Claim of the Promised Messiah

One notion that is put forward is that
by claiming to be a prophet, the
Promised Messiah, peace be on him,
put himself outside the pale of Islam
inasmuch as his claim was
inconsistent with the verse of the Holy
Quran which describes the Holy
Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah
be on him, as Khataman Naibiyyeen
(33:41)

It should be clearly grasped that the
Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement
has certainly not claimed to be a
prophet in accordance with the
concept of prophethood which is
entertained by some of the Muslim
divines and is commonly current
among Muslims. It is considered that a
prophet is one who brings a new law
or is not the Follower of a previous
prophet, but is a prophet in his own
right.

The Promised Messiah, peace be on
him, has clearly and emphatically
denied being such a prophet. For
instance he has said:

All prophethoods, except the
Mohammedi prophethood, are now
closed. No prophet can arise even
without a law but only one who is a
follower of the Holy Prophet. (Tajalliat
Ilahiyah p 25)

He has repeatedly announced that he
is not a law-bearing prophet and that
he is a follower of the Holy Quran. He
has disclaimed being a prophet in his
own right and his claim is confined to
being the Mahdi and the Messiah. He
affirms his being a servant of the Holy
Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him, and his follower and
that all grace bestowed upon him is
on account of his devotion to the Holy
Prophet and that he has been raised
in accordance with the prophecies
and promises of the Holy Prophet. For
instance, he has said:

It is not permissible to apply the title
prophet to anyone after the Holy
Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him, unless such a person is
also described as a follower of the
Holy Prophet, which means that he
has been bestowed all bounties on
account of his devotion to the Holy
Prophet and not directly on his own.
(Tajalliat Ilahiyyah p 9)

Again, he has said:

I cannot acquire any degree of honor
or excellence, nor any station of
exaltation or nearness to God except
through sincere and perfect
obedience to the Holy Prophet, peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him,
Whatever is bestowed upon me is by
way of reflection of, and through, the
Holy Prophet. (Izlah Auham p 138)

He has declared:

All windows opening on to
prophethood have been closed
except the window accessible to a
siddique, that is to say, the window of
complete and perfect devotion to the
Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of
Allah be on him. (Ek Ghalati Ka Izalah p 3)

Again, he has declared:

By the pure grace of God and not by
any merit of my own, I have been
bestowed a perfect portion of the
bounty which was bestowed before
me on the Prophets and Messengers
and the elect of God. It would not
have been possible for me to be
bestowed this bounty unless I had
followed my lord and master, the
pride of the prophets, the best of
mankind, Hazrat Mohammed Mustafa, peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him. Whatever I have been bestowed
has been bestowed upon me on
account of this obedience. I know
through my true and perfect
knowledge that no human being can
approach God or acquire perfect
understanding of the Divine except
through following the Holy Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him. (Haqeeqatul Wahi p 62)

Again, he has declared:

God, Who was aware of the secret of
the heart of the Holy Prophet,exalted
him above all the Prophets and all
mankind who were before him or
might come after him and granted
him all his objectives in his lifetime. He
is the fountainhead of all grace and
anyone who claims any excellence
without confessing his obligation to
him is not a human being but is
progeny of Satan, for the key of every
excellence has been bestowed upon
him and the treasure of all
understanding has been granted to
him. He who does not achieve
through him is deprived forever. What
am I and what is my reality? I would
be ungrateful if I were not to confess
that I have discovered the true Unity
of God only through the Holy Prophet,
and have been bestowed the
understanding of God only through
this perfect Prophet and through his
light. (Haqeeqatul Wahi p 115)

It is thus clear beyond doubt that the
Promised Messiah, peace be on him,
did not consider himself a prophet in
his own right, but believed that God
Almighty had bestowed upon him the
title of prophet for the purpose of
establishing the perfect law brought
by the Holy Prophet, in his capacity as
his follower and servant and that he
was not given any new law.

