Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 53
THE RENAISSANCE OF ISLAM 53 Prophet, peace be on him, the prophethoods of all other prophets were in operation. For instance, a follower of Moses, who believeci in Moses and. the prophets who were raised in Bani Israel after Moses, was not under any obliga- tion to believe, for instance, in Zoroaster or Krishna, or any other prophet. In the same way a follower of Zoroaster was not called upon to believe in Moses or Jesus. A Christian was not under obligation to believe in Zoroaster or Krishna or Buddha. The prophethoods of these prophets remained cur- rent and alive among their respective peoples; but with the advent of the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, all those prophethoods were terminated and it became obligatory upon everyone to believe in the Holy Prophet and in all the other prophets who had appeared before him. Thus he auth- enticated with his Seal the prophethood of all previous pro- phets, and would authenticate the prophethood of any pro- phet that God might raise among his followers. There would, henceforth, be no prophet who was not his subordinate and follower and did not bear his Seal. The expression the Seal of the Prophets is susceptible of only two interpretations. First, that though Muhammad, peace be on him, is not the father of any male issue, yet being the Messenger of Allah he is the spiritual father of all the faithful, and that he is so exalted that he is invested with the Seal of Prophethood and as such is the spiritual father of any prophet that might be raised after him, who will be his spiritual descendant and his devoted follower whose pro- phethood would bear the authenticating Seal of the Holy Prophet. Secondly, Muhammad is not the father of any males but as the Messenger of Allah he is the spiritual father of all the faithful and is pre-eminent among the prophets as he occupies the highest position in the pinnacle of the excel- lences of prophethood. This leaves no room for the interpretation adopted by the opponents of Ahmad. The expression Seal of the Prophets has obviously been employed in this verse as stressing the pre-eminence of the Holy Prophet among the other Pro-