True Insights into the Concept of Khatm-e-Nubuwwat — Page 108
[ 108 ] Prophet Solomon as. Today, a divine decree is inviting believers to follow Allah and this Messenger, holding the loftiest spiritual rank, so they may become recipients of the promised rewards. Yet, our opponents say that it does not mean that you will be the recipients of those rewards, rather you will be placed with the recipients of those rewards. This is utterly absurd. It is an insult to the lofty station of the Holy Prophet sa and the Holy Qur’an. The Holy Qur’an belies their translation of the particle ma‘a. At another place, we read: and in death number us with the righteous. ( S u rah A l-e-‘Imr a n , 3:194) Here the same particle ma‘a has been used, not min. The particle min means ‘from among,’ while the particle ma‘a means ‘with’ and ‘from among,’ depending on how it is used. The Muslims have been enjoined to implore Allah the Almighty saying: ‘Cause us to die with the righteous. ’ Obvi- ously, this does not mean that we should pray to die when- ever a righteous one dies. This is the height of absurdity. The fact remains that in the above example, chapter 4, verses 70–71, ma‘a cannot mean anything but min —from among. In Arabic, when referring to more than one person and expressing admiration ma‘a invariably means min — from among. But should the species change, it would not