highest stage, and the end result is the real objective. The Holy Qur'an has stated this clearly in الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي (Today, I have perfected your religion for you and have completed My blessings upon you, - 5:3).
The religions of the previous prophets were also complete with regard to their respective times - none was defective. But absolute perfection was reached by the religion of the Holy Prophet Muhammad al-Mustafa ﷺ which is the authority for all the ancient and modern human beings and will continue to be so up to the Doomsday.
By adding the phrase 'last of the prophets' after negating his being a father of a male boy, another point has been clarified here. The polytheists used to pass negative remarks against the Holy Prophet ﷺ by saying that he has no son, and therefore his lineage would not continue. By saying that he is the last of the prophets it is indicated that these remarks are based on ignorance, because he is the spiritual father of the whole Ummah which follows him and being the last prophet, all the races and nations to come in this world till the Doomsday would be included in his Ummah; as such the number of persons in his Ummah would be more than in other Ummah and his spiritual sons would be more than those of other prophets.
The Holy Prophet's ﷺ being the last prophet has also told us that his kindness and affection for his spiritual sons (i.e. for his Ummah) would be more than that of other prophets and he would be fully seized of the concern to identify and appreciate the needs which may arise till Doomsday because no prophet or wahy (Divine revelation) would come after him. The prophets preceding him did not have this concern because they knew that when the nation would deviate and adopt erring ways, other prophets would come after them and reform the nation. But the Last Prophet t was seized of the concern that he should impart instructions to the Ummah for all the situations that it may face uptill Doomsday. The ahadith of the Holy Prophet ﷺ bear witness to the above, because he has told us even the names of most of those people who could be followed and who would come after him. Similarly, he has told us the details about the leaders who would misguide humanity in a manner that anybody who cares to ponder over those warnings would not have the slightest doubt left in his mind. That is why the Holy Prophet ﷺ said تَرَکتُم علٰی شَرِیعَۃِ بَیضَآِء لَیلُھَا و نَھَارُھا سَوَاُء I have left (you) on such an illuminated path where it does not make any difference whether it is day or night; there is no danger of being misguided at any time."
Another point to note in this verse is that Sayyidna Muhammad al-Mustafa ﷺ has been referred to in the beginning of the sentence as a rasul (messenger) and as such it would have been apparently more appropriate to use the word khatam-ur-rusul or khatam-ul-mursalin (the last of the messengers ) for him. But the wise Qur'an has, instead, used the word khatam-un-nabiyyin (the last of the prophets). The reason is that according to the consensus of scholars, there is a difference between Nabi (prophet) and rasul (messenger). Nabi is that person whom Allah Ta’ ala (the Almighty) has selected for the reformation of His slaves and has honored him with His Wahy (revelation), irrespective of whether He has given him a Book and a new Shari'ah (set of revealed rules and precepts) or He has appointed him to guide the followers of a previous Nabi according to a previous Nabi's Book and Shari'ah, like Sayyidna Harun (علیہ السلام) was appointed to guide and reform his followers according to the Book and Shari'ah of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) . On the contrary, the word rasul (messenger) is used exclusively for a particular Nabi who has been given a Book and a new Shari'ah. As such Nabi is more general than Rasul.
So the meaning of this verse is that the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، being the last of the prophets, has concluded the line of prophets and no prophet will come after him, irrespective of whether he is given a Book and a Shari'ah or he succeeds a previous Nabi to follow his Book and Shari'ah.
It is now very clear that all kinds of prophets appointed by Allah came to an end with the Holy Prophet ﷺ ; no prophet will be appointed after him.
Imam Ibn Kathir, in his Tafsir, says:
فَھٰذِہ الاَیۃُ اَنَّہ لَا نَبٰیَّ بَعدَہ وَاَذَا کَانَ نَبٰیَّ بَعدَہ فلا رسول بِالطَّرِیقِ الاَولٰی لِاَنَّ مَقَامَ الرِّسَلَۃِ ا ؟ خَصُّ مِن مَّقَام النُّبُوَّۃِ رَاِنَّ کُلَّ رَسُولِ نَبِیُّ وَّلَا یَنعَکِسُ بِذٰلِکَ وَرَدَتِ الاَحَادِیثُ المُتَوَتِرۃ عَن رَّسُول اللہِ ﷺ مِن حَدِیث جَمَاعَۃِ مِّنَ الصّحابَۃِ
"This verse is the unambiguous proof of the belief that there would be no Nab' after the Holy Prophet ﷺ and since there would be no Nabi , there is no question of there being any rasul after him because Nabi is a general term and rasul is particular. And this is the belief which is evidenced by mutawatir ahadith which have reached us through the reports of a very large number of the Noble Companions ؓ ."
