Who really denies Khatam an-Nabiyyin?

Picture a court case. One side says, “They do not believe in the finality of prophethood.” The other side says, “We do believe in it, and far more deeply than you.” What will the judge do? He will hear both sides, and then see whose belief truly fits the verse.

That is what we will do in this article. Calmly, and with evidence.

What Ahmadi Muslims themselves say

To learn what anyone believes, you have to hear it from their own mouth. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah (as), wrote: our firm belief, with which we live and with which, by the grace of Allah, we will leave this world, is that our leader and master Muhammad Mustafa (sa) is Khatam an-Nabiyyin and Khair al-Mursalin, the best of messengers. Through him the religion was perfected (Izala-e-Auham, Ruhani Khazain vol. 3, pp. 169–170).

He also wrote that the charge against us, that we do not accept the Holy Prophet (sa) as Khatam an-Nabiyyin, is a great and false accusation. The strength, certainty and deep understanding with which we accept him as Khatam an-Nabiyyin is a hundred thousand times firmer than the belief of others; they have only received a word from their forefathers and have not understood its deep meaning (Malfuzat, vol. 1, pp. 227–228).

Anyone who wishes to join the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has to come in by declaring this belief.

Testing both meanings

The opposing scholars say that Khatam an-Nabiyyin means the whole line of prophets has ended. Fine. Let us test this meaning in two ways.

The first test: the physical sense. If it means that with the coming of the Holy Prophet (sa) the lifetimes of all earlier prophets ended, Ahmadi Muslims accept that completely. We believe that all the prophets before him have died. But the opposing scholars say that one prophet, Hazrat Jesus (as), is still alive in heaven today. So “all have ended” does not hold up even in their own belief.

The second test: the spiritual sense. If it means that with the coming of the Holy Prophet (sa) the stream of blessing from the earlier prophets has stopped, and now all blessing comes only through him, Ahmadi Muslims accept that too. But the opposing scholars say that in the last days, to save the Ummah, Jesus (as), a prophet of the Children of Israel, has to come from outside.

The Quran tells us that Jesus (as) was a messenger to one particular people:

The Promised Messiah (as) wrote that the spiritual influence of the Holy Prophet (sa) will last until the Day of Judgement; therefore this Ummah has no need for a Messiah to come from outside; through his blessing even an ordinary man can become the Messiah, as Allah has done in my case (Chashma-e-Masihi, Ruhani Khazain vol. 20, p. 389).

The yardstick of a great saint

Hazrat Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlawi (rh), the Mujaddid of the twelfth century of the Hijrah, wrote: after the Holy Prophet (sa) there cannot be a prophet who receives Allah’s blessing independently, without him as the means (Al-Khair al-Kathir, p. 78).

Now place this yardstick on the two beliefs. Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IV (rh) pointed out that Jesus (as) received his prophethood long before the Holy Prophet (sa), without him as the means. He studied the Torah and the Gospel, not the Quran. If he comes back, will he sit with some scholar to learn the Quran and hadith? Or will he receive revelation directly? Either way, he is a prophet who did not receive prophethood through the Holy Prophet (sa).

On the other hand, the one whom Ahmadi Muslims accept as the Promised Messiah was born in this very Ummah and received his rank as the fruit of complete obedience to the Holy Prophet (sa). Which belief passes Shah Waliullah’s (rh) test? Let the reader judge.

Questions people ask

Won’t Jesus (as) come back not as a prophet but as an ordinary member of the Ummah?

Many scholars give this answer. Let us see what the hadith says. In Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Fitan, in the chapter on the Dajjal, in the long narration of Hazrat Nawwas bin Sam‘an (ra), the Holy Prophet (sa) calls the Messiah of the last days Nabiyyullah Isa, Jesus the Prophet of Allah, four times. It also says that Allah will send revelation to Jesus.

So the one who comes will be a prophet. The only question is this: is he a prophet from outside, from the Children of Israel, or from the Ummah of the Holy Prophet (sa), as his follower?

Jesus (as) is an old prophet; isn’t the ban only on a new prophet?

The verse has no word for “new” or “old”. If Khatam an-Nabiyyin means that the door to every kind of prophethood is shut, then it is shut for an old prophet too. And if the door is open for an old prophet, then we have to admit that the verse has not stopped every prophet from coming. Ahmadi Muslims say the door is open in only one way: by being an ummati of the Holy Prophet (sa).

Ahmadi Muslims accept Hazrat Mirza sahib as a prophet. Isn’t that itself the denial?

The Promised Messiah (as) himself explained this: the Holy Prophet (sa) is called Khatam an-Nabiyyin because all the qualities of prophethood reached their peak in him, and after him no law-bearing prophet, and no prophet from outside his Ummah, can come; whoever is honoured with divine converse receives it only through him, and he is an ummati prophet, not an independent prophet (Tatimma Chashma-e-Ma‘rifat, Ruhani Khazain vol. 23, p. 380).

A prophethood that is born from obedience to the Holy Prophet (sa) does not break his seal; it bears witness to it. So the answer is clear: the clash with the finality of prophethood lies in the belief that brings in a prophet from outside and makes this Ummah dependent on him.