Malfuzat – Volume X — Page 538
Malfuzat - English translation of Urdu Volume 10 538 The Claim of the Promised Messiah, Peace be upon Him My claim is only that God has sent me due to the evils of the present day. And I cannot conceal the fact that I have been con- ferred the honour of communion and converse, and God con- verses with me and does so abundantly. This is indeed what is called ‘prophethood’ but not actual prophethood. ٌ نَبَأ is an Arabic word meaning news. Now, anyone who reveals to people the news received from God, would be called a ْ ی ِ نَب [Prophet] in Arabic. I do not separate myself from the Holy Prophet s as and make any claim. This is merely a dispute in semantics. Plentiful communion and conversation [with God] is alternatively called prophethood. Look, the quote from Hazrat Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her, provides clarity on this issue: 1 ٗ قُوْلُوْا إِنَّہ ٗ خَاتَم ُ النَّبِیِّیْن َ وَلَتَقُوْلُوْا لَنَبِی َّ بَعْدَہ ٗ قُوْلُوْا إِنَّہ ٗ خَاتَم ُ النَّبِیِّیْن َ وَلَتَقُوْلُوْا لَنَبِی َّ بَعْدَہ [‘Say, he (the Holy Prophet) is Khatamun-Nabiyyin —the Seal of the Prophets—but do not say that there is no Prophet after him’]. If prophethood has been discontinued in Islam, then rest assured that Islam, too, has died and there is no distinctive Sign in it either. If a garden is abandoned and forgotten by its caretaker and gardener, and he remains unconcerned about watering it, then the result is obvious: it would dry up and become fruitless in a few years, and ultimately its wood would be used for fire. In reality, the dispute between them and us is about termi- nology. They, too, acknowledge communion and converse [with God]. Mujaddid Sahib 2 also acknowledges this. He writes that those holy men who have communication and converse with 1. Ad-Durr al-Manth u r f i Tafs i r al-Ma’th u r, by Jalal-ud-Din Suyuti, Part 5, p. 386, D a rul-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah [Publisher] 2. From Badr: Mujaddid Sahib [Ahmad al-Faruqi] Sirhindi ( Badr, vol. 7, no. 25, p. 9, dated 25 June 1908).