A Gift for Baghdad — Page 103
Reply to the Announcement & Letter 103 [Hadith scholars] suffer from—that they abandon and reject some of the a ha d i th. However, since our Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is Kh a tamul-Anbiy a ’ [the Seal of the Prophets], there can be no doubt that whoever believes in the descent of a Messiah who is a Prophet of the Children of Israel, has indeed denied Kh a taman-Nabiyy i n. Woe to people who say that the Messiah, Jesus Son of Mary, is to descend after the death of the Messenger of Allah, and say that he will appear and abrogate some of the commandments of the Holy Quran and add oth- ers, that revelation will descend upon him for forty years, and that he will be the last of the Messengers! The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has said: َّ ل َ نَبِي بَعْدِي [There will be no Prophet after me]; and Allah has called him Kh a tamul-Anbiy a ’. Therefore, wherefrom shall a Prophet appear after him? Will you not then reflect, O Muslims? You are following delusions borne out of injustice and untruth, and you treat the Quran as a discarded thing, and thus you have become slothful. We believe in the Angels of Allah and in their stations and ranks. We believe that their descent is like the descent of rays of light, not like the travel of human beings from one abode to another. They do not depart from their fixed stations; nevertheless, they do descend and ascend. They are the army of Allah, inhabit- ants of the heavens and their fellow dwellers; they do not become separated from their positions. There is none that does not possess an assigned station. They do what they are commanded. No one issue can distract them from other issues and they duly obey the Lord of all the worlds.