The Literal explanation of this verse has been given here in considerable detail because one imposter by the name of Mirza Qadiyani, considering this verse to be a hindrance in his way, has distorted the meanings of the verse and has introduced a host of conjectures in its explanation. The foregoing, al-Hamdulillah, is a befitting reply.
The Issue of Termination of Prophethood
That the Holy Prophet ﷺ was the last of the prophets who has sealed and thus terminated prophethood, and that no other prophet is to be appointed after him and every claimant to prophethood is a liar and an infidel are well-settled issues on which there has been complete unanimity and consensus right from the days of the noble companions upto the date. Therefore there was no need for a lengthy discussion on this subject. But the Qadiyani sect has put in a lot of effort to create doubts in the minds of Muslims on this issue; by publishing hundreds of pamphlets and books they have tried to misguide those Muslims who are not well versed in religious knowledge. So this humble author has written a book titled "Khatm-e-Nabuwwat" in which this issue has been fully detailed and clarified in the light of one hundred Qur'anic verses, more than two hundred ahadith and hundreds of dictum of the classic as well as later scholars and learned people; the Qadiyani deception and doubts created thereby have been fully refuted. Some important points from that book are being reproduced here.
The Holy Prophet's ﷺ Being the Last Prophet does not negate the descent of Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) in the last days
It is proved from many verses of the Qur'an and from mutawatir ahadith that in the last days before the doomsday, Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) would come into this world again, kill Dajjal (the Antichrist) and bring all misguidance to an end. The detailed proofs of this fact are given in my Arabic book 'At-tasrih'. Mirza Qadiyani, denying the descent of Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) has proclaimed himself to be the predicted Masih with the reasoning that if reappearance of Sayyidna ` Isa Ibn Maryam (علیہا السلام) who was a prophet of Israelites, is accepted, then it would negate the Holy Prophet's t being the last of the prophets.
The clear reply is that the Holy Prophet's ﷺ being the last prophet means that nobody would be appointed as a prophet after him; it does not imply that somebody who was appointed a prophet earlier would be dismissed from his prophethood or that such a prophet would not be able to return to this world. But, of course, the prophet who returns to this world for the reformation of the Ummah of the Holy Prophet ﷺ while maintaining his prophethood, would carry out the reforms in the Ummah in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، as clarified in authentic ahadith.
Imam Ibn Kathir, in explanation of this verse, has said:
والمراد بکونہ علیہ السّلام خاتمھم انقطاع حدوث وصف النبوّۃ فی احد مّن الثقلین بعد تحلیتہ (علیہ السلام) بھا فی ھٰذِہ النشأۃ ' والمراد بکونہ علیہ السَّلام خاتمھم انقطاع حدوث وصف النبوۃ فی احد مّن الثقلین بعد تحلیتہ (علیہ السلام) بھا فی ھٰذہ النشأۃ، ولا یقدح فی ذٰلِک ما اجمت علیہ الامّۃ واشتھرت فیہ الاخبار ولعلھا بلغت مبلغ التواتر المعنوی و نظق بہ الکتاب علٰی قول و وجب الایمان بہ و اُکفر منکرہ کالفلاسفۃ من نزول عیسٰی (علیہ السلام) آخرالزمان لانَّہ کان نبیِّا قبل ان یحلی نبیّنا ﷺ بالنبوۃ فی ھٰذِہِ النشأۃ .
"The Holy Prophet being the last of the prophets means that the office of prophethood stands terminated after him. No one would get this office after him. But it does not have any effect on the fact of the descent and reappearance of Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) in the last days on which there is a consensus of the whole Ummah and which is proved by a large number of ahadith that are almost mutawatir and by the Qur'an itself according to some interpretations, because he had been given prophethood before the Holy Prophet ﷺ ."
Distortion of the Meaning of Prophethood and invention of new kinds of Prophethood
This claimant of prophethood adopted a new trick to pave the way for his claim by inventing a new kind of prophethood which simply does not exist in Qur'an and Sunnah and neither is there any proof for it, but according to him this new kind of prophethood does not negate the decree of Qur'an regarding the termination of prophethood. Briefly, he has introduced in prophethood the concept of reincarnation, which is well known in Hinduism and other religions. His contention is that if a person is dyed in the color of the Holy Prophet ﷺ ، by virtue of his complete obedience to him and by following his footsteps, his coming to this world is the coming of the Holy Prophet himself; such a person is in fact the shadow and incarnate demonstration of none else but the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Therefore, his claim does not negate the belief in the termination of prophethood after him.
