The Prophethood of the Prophet of Islam was the Seal (khatam) of Prophethood, just as the divine law he brought placed the seal of finality upon all divine laws, and the Revelation that came through him was the seal of all previous revelations. In other words, after him no more Prophets will arise, and the law established by him will prevail until the Day of Resurrection. That is, there will be no further revealed laws; hence all claims to revealed status for any subsequent Law are null and void.
The question of finality has been clearly expounded in Qur'anic verses and hadiths, and cannot be refuted. We allude to some of these below.
Muhammad is not the father of [any] one of your men, but [he is] the Messenger of Allah and last of the prophets. And ever is Allah, of all things, Knowing.(Sura al-Ahzab, 33:40)
Here, the word for 'seal', khatam, means literally a ring; for at the time of the Revelation, the stamp or sign of individuals was communicated by the carved stone in a ring. They would use these rings to seal their letters, indicating thereby that they had come to the end of the letter. Taking this into account, the import of the verse quoted above becomes clearer: with the advent of the Prophet of lslam, the 'scroll' of prophethood and prophecy has received its terminal seal, and the 'book' of prophetic revelation is brought to an end.
Here, the word for 'seal', khatam, means literally a ring; for at the time of the Revelation, the stamp or sign of individuals was communicated by the carved stone in a ring. They would use these rings to seal their letters, indicating thereby that they had come to the end of the letter. Taking this into account, the import of the verse quoted above becomes clearer: with the advent of the Prophet of lslam, the 'scroll' of prophethood and prophecy has received its terminal seal, and the 'book' of prophetic revelation is brought to an end.
Insofar as the risala (the divine message) means the disseminating and receiving of messages by means of revelation, it is clear that the end of prophethood also means, ipso facto, the end of the sending [by God] of divine messages. [1]
Amongst the various hadiths on this subject, it suffices to note the one referred to as Hadith al-Manzila ('the [Spiritual] Rank'). The Holy Prophet appointed 'Ali as his representative in Medina before leaving for the battle of Tabuk; he said to him:
'Are you not happy that your station in regard to me is that of Aaron in regard to Moses, except that there is no Prophet after me?'[2]
Apart from this hadith-regarded as mutawatir [3] -many other equally strong hadiths have been recorded on the question of the finality of prophethood with the Prophet of Islam.
1. The verses relating to finality are not restricted to what has been cited here; there are six other types of proof-text in the Qur'an on this point. SeeJa'far Sobhani, Mafahim al-Qur'iin, vol. 3, pp. 130-9.
2. al-Bukhari, $ahih,, vol. 3, pp. 54, 58; Muslim b. al-hajaj al-Qushayri, $ahih, (Cairo, n.d.), vol. 2, p. 323 and vol. 4, pp~ 1375, 1871; Shaykh Saduq, Amali (Beirut, 1400/1979) pp. 28, 47, 81; al-Majlisi, Bihar al¬anwar, vol. 37, pp. 254-89; Muhammad b.'Isa al-Tirmidhi, Sunan (Beirut, n.d.) vol. 2, p. 301; Ibn Hisham, Sira, vol. 4, p. 162; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 1 , p. 1 7 4.
3. In the science of Hadith, mutawatir signifies the highest degree of authenticity that can be bestowed upon a saying of the Prophet, a saying which is confirmed by multiple chains of transmission.
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