Mahzarnama (The Memorandum) — Page 32
32 Mahzarnama opponents who believe in the sanctity of Hadith , are bound to believe, in the light of the sayings of the Seal of the Prophets Hadhrat Muhammad sa , that "Isa, the Prophet of Allah" will descend among the followers of the Holy Prophet sa. [Muslim, Baab Zikr-ud-Dajjaal]. Since we know with certainty, on the authority of the unequivivocal teachings of the Holy Quran and Hadith, that Isa, son of Mary of Nazareth has died ; therefore we take the aforementioned statement to mean that Isa, the Prophet of Allah, was to appear within the dispensation of the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa as the latter's servant. And we prove from the Holy Quran, Hadith , and the sayings of the early saints, that the Promised One was to be both a "Prophet of Allah" and also among the followers of the Holy Prophet sa (i. e. , his Ummati ). And this tenet certainly does not run counter to the Finality ( Khaatamiyyat ) of the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa. But the other religious scholars seek to appease their hearts by saying that if an old prophet who was born long before the Holy Prophet sa and commissioned to Prophethood much earlier, and returns, he cannot be considered to be the last one. Therefore there is room for such a prophet to appear, without violating the Seal of Prophethood. The main point in this argument is that a prophet who was born before the Holy Prophet sa , and is believed to be still alive by our critics, cannot be considered the last. When we analyse, this argument, too, proves to be quite flimsy and frivolous. The question is: If today a child is born in front of a young man of twenty, and dies within a few days but that twenty-year old young man dies eighty years later, at the age of one hundred years, who would the historian determine to have outlasted the other? Rather, who would a sensible historian—who is in