But how can this invented kind of prophethood find its way to Islamic beliefs? There is no proof of it. Besides, the belief in termination of prophethood is a basic belief of Islam and as such it has been so thoroughly clarified by the Holy Prophet ﷺ under different topics at various times that no imposter can distort it. The full details can be seen in this author's book referred to earlier, but only some necessary proofs of this belief are being presented here.
Sahih of Bukhari, Sahih of Muslim and almost all books of Hadith have reported from Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ with authentic chain of narrators that the Holy Prophet ﷺ has said,
ان مثلٰی ومثل الانبیآء من قبلی کمثل رجل بنی بیتاً فاحسنہ واجملہ الاموضع لبنیۃ من زاویۃ فجعل الناس یطوفون بہ ویعجبون لہ ویقولون ھلّا : وضعت ھذہ اللبنۃ ؟ وانا خاتم النبیین رواہ احمد والنسایٔی والترمذی و فی الفاظہ فکنت ان سددت موضع اللبنۃ وختم بی البنیان
"The example of all the prophets before me and of myself is like a man has built a very strong and well decorated house in one corner wall of which space has been left vacant for one brick; people roam about in the home to see it and admire the construction but all of them say that why did not the builder put a brick in that space also which would have completed the construction. I am that last brick (of the palace of prophethood) " and in some versions he said "I have filled up that vacant space and thus completed the palace of prophethood."
The gist of this eloquent simile is that prophethood is like a grand palace composed of Prophets ﷺ . This grand palace was complete in all respects before the Holy Prophet ﷺ except for the placement of one brick. The Holy Prophet ﷺ completed this grand palace by filling up that vacant space for one brick. Now there is no more space for any prophet or messenger. Even if it is supposed that there are other kinds of prophets and messengers, there is just no more space for them in the palace of prophethood.
In another Hadith narrated by Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ reported in Sahihs of Bukhari, Muslim, Musnad of Ahmad, etc., the Holy Prophet ﷺ has said:
کانت بنو اسرایٔل تسوسھم الانبیاء کلّما ھلک نبی خلفہ وانہ لانبی بعدی و ویکون خلفاء فیکثرون (الحدیث)
"The politics and administration of Banu Isra'il was being handled by the prophets themselves. When one prophet expired, another prophet would take his place. And after me there is no prophet, but of course, there would be my khulafa' (caliphs - successors) who would be numerous."
This Hadith has made it clear that there would be no prophet after the Holy Prophet ﷺ and the education and instruction of the Ummah would be carried out by his Khulafa'. The Holy Prophet ﷺ has explicitly and clearly told us that there is no prophethood of any kind after him, otherwise he would have mentioned it in this Hadith where he has mentioned Khulafa'.
Sahibs of Bukhari and Muslim have reported a Hadith narrated by Sayyidna Abu Hurairah
لَم یَبقَ مِن النُّبُوَّۃِ اِلَّا المُبَشِّرَات
"Nothing is left of prophethood except mubashshirat (true dreams ) ".
As reported in Musnad Ahmad, etc., Sayyidah Siddiqah ‘A’ ishah ؓ and Sayyidah Umm Kurz al- K'abiyyah ؓ have stated that the Holy Prophet ﷺ has said:
لا یبقی بعدی من النبوۃ شیء الّا المشرات قالوا : یا رسول اللہ ! والمبشرات ؟ قال : الرؤیا الصّالحۃ یراھا المسلم او تری لہ (طبرانی – کذی ری الکنز)
"Nothing is left of prophethood after me except mubashshirat. The noble companions asked: 0 Holy Prophet ! What is mubashshirat? He replied, 'True dreams that a Muslim sees himself or somebody else sees about him."
This Hadith has so explicitly told that no kind of prophethood, either one with a new law or without it, either Zilli (shadowy) or Buruzi (incarnate), is possible after the Holy Prophet ﷺ ; people would only have mubashshirat (true dreams) through which they would find out a few things.
Musnad of Ahmad and Tirmidhi carry a narration of Sayyidna Anas Ibn Malik ؓ wherein the Holy Prophet ﷺ has said:
إن الرسالۃ والنبوۃ قد انقطعت فلا رسول بعدی ولا نبی (رواہ الترمذی و قال : ھذا حدیث صحیح)
"No doubt risalah (messenger-ship) and nubuwwah (prophethood) stand terminated after me; after me there would neither be a rasul (messenger) nor a Nabi (prophet)
This Hadith has made it clear that prophethood even without a new law is simply not there after the Holy Prophet ﷺ what to say of zilli or buruzi prophethood which are neither any form of prophethood nor are they recognized as such in Islam.
