Truth Prevails — Page 28
( 28 ) dispensation, according to the view favoured by Mr. Faruqi, and a mustaqil Nabi , according to our view about Harun. Thus, in the words of this Hadith “ annahu la Nabia ba’di ” the negation is in regard to the advent of a Prophet with a new Sharia , or the advent of a mustaqil Nabi. Hazrat Harun was not an Ummati Nabi , in any sense of the term, that a misapprehension could have arisen in the case of Hazrat Ali, that he was perhaps a Nabi as Harun had been in his time, to whom Ali had been likened by the Holy Prophet. This situation could have given rise to a question, alone, that Hazrat Ali was a mustaqil Nabi , like Harun; and that possibility had been guarded against, and the mistake corrected, before it had arisen. Third Hadith The third Hadith quoted by Mr. Faruqi is the following: “Abu Horaira related that the Apostle of Allah said: ‘My example and of those Prophets who have gone before me, is like a person who builds a house, both well designed and beautiful to look at, but in one corner space for one brick has been left vacant. Then people started circumambulating the house; but wondered as to why the brick was missing. I am that brick (said the Apostle) and I am the last and final of the Prophets. ’” In this Hadith the Holy Prophet has likened himself to the prophets who were earlier than his time. All these Prophets, from Adam, right up to his own self, were Prophets, independently, each in his own place; and this is a point which we accept, that the Holy Prophet is the last among Prophets spoken of here as mustaqil , independent Prophets, of which number the Holy Prophet is the last. Therefore, the sense and meaning of there being a bar against the advent of any other Prophet, has been clearly, graphically, precisely fixed, namely, that the Holy Prophet was the last mustaqil Nabi ; after him, there was going to be no other Prophet, right up to the Qiyama. But, of course, zilli Prophets, and Ummati Prophets could come, the Hadith in question being no obstacle in the path of the advent of such Prophets. This is the reason why the Promised Messiah has declared himself as a Zilli and Ummati Prophet. The Mohaddithin have interpreted the word “ bait ” (house) in this report as the structure of the Islamic Sharia , completed and perfected at the hands of the Holy Prophet. Imam Ibni Hajar has commented on this Hadith to the following effect: “The significance of the completion of this structure is that the Sharia given to Mohammad, in comparison with the earlier Sharias , is the most complete and perfect. ” ( Fathul Bari , Vol. vi, page 380) In this exposition of the report in question, Ibni Hajar has held the Holy Prophet to be the last among Prophets who came with separate Sharias of their own.