Only a day before his death he made
the following public declaration:

The charge leveled against me that I
claim to be a prophet who has no
connection with Islam and that I
consider myself a prophet in my own
right, who has no need of following
the Holy Quran, and that I have
proclaimed my own credo, and have
established a new qibla, and declare
the Islamic law as abrogated, and go
outside the following of and
obedience to the Holy Prophet, peace
and blessings of Allah be on him, is
wholly false. I consider such a claim of
prophethood as amounting to
disbelief. Not only today but in every
one of my books I have affirmed that
I lay no claim to any such
prophethood and that this is a false
allegation against me. The only
reason that I call myself a prophet is
that I am honored with the converse
of God Almighty and that He speaks
to me frequently and responds to me
and discloses much of the unseen to
me and communicates to me the
mysteries of the future such that are
not disclosed to anyone unless he
enjoys special nearness to God. It is
on account of the multiplicity of these
experiences that I have been made a
prophet. (Akhbare Aam 26 May
1908)

He has stated:

Had I not been a follower of the Holy
Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him, and had not obeyed
him, then even if my good deeds had
reached the tops of mountains, I
would not have been honored with
the converse of God inasmuch as all
prophethoods except the
Muhammadi prophethood have come
to an and.(Tajalliat Ilahiyah p 24)

The type of prophethood claimed by
the Promised Messiah(as), is mentioned in the ahadees and
in the writings of righteous Muslim
divines of the past. The Holy Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him, has described the Promised
Reformer who would appear among
the Muslims as Allah's prophet and
has repeated this four times (Muslim).

According to the bulk of Muslims
today, Jesus, who, according to them
is alive in heaven with his earthly
body, will come back again for the
reform of Muslims. Assuming for a
moment that this concept is justified,
the question arises whether during
his second advent he would be a
prophet or not, for it is an accepted
doctrine that a prophet is never
deprived of his prophethood. If by his
advent the Seal of Prophethood of the
Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him, would not be
broken, then how is it broken by the
claim of the Promised Messiah, peace
be on him, that he is a prophet by
way of reflection of the Holy Prophet'

Indeed, the advent of Jesus who was
a prophet in Israel for the purpose of
the reform of the Muslims is a
humiliation for the Muslims and is
contrary to the purport of the verse
that describes the Holy Prophet as
Khataman Nabiyeen (33:41). In this
context, the Promised Messiah has
observed:

If it is asked that the Holy Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, being Khataman Nabiyeen, how
can any other prophet arise after him,
the answer is that without a doubt no
new or old prophet can come after
the Holy Prophet as you believe that
Jesus, being a prophet, would come
in the latter days. Your doctrine is that
for forty years Jesus would continue
to be a prophet and a recipient of
divine revelation, a period that by far
exceeds the period of the
prophethood of the Holy Prophet.

Such a doctrine is, no doubt, sinful
and its falsity is borne witness to by
the verse: 'But he is the Messenger of
Allah and Khataman Nabiyeen'
(33:41); and by the hadees: 'There
will be no prophet after me.' I am
utterly opposed to all such doctrines
and I have firm belief in the verse: 'But
he is the Messenger of Allah and
Khataman Nabiyeen' (33:41).
This
verse contains a prophecy of which
our opponents are not aware, and
that prophecy is that after the Holy
Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him, all doors of prophecy
have been closed and that it is not
possible now that a Hindu, or a Jew,
or a Christian, or a merely formal
Muslim, should be able to establish
the applicability of the word prophet
to himself. All windows of
prophethood are now closed except
the window of complete obedience to
the Holy Prophet. Therefore, he who
approaches God through this
window is reflectively clothed with
the same cloak of prophethood
which is the cloak of the Muhammadi
prophethood. The prophethood of
such a one is not apart and distinct
from the prophethood of the Holy
Prophet, inasmuch as he does not
claim it in his own right but receives
everything from the fountain of the
Holy Prophet, not for himself but for
his glory. For this reason he is named
Mohammed and Ahmad in heaven.