The objective is not to collect here all the ahadith pertaining to the issue of termination of prophethood; more than two hundred ahadith on this subject have been put together in my book "Khatm-e-Nabuwwat". The objective, by quoting a few of them is to advise that the categories of zilli and buruzi prophethood invented by Mirth Qadiyani is without any basis or proof, and moreover the ahadith quoted above have told explicitly that there is no kind of of prophethood whatsoever left to come after the Holy Prophet ﷺ .
That is why, right from the days of the noble companions uptill today, all the schools of Muslim Ummah are unanimous on the belief that there cannot be any kind of Nabi or Rasul after the Holy Prophet ﷺ and whoever claims to be so is a liar and denier of the Qur'an and is a disbeliever. The first general consensus of the noble companions had evolved on this very issue as a result of which a holy war (jihad) was fought with Musaylimah, the liar, the false claimant of prophethood, during the period of the first Khalifah Sayyidna Abu Bakr ؓ in which he (Musailimah) and his followers were killed.
The dictums and clarifications of the past Imams and wise scholars of the Ummah are reproduced in considerable detail in the book "Khatm-e-Nabuwwat", some of them are being copied here also.
Ibn Kathir, in his tafsir, writes under this verse:
اخبر اللہ تعلٰی فی کتابہ و رسولہ اللہ ﷺ فی السنۃ المتواترۃ عنہ أنہ لا نبی بعدہ الیعلموا ان کل من ادعی ھذا المقام بعدہ فھو کذاب افّاک دجّال ضالّ مضل۔ ولو تحرّق و شعبذ واتی بانواع السحرالطلاسم النیرنجیات فکلھا محال و ضلال عند اولی الالباب کما اجری اللہ سُبحَنَہ علی ید الاسود لعنسی بالیمن و مسلِمۃ الکذاب بالیمامۃ من الاحوال لفاسدہ و الاقوال الباردۃ ما علم کُلّ ذی لُبّ وفھم وحجی انھما کاذبان ضالان لعنھما اللہ تعالیٰ وکذلک کہ مدع لذٰلک الی یوم القیامۃ حتّٰی یختموا بالمسیح الدجّال۔ (ابن کثیر)
"Allah Ta’ ala in this Book and the Holy Prophet ﷺ in successive ahadith has informed that there is no Nabi after the Holy Prophet ﷺ so that people should know that whoever claims to be a prophet after him is a liar, a cheat, an imposter, a deviator who misguides others, no matter how many conjuring tricks he shows, magic spells he binds or talismanic wonders and sorceries he performs which are, in fact, sheer fallacies recognized as such by the people who have knowledge and understanding. Allah Ta’ ala had let such perverse acts and utterances manifested at the hands of Aswad Al-'Ansi (claimant of prophethood) in Yemen and Musaylimah, the liar, (another claimant of prophethood) in Yamamah in a way that every intelligent and comprehending person, after hearing and seeing them, knew that both of them were liars and misguided. May Allah curse them. In the same way anyone who claims to be a prophet upto the Doomsday is a liar and an infidel and this stream of claimants of prophethood would end at Dajjal, the Anti-Christ."
Imam Ghazzali, while explaining the above mentioned verse and discussing the belief in the termination of prophethood, has observed in his book 'Al-Iqtisad fil I'tiqad' as follows,
و لیس فیہ تاویل ولا تخصیص ومن اَوَّلَہُ یتخصیص فکلامہ من الھذیان لا یمنع الحکم بتکفیرہ لاَّنہ مکذّبُ لھذا النص الذی اجمعت الامۃ علٰی انہ غیر مإوّل ولا مخصوص۔
"The entire Ummah has unanimously understood from these words and from circumstantial evidences that there will never be a prophet after him ever, nor will ever come a messenger of Allah. These words (of the verse) can neither be interpreted in any other sense, nor can their generality be restricted."
Qadi ` Iyad in his book 'Ash-shifa', after declaring that a person who claims to prophethood after the Holy Prophet ﷺ is a liar and an infidel who does not believe in this verse, has observed as follows:
واجمعت الامۃ علیٰ حمل ھذا الکلام علیٰ ظاھرہ وانّ مفھومہ المراد بہ دون تاویل ولا تخصیص فلا شک فی کفر ھٰؤلاء الطوایٔف کلھا قطعاً اجماعاً وسمعاً
"The Ummah holds by consensus that this discourse bears the obvious meaning and that this verse means what it says, without any other interpretation or any exception. Therefore, there is no doubt in the kufr (infidelity) of all those sects (who follow any claim out of prophethood) rather their kufr stands absolutely proved in view of the consensus of the Ummah and the express texts of the Qur'an and Sunnah.
