The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) – Volume III — Page 180
Seal of the Prophets - Volume III 180 abrogation, God the Exalted states: وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْاِسْلَامَ دِينًا ى الْيَوْمَ اَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَاَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِ “O Ye people, this day have I perfected your religion for you, and have opened the doors of all my favours upon you; And have chosen for you Islām as religion. ” 1 It is narrated that on one occasion the Jews said to Ḥaḍrat ‘Umar ra that, “A verse has been revealed to you the Muslims (i. e. , the above-mentioned verse) and had it been revealed to us, we would have taken the day of its revelation as a day of celebration. ” Ḥaḍrat ‘Umar ra responded, “Allāh Himself has made it a day of celebration for us, because this verse was revealed to the Holy Prophet sa upon the sacred occasion of Ḥajj , at the blessed place of ‘Arafah, whereas the following day was that of ‘Īdul-Adḥiyyah , and I remember all of its details. ” 2 Moreover, in a Ḥadīth, the Holy Prophet sa states himself: ِ اِنِّی ْ اٰخِر ُ الْاَنْبِیَاء ِ وَاِن َّ مَسْجِدِی ْ اٰخِر ُ الْمَسَاجِد “I am the last prophet (i. e. , no prophet that abrogates my era of prophethood can come after me), and this mosque of mine is the last mosque (after which there can be no such place of worship as abrogates my mosque and institutes a new form of worship). ” 3 It should be remembered that the words, ‘this mosque of mine is the last mosque ’ does not at all imply that after this mosque of mine no new mosque will be built. We see that the Holy Prophet sa himself and his Khulafā ’ built many mosques thereafter, and to this day hundreds of thousands and millions of mosques have been built. Hence, the purport is that no mosque shall be built in opposition to my mosque. Rather, all true mosques shall most definitely follow the pattern of my mosque and be a reflection of it. Furthermore, this very reality has been beautifully expressed as follows: 1 Al-Mā’idah (5:4) 2 Ṣaḥīḥul-Bukhārī, Kitābut-Tafsīr, Tafsīru Sūratil-Mā’idah, Bābu Qaulihī Al-Yauma Akmaltu Lakum Dīnakum, Ḥadīth No. 4606 3 Ṣaḥīḥu Muslim, Kitābul-Ḥajj, Bābu Faḍliṣ-Ṣalāti Bi-Masjidai Makkata Wal-Madīnah, Ḥadīth No. 3376