Finality of Holy Prophet (PBUH)
Allah sent various messengers for the guidance of the people of different communities at different periods. This chain of sending Prophets started with Adam (father of all humans) and ended with Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The finality of prophethood has been a highly debatable topic in the previous few decades. Islamophobia led to various misleading interpretations of Islamic texts which find no validation in the Quran and Sunnah.
Chain of Prophets completed:
In this blog, I will try to enlighten your mind with the clarity of this topic from the Quran and Sunnah. We Muslims believe in all the prophets sent by Allah on the surface of Earth for the guidance of Mankind. It is the part and parcel of a Muslim belief to consider the prophethood of all the prophets valid at that time. But, later on, people changed their interpretation of the early messages of God and interpretations of the holy texts. Now, they are not in the original version therefore we must not follow the man-made message.
The last messenger of Allah, Muhammad (PBUH) fully delivered the message of Allah, and the chain of Prophets completed on Holy Prophet (PBUH). Allah revealed this Quranic verse :
“ Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but is the Messenger of Allah and the seal of the prophets. And Allah has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of all things”.
Now all prophecy claims are wrong:
From that very day, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) announced that He is the Prophet of Allah to the people of Arab, his words were: Allah is one and I am the last Prophet of Allah. No other Prophet announced being the last one. In the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, there are indications that some other Prophet will come and guide people but Holy Quran declares the completion of the chain of messengers.
“Today I have perfected your faith for you, completed My favor upon you, and chosen Islam as your way. But whoever is compelled by extreme hunger—not intending to sin—then surely Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful”.
Analyzing The Roles:
It is a question that why Holy Prophet (PBUH) is the last prophet of Allah and no other prophet will come for the guidance of mankind. To answer this question, we need to thoroughly analyze the role of a messenger and how Muhammad (PBUH) accomplished all the roles, and now no need for any other messenger.
1. Prophets guide people about the message of Allah and people cannot get this guidance in any other way therefore they need a Holy text and a chosen person of Allah for interpretation of Holy texts.
2. Prophets tell the people about unseen aspects of religion. The miracles, guidance about life after death, the day of Judgement, etc.
3. Prophets also guide people about the presence of God, salvation, what is the role of man on the earth, why the Universe was created, what pleases God, etc.
4. Prophets guide people about the way of living according to the guidance of Allah. Prophets came to give a practical model for human beings as well. They struggled for justice in the communities. They fought the battle of good and bad.
The Message (Quran) Protected by Allah:
Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) accomplished all the roles of the prophet. Allah preserved the message of the Quran and took the responsibility of protecting of Quran by himself. Travel and communication increased in the 7th century and preaching of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was not restricted to the people of Arab but was the whole world getting light of faith. Quran is a preserved text protected by Allah Almighty himself. Moreover, there is no space for changing the text or loss of the Holy text as happened to early holy books.
Over time, humanity became mature enough to understand the universal message. Every prophet used to carry the same basic message with some modifications but it was time to get a unifying message.
All these can be reasons for the finality of prophethood but it is Allah who decides every action and He selects the best time for the action. We cannot think of the reason why he finalized the prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH) but the above-given supporting reasons convince the human mind that Allah sent Muhammad as the messenger of Allah.
