Invitation to Ahmadiyyat — Page 45
45 previous prophethood is that which brings a new law and is inde - pendent of the previous Prophet. However, the prophethood that is attained through the blessings of and obedience to the past Prophet, and whose objective is to propagate his message and to glorify him, will not be considered derogatory of him; it will instead serve to glorify him. Such prophethood is indeed sanc - tioned by the Holy Quran and it stands to reason that it can be attained by the people of this ummah, otherwise they would have no superiority over the followers of other Prophets. The Holy Prophet s as has said that there were many among the followers of Moses who attained the status of mu h add - ath [a spiritual rank lower than that of a prophet]. 41 Therefore, if the spiritual influence of the Holy Prophet s as can only raise a person to the level of mu h addath , then what superiority does he have over other prophets and why is he called ‘the noblest of the children of Adam’ and ‘the Chief of Prophets’? In order for the Holy Prophet s as to be considered the Best of all Prophets, he has to possess a quality above and beyond that of past Prophets. This distinctive quality, in our view, is that whereas earlier prophets could raise their followers only to the status of mu h addath , the followers of the Holy Prophet s as can rise higher and even attain the status of Prophets. This is the miracle of the Holy Prophet’s spiritual influence that fills a believer’s heart with love and rever - ence for him. If the advent of the Holy Prophet s as put an end to the attain - ment of this kind of prophethood, then his advent would only be a bane of mankind and the Holy Quran would serve no purpose. Such a belief would imply that whereas before the advent of the Holy Prophet s as people could attain great spiritual stations, they