With Love to Muhammad (sa) - The Khatam-un-Nabiyyin — Page 197
Death of Hazrat ‘ Ī s ā as bin Mariam ra 197 How can Khan compare the finality of an event that can only occur once in a sequence, to an event that can occur multiple times in a sequence? One is fixed and cannot change, whereas the other is variable. Thus, this example is simply not applicable to the discussion at hand. Khan’s invalid example is somewhat interesting in that it relates to children and the Kh ā tam-un-Nabiyy ī n verse [33:41] was revealed in a similar scenario to rebut the insults of the Holy Prophet’s enemies. When the Holy Prophet’s adopted son, Zaid ra bin H ā rith, had divorced his wife Zainab ra , the Holy Prophet sa was commanded by God to marry her. The enemies of the Prophet sa insulted him saying that he married the wife of his son. To address this slander, the verse [i. e. , 33:41] starts off by reminding his critics that “Muhammad is not the father of any of your men,” because Zaid ra was an adopted son. This then opened the way for another insult, that he sa was abtar or issueless with no male heir to carry on his name or his movement. In rebuttal to this insult God continued in the verse with the ultimate praise, saying, “but he is the Messenger of All ā h and he is Kh ā tam-an-Nabiyy ī n. ” Being praised as the Seal of prophets is perfectly relevant in this context. As the Seal , he becomes the Spiritual Father of all of the prophets, who are themselves the spiritual fathers of their respective nations. In essence, the Holy Prophet sa is being praised by God as the Spiritual Father of all spiritual fathers. Further, he has given spiritual life 212 to millions upon millions who carry on his legacy through his shar ī ‘ah and sunnah. Truly, the Holy Prophet sa has been immortalized by all of his spiritual 212 Note in the Qur’an: “O ye who believe! Respond to Allah and the Messenger when he calls you that he may give you [spiritual] life…” [S ū rah Al-Anf ā l, 8:25]