With Love to Muhammad (sa) - The Khatam-un-Nabiyyin — Page 278
278 With Love to Muhammad sa the Kh ā tam-un-Nabiyy ī n According to our opponents, this verse was revealed after it had been pronounced that the Holy Prophet sa was ‘ Kh ā tam-an-Nabiyy ī n ’ and no prophets were to come. However, the verse says “All ā h chooses His Messengers from among angels and from among men” instead of saying “All ā h used to choose His messengers. . . ” This clearly means that prophethood has not been terminated. A proof to support our argument is seen in the Holy Qur’an where All ā h says with regards to Jesus and his mother “ ِ ايَْلكُٰﻦ َ اكَان َ اﻟﻄَّﻌَﺎم ؕ ” ( they both used to eat food ). 277 It is a fundamental rule of grammar that present continuous cannot be used for an action that has come to an end. The Qur’an proves this here. So, in case All ā h Ta‘ ā l ā had totally stopped sending messengers from among men, He would have said so in the words, “ a اﷲ a Dان اeFاس a Gن a و a ر: a ۃahcdFا a Gن a _[YM ” ( All ā h used to choose His messengers from among angels, and from among men ). A prominent Shia commentator, Tibrisy, comments on this verse in his book, Majma‘ul-Bay ā n (Part 7, Page 96): “All ā h chooses His messengers from angels, that is, Gabriel and Michael, and from among men, that is, the prophets”. Here a mere messenger is not implied; instead, it refers to a Nab ī. 278 277 S ū rah Al-M ā ’idah, 5:76 278 The True Meaning of Khatme Nubuwwat, Page 57