What does “Khatam an-Nabiyyin” really mean?

One day in Madinah, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) wanted to send letters to several non-Arab rulers. His companions told him that those kings would not accept a letter unless it carried a seal. So he had a silver ring made, and on it were engraved the words Muhammad Rasulullah.

Hazrat Anas (ra) used to say that he could still see the gleam of that ring before his eyes (Sahih Bukhari, Kitab al-Libas, Hadith 5872). In the hadith, this ring is called a khatam.

It is with this very word that the Quran honours the Holy Prophet (sa):

One small vowel makes the difference

In Arabic, the word can be read in two ways. Khatim (with a kasra under the ta) means one who ends something, or one who stamps a seal. Khatam (with a fatha over the ta) means a seal, or a signet ring used to make the stamp.

In this verse of the Quran, the word comes with a fatha: khatam. Famous dictionaries such as Taj al-Arus, Lisan al-Arab and al-Qamus give the root meaning of khatam as a seal. That is why the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community translates the verse as “the Seal of the Prophets”.

What does a seal do?

A seal makes a letter authentic. When you see the seal, you know the letter is genuine and that it truly came from the person named.

The Holy Prophet (sa) is the Seal of the Prophets in exactly this sense. He bore witness to the truth of every prophet who came to every corner of the world. The Quran taught Muslims to believe in all of Allah’s messengers. Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IV (rh) once asked: which other prophet declared the truth of all the prophets outside his own people? You will not find a single one. This seal of confirmation is in the hand of Muhammad (sa) alone.

And if anyone in the future is given a rank by Allah, he must come carrying the confirmation of this seal, as a follower of the Holy Prophet (sa).

“Khatam” means the best

Arabic has another well-known usage. When khatam is joined to the name of a group, it usually means the best member of that group. Here are a few examples.

The poet Hasan bin Wahab called the famous poet Abu Tammam Khatam ash-Shu‘ara, the khatam of poets (Wafayat al-A‘yan, Ibn Khallikan, vol. 1, p. 123). Abu Tammam was not the last poet. Countless poets came after him.

Hazrat Ali (ra) has been called Khatam al-Awliya (Tafsir Safi, under verse 41 of Surah Al-Ahzab). Did no saint come after him? Of course they did.

The Holy Prophet (sa) himself called his uncle Hazrat Abbas (ra) Khatam al-Muhajirin (Kanz al-Ummal, vol. 6, p. 178). Yet many people emigrated after him.

The renowned commentator Imam Fakhruddin Razi (rh) wrote that the word khatam must mean the most excellent; by calling the Holy Prophet (sa) Khataman Nabiyyin, the verse is really calling him the greatest of the prophets (Tafsir Kabir, vol. 6, p. 31).

There is no conflict between these two meanings. The one who is the seal of the prophets is naturally the best of the prophets.

So is the meaning “last” completely wrong?

No. Ahmadi Muslims believe that the Holy Prophet (sa) is the last prophet in terms of law. No new law will come after the Quran, and no prophet will come to cancel his law.

Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II (ra) pointed to another beautiful aspect in Tafsir-e-Saghir. On the night of the Mi‘raj, the Holy Prophet (sa) met one prophet in each heaven, and he himself rose above them all. Looking up from the earth, you would see Adam (as) first, and Muhammad (sa) last of all. In this sense he is the last, because in rank he is above everyone (Tafsir-e-Saghir, p. 551).

So the word khatam is not the last box on a timeline. It is a seal, a crown. This word does not stand the Holy Prophet (sa) at the end of the line of prophets; it places him above the heads of them all.

Questions people ask

“Khatam ash-Shu‘ara” is a title given by people. Can we measure a word of the Quran that way?

That is a fair question. So let us see how the Holy Prophet (sa) himself used the word. We have already seen that in the hadith his ring is called a khatam, and it was a seal of confirmation (Sahih Bukhari, Hadith 5872). He himself called his uncle Abbas (ra) “Khatam al-Muhajirin”, yet emigration did not stop after him. The most reliable way to understand the language of the Quran is the usage of the Holy Prophet (sa) himself. And there, the word is used in the sense of a seal and of excellence.

But there is a hadith that says “the prophets were sealed through me”. What about that?

In Sahih Muslim, in Kitab al-Masajid, there is a hadith in which the Holy Prophet (sa) mentions six special honours given to him. One of them is khutima biyan-nabiyyun. Its meaning is that the line of prophets was sealed, or authenticated, through him. Notice that it appears in a list of excellences. Simply coming last in time is no excellence; the excellence is to be the one who confirms every prophet, and to receive a law that will never be cancelled.

How can one word have two meanings, “seal” and “best”, at the same time?

The answer is simple. The root meaning is “seal”; and when the word is joined to a group, the normal usage of the language gives the meaning “the best of that group”. The second meaning grows out of the first: the one who is the seal confirming everyone is naturally the best of them all. So the two meanings do not clash; each completes the other.