Malfuzat – Volume II — Page 59
59 Seal of Prophethood means and what it means to believe in this concept. How- ever, Allah the Exalted knows well that we believe with perfect insight that the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is the Seal of the Proph- ets. Moreover, God Almighty has disclosed to us the true essence of the Seal of Prophethood in such a way that the intense pleasure which we derive from the sherbet of divine insight that we have been given to drink cannot be understood by anyone other than those who have been satiated by this fountain. A worldly metaphor that we can give in the context of the Seal of Prophethood could be that the moon begins in the form of a crescent, and on the fourteenth night it becomes complete, at which point it is referred to as the full moon. In the same manner, the excellences of prophethood reached their end or comple- tion in the person of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Those who hold the belief that prophethood has forcefully come to an end and that the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, should not even be given superiority over Jonah the son of Matthew, have not understood the underlying reality at all and have no knowledge whatsoever of the merits and excellences of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Despite their own weak understanding and lack of knowledge, they assert that we deny the concept of the Seal of Prophethood. What shall I say to such ailing people, and how shall I express pity for them? If they had not taken on such a state and if they had not become so utterly distanced from Islam, what need was there for my advent? The faith of these people has become extremely frail, and they are unaware of the true meaning and purpose of Islam. If this were not the case, there would be no reason for them to harbour such animosity against the men of God, which leads one to disbelief The Hallmark of Good Deeds These people fail to understand this and state: ‘What about us is un-Islamic? We proclaim ُ اہلل َ ّ ٓ اِلٰہ َ اِل َ ل (There is none worthy of worship except Allah) and also observe the Prayers, we fast during the days of Ramadan, and pay the Zakat. ’ However, I declare that all of these actions of theirs are not good deeds in the true sense. They are a mere shell that is empty of the kernel. For if their actions were good deeds in the deeper sense, why do they not bring about positive results? Good deeds are characterised by the quality of being pure from all forms of corruption and