Life of Ahmad — Page 836
REMOVES A MISCONCEPTION as 836 'This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed my favour unto you and chosen for you Islam as a religion (Al-M a ‘idah 5:4). Maulaw i Muhammad Ali says: 'This verse is a clear testimony for the perfection of religion in Islam, no such claim being made by any other book or religion. Hence it was that Muhammad sa was the last of the Prophets. Because religion being perfected no Prophet was needed after him'. 216 The above conclusion is based upon the misconception that a Prophet is needed only for bringing a new law into the world. I have shown above that this is not so. It is not at all necessary for a Prophet to promulgate a new law. A Prophet can come to serve and enforce a law that already exists. Therefore the perfection of the Islamic law is no bar to the appearance of a Prophet whose sole object is to serve Islam. The only conclusion that can be reasonably drawn from this verse is that the law of Islam is final and no Prophet can ever cancel or modify it. Muhiyyud D i n ibn-i-‘Ar a b i ra says: 'There shall not be a Prophet after Muhammad sa among Muslims whom God will give a law different to his law'. 217 The third verse which is mentioned in this connection is as follows: 216 Eng. Translation, p. 253, note 664. 217 Fut uha t-e-Makkiyya , vol. 1, p. 569.