This means that the prophethood of
Mohammed is bestowed upon
Mohammed by way of reflection and
not upon anyone else. This verse,
therefore, means that Mohammed is
not the father of any man from
amongst the men of the world but is
the father of the men of the hereafter
because he is the Khataman Nabiyeen
and there is no way of access to
Divine grace except through him.
Thus my prophethood and
messengership derives from my
being Mohammed and Ahmad and
not on account of my own self. These
names have been bestowed upon me
on account of my utter devotion to
the Holy Prophet. Therefore, the
concept of Khataman Nabiyeen has
not been contravened by my advent,
but it would certainly be contravened
by the advent of Jesus a second time.
(Ek GhalatiKa Izalah)

He has also stated:

Many people are misled by the use of
the word prophet in my claim and
imagine as if I have claimed a
prophethood which was bestowed
upon the prophets in earlier times,
but they arc mistaken in so thinking. I
have made no such claim. The Divine
wisdom has bestowed this grace
upon me that I have raised to the
station of prophethood through the
blessings of the grace of the Holy
Prophet, so that the perfection of the
spiritual grace of the Holy Prophet,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him, might be established. Therefore,
I cannot be designated only as
prophet but as a prophet and a
follower of the Holy Prophet at one
and the same time. My prophethood is
a reflection of the prophethood of the
Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him, and is not a
prophethood in its own right. That is
why, both in the hadees and in my
revelation, as I have been called a
prophet, I have also been called a
follower of the Holy Prophet so that it
should be clear that every excellence
that has been bestowed upon me has
been bestowed through my following
the Holy Prophet and through my
obedience to him.(Haqeeqatul Wahi
p 150)

Then he has said:

God is One and Mohammed, on whom
be the peace and blessings of Allah, is
His Prophet and he is the Khatamul
Anbya and above all other prophets.
After him there is no other prophet
except one who is clothed in the
cloak of Mohammed by way of
reflection, for a servant has no
identity apart from his master, nor is a
branch distinct from its trunk. He who
is bestowed the title of prophet on
account of his complete absorption in
his master does not contravene the
Khatam-iNabuwat. When you observe
your reflection in a mirror there are
not two of you but only one, though
there appear two; only one is the
original and the other is his reflection.
This is what God desired in the case of
the Promised Messiah. (Kishti Nuh p
15)

All these writings make it clear that
according to the Promised Messiah,
peace be on him, after the Holy
Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah
be on him, it is only the door of
reflective prophethood which is open
to a true and devoted follower of the
Holy Prophet. Being a reflection of the
Holy Prophet, he deemed himself as
included in the identity of the Holy
Prophet and claimed no separate and
distinct position for himself. It must be
remembered that the Promised
Messiah, peace be on him, did not in
any way claim to be law-bearing
prophet or has claimed to be a
prophet in his own right. He has
categorically stated:

Keep well in mind that the door of
law-bearing prophethood is firmly
closed after the Holy Prophet and that
there is no book after the Holy Quran
which can bring new commandments
or can abrogate any commandment
of the Holy Quran or can suspend
obedience to it. The Holy Quran is
binding till the Day of judgment. (Al-
Wasiyyat P 12)

Again, he has said:

God is the enemy of him who regards
the Holy Quran as abrogated and acts
contrary to the law of Islam and seeks
to bring into operation his own law.
(Chashmah Maarifat, P.324)

He has affirmed:

I am a prophet, but my prophethood
is not law-bearing which would
abrogate the Book of Allah and put
into effect a new book. I consider
such a claim as amounting to disbelief
in Islam.
(Badar, 5 March 1908)

He has declared:

I have repeatedly affirmed that the
truth and reality is that our lord and
master, the Holy Prophet,peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is the
Khatamul Anbya and after his there is
no prophethood in its own right nor
any new law. Anyone who claims
differently is, without a doubt,
faithless and rejected.
(Chashmah,Maarifat, P. 324)

In view of all these declarations, no
God-fearing, just person dare assert
that the Promised Messiah, peace be
on him, claimed to be a law-bearing
prophet or a prophet in his own right.