Its refreshing to see someone actually express themselves in a sensible manner. Whereas most posters have an unreasonably hostile and acusatory attitude towards this subject, the tone of your post encourages fruitful discourse. It is a mutually understood fact that we disagree on the subject but that doesn't mean we, as educated people, can't talk about it without hostility and confrontation.
I had once raised a few questions for Ahmedis on a thread..., no one answered my question at that time..., since there seem to be some pretty active ahmedis participating on this thread I am hoping some1 can answer my question.
Surah-Al-Ahzab Ayat 40
"Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Apostle of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets(Khatem-on-Nabeein): and Allah has full knowledge of all things."
One should understand that khatam-un-nabiyeen is being used as praise. Otherwise what does not being the father of any man have to do with being khatam-un-nabiyeen. The word 'but' also confirms this. In the Arab world, it was considered an honour to have many sons while daughters were considered an insult. Allah is saying in this verse that even though the Holy Prophet (saw) is not the father of any man, yet he is rasool-ullah and as such a spiritual father of all muslims. Not only this, but he is Khatam-un-nabiyeen meaning that he is also the best of all the prophets. If the meaning of khatam-un-nabiyeen is to be taken as the last then what honour is there in being last in a line of prophets.
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The word Khatam has two meanings
1) Khatam means the end of something,termination.
2) Khatam also means completion/conclusion/consumation/perfected.
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Khatam also means seal, which is used to certify the authenticity of a document. It should also be noted that the meaning of any word is that which is in everyday use by the speakers of that language. In other words, what did the Arabs understand the word to mean. In that regard, the word khatam has been used by Arabs for many different personalities from before the time of the Holy Prophet(saw) to long after him. People have been referred to as khatam-u-shoara, khatam-ul-muhadiseen etc. etc. Moreover, we find instances of the word's use by none other than the Holy Prophet(saw) on different occasions. All these points should be taken into account in order to understand the meaning of the word khatam. I can provide detailed references to all the points mentioned above.
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this raises 3 possibilities..,
1) only the first meaning was intended in the Ayat.
2) only the second meaning was intended in the Ayat.
3) both the first & second meaning were intended simultaneously in this ayat.
Muslim ummah interprets that both meanings were intended simultaneously(this is how this word is used most of the times)..., the Ahmediyaa belief is that only the second meaning was intended...
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First we have to establish the meaning of the word khatam and then we can move on to the belief of Ahmadis in regard to the meaning. I will mention that Ahmadis believe in all the meanings of Khatam-un-nabiyeen, that are supported by the Qura'an, Sunnah, Hadith, and the use of Arabs.
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The argument I want to put forward is that believing in the second meaning in absolute sense in this context of Nabowat & Wahi logically entails the first meaning
Please consider these
1) Allah's Hidayat/Noor/Nabowat was perfected & reached its climax in the person of our Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad PBUH in the form of Quran
2) The integrity of Quran is protected from all concoctions, fabrications till eternity
3) Deen has been perfected/culminated on our Holy Prophet & our holy prophet successfully established a society/state in Medina based on the true deen in a single life-span .
4) The greatness of Humanity has been perfected in the person of our Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad PBUH meaning there can be no greater human being after our Holy Prophet Muhammad PBUH
5) The Risalat of our Holy prophet PBUH is global/eternal for all people till Qayamat & not limited to any time-space constraints.
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Agreed.
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If one believes on all of the above then there remains no rational justification for the continuation of the institution of Naboowat & Wahi. Because it would Na-Aaozobillah , Na-Aaozobillah mean
1) Allah's Hidayat/Noor/Nabowat has NOT been perfected on our Holy Prophet PBUH in the form of Quran OR
2) The integrity of Quran is NOT protected from all concoctions, fabrications till eternity OR
3) Deen has NOT been perfected/culminated on our Holy Prophet OR
4) There remains a possibility of any human being capable of reaching the greatness of our holy prophet OR
5) The Risalat of our Holy prophet PBUH is either NOT Global OR is time-bound OR
6) Allah acts without purpose.
There will be different people who would reach different levels of spirituality & different degree of 'Qurb-e-Illahi'... , there will be Aulia/Wali-Allah..., however there is not a quantitative but a qualitative difference between them & Ambia-e-Karam.. between the highest spiritual experience & Wahi..., The sole purpose of Allah's Wahi is Hidaya & after consummation of Allah's Hidaya & Allah himself taking responsibility for its protection sending other Nabis & Wahi would be purposeless..., & Allah does not act without purpose.
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There would be no rational justification for the continuation of nabuwwat that negated any of the points you noted. If the Qura'an and Hadith both allow the coming of a prophet then we can't close the door that Allah and His messenger(saw) didn't close.
Here i would like to draw your attention to the need for nabuwwat. The Holy Prophet(saw) fortold the decline of his Ummah and its revival by Imam Mahdi and Jesus son of Mary. The state of the Ummah in our time is a testament to the truth of our Holy Prophet(saw). Despite all five of your points being true and correct, muslims have declined and gone astray. There is no unity and no sense of direction present.
There is a fine point here that the preservation of the message is guaranteed but the preservation of the society established by the Holy Prophet(saw) in Madina is not guaranteed. On the contrary, its deterioration is prophesized and the reason cited for that deterioration is the gradual move of the muslims away from the teachings of Islam.
Now if the correctness of your five points meant that muslims would not move away from the perfect teaching and thus would not need a reformer then it would be correct that we don't need a prophet, new or old. On the other hand, if it was known by Allah, the all knowing, that there would be a need for a prophet but still closed the door of nabuwwat then that would be cruel. An analogy can be made with the need for water. If it was known that after a certain time, there would be no need for water then it is perfectly fine to eliminate water after that point is reached. But if the thirst for water was there, and still the tap was closed then it would be cruelty.
We know from authentic ahadith that Imam Mahdi and Jesus son of Mary were going to apear after the Holy Prophet(saw). The question is why? If the message is complete and Allah has guaranteed its protection, then why do we need a prophet at all, new or old? If we analyze the non-ahmadi view on this we reach the following conclusion. Allah knew that there was going to be need for a prophet after the Holy Prophet (saw) but had decided to make the Holy Prophet(saw) the last prophet, so He decided to take an earlier prophet alive to the heaven so that he can be brought back at some time in the future thus bypassing khatamiyyat-e-Mohammadi (saw).
The ahmadi view is that the Jesus mentioned in the ahadith is actually a person from the ummah of the Holy Prophet(saw) who would have the qualities of Jesus, the reason he is metaphorically called Jesus. We base this view on the fact that Jesus son of mary has died a natural death as mentioned by the Qura'an. It is indeed iluminating to find the mention of the death of Jesus, in the Qura'an, more often than of any other human. When we look at the Qura'an and Hadith at the same time, we find that Jesus is going to come sometime in the future but also that the Jesus has died. Thus we have no choice but to take the hadith's reference to the readvent of Jesus as a metaphore.
It is a different issue that the coming of a prophet who is a subordinate of the Holy Prophet Mohammad(saw) doesn't in any way contradict khatmiyyat-e-Mohamadi(saw). The post has already gotten very long so i'll wait for your response. I am ready to lay out detailed proof and refernce for all the points made in the post when i have time.