Ahmadiyyat - The Renaissance of Islam — Page 58
58 AHMADIYY AT on him, was Khatam in the sense that he came after all the other prophets and that he was the last prophet of all. But it is evident that in the estimation of the wise no superiority whatever attaches to precedence in time or its reverse' (Tah- zirunnas, Saharan pur, p. 3). In the same publication, at page 28, he stated: 'If a prophet appeared after the Holy Prophet, peace be-on him, it would in no way affect his finality. ' The members of the Ahmadiyya Movement believe that the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, is the Seal of the Prophets as proclaimed in the Holy Quran (33:41). In him all the excellences of prophethood reached their climax. There can be no prophet after him who might be bestowed the bounty of prophethood independently of him, for henceforth every type of grace is attainable only through obedience to him. A prophet can now appear only through allegiance to him, receiving light from his light as a reflection, and not other- WIse. III The third question that needs consideration is whether, assuming the possibility of a prophet or prophets appearing after the Holy Prophet, peace be' on him, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was in fact the recipient of Divine revelation and was a prophet, subordinate to the Holy Prophet, peace be on him, and a spiritual reflection of him. Hazrat Ahmad began to receive Divine revelation in the early seventies of the 19th century of the Christian era. This experience began to be multiplied and became continuous after the death of his father in 1876, and terminated only with his own death on 26 May 1908. Thus the period during which he continuously received Divine revelation extends to well over thirty years. It is the unanimous and firm belief of all Muslims that according to the Holy Quran a person who fabricates some- thing himself and attributes it to the Divine is bound to be frustrated and ruined by God and cannot at all flourish. This