Testimony of the Holy Quran — Page 45
H A D R AT M IR Z A GHU L A M AH M AD A S 45 appeared hundreds of Khulaf a ’, both spiritual and worldly, not just four, and then it terminated forever. And to say that the word مِنْکُم [ minkum —from among you] sig - nifies that the Khulaf a ’ will be solely from among the Companions because they are the sole addressees of the word minkum, then such thinking would be a blatant mistake. Such words can only be uttered by a person who has never read the Holy Quran with reflection and has failed to understand its manner of expression. If it were true that the only intended addressees were those believers who were alive and present at the time [of its revelation], then such a view would render the interpretation of the entire Quran upside down. For example, there is another Quranic verse similar to the above-mentioned verse in which, according to the literal word - ing, the addressees are the believers of Hadrat M u s a who were alive in his lifetime. In fact, there are very strong indications from the context that they are in reality the addressees of the following verses: َلاَق ىٰسْوُم ِهِمْوَقِل َلاَق ُلِّتَقُنَس ْمُهَءٓاَنْبَا َو ٖيْحَتْسَن ْمُهَءٓاَسِن َو اَّنِا ْمُهَقْوَف َنْوُرِهٰق ۰۰ ۰۰ اْوُنْيِعَتْسا ِهّٰللاِب َو اْوُرِبْصا َّنِا َضْرَاْلا ِهّٰلِل اَهُثِرْوُي ْنَم ُءٓاَشَّي ْنِم ٖهِداَبِع َو ُةَبِقاَعْلا َنْيِقَّتُمْلِل َلاَق ىٰسَع ْمُكُّبَر ْنَا َكِلْهُّي ْمُكَّوُدَع َو اْۤوُلاَق اَنْيِذْوُا ْنِم ِلْبَق ْنَا اَنَيِتْاَت َو ْۢنِم ِدْعَب اَم اَنَتْئِج 1 Part Number 9, S u rah al-A‘r a f — ْمُكَفِلْخَتْسَي۠ يِف ِضْرَاْلا َرُظْنَيَف َفْيَك َنْوُلَمْعَت ۰۰ Meaning that Pharaoh said, ‘We will slay the sons of Ban i Isr a ’ i l and let their daughters live. And surely we are dominant over them. ’ Then Moses said to his people, ‘Seek help from Allah and 1. S u rah al-A‘r a f, 7:128–130 [Publisher]