Tadhkirah — Page ix
F OREWORD TO THE F IRST E NGLISH E DITION IX In answer to this Mirza Ghulam Ahmad explained that he most sincerely and whole-heartedly believed that the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, was Khatam-an-Nabiyyeen in the fullest and most exalted connotation of the expression. He believed that the Holy Prophet was most richly endowed by Allah with all the excellences of prophethood at the highest level. He affirmed that by the advent of the Holy Prophet the prophethood of all previous prophets which was current and binding upon their respective peoples had come to an end and that thereafter the only prophethood that was to be current was the prophethood of the Holy Prophet sa and no other prophethood. The spiritual status of Prophet would thereafter be conferred only upon one who would be the most sincere and most faithful follower of the Holy Prophet sa and whose light would be a reflection of the light of the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, and would be wholly derived from him. Such a person would be spiritually at one with the Holy Prophet sa and would have no separate independent spiritual identity of his own. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed to be a prophet only in that sense and he claimed that in his advent were fulfilled the prophecies concerning the advent of the Messiah and the Mahdi. He rejected as false and derogatory of the dignity of the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, as Khatam- an-Nabiyyeen, the notion that Jesus, a prophet in Israel, would come back from heaven to carry out the revival of Islam. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad affirmed that the Holy Quran comprehends the totality of divine guidance needed for the whole of mankind for all time, and that it cannot be added to or subtracted from in the least degree. He rejected as unfounded the false notion entertained by the bulk of his Muslim opponents that a number of verses of the Holy