Testimony of the Holy Quran — Page 43
H A D R AT M IR Z A GHU L A M AH M AD A S 43 Messiah for this Shariah, so that he, too, should invite towards righteousness with only compassion, mercy, and heavenly light. And just as Hadrat Mas ih came around 1,400 years after Hadrat M u s a [Moses], peace be upon him, so has this Promised Messiah appeared at the beginning of the 14th century after Hijra. And thus, a perfect resemblance between the Muhammadan dispen - sation and the Mosaic dispensation was established. If it is said that in the Mosaic dispensation, Prophets came to promote the faith and Hadrat Mas ih , too, was a Prophet, the answer is that both Prophet and Mu h addath enjoy the same status of a Mursal [i. e. one who is sent by God]. Just as God has named Prophets as Mursal i n [the commissioned ones], so has He named Mu h addath i n [recipients of divine converse] as Mursal i n. It is with the purpose of indicating this that the Holy Quran says: 1 َو اَنْيَّفَق ْۢنِم ٖهِدْعَب ِلُسُّرلاِب God did not say, ِ َاء ي َنْبِ ْأ ْنَا مِن ْ بَعْدِہ ٖ بِال َّي قَف [‘caused after him Prophets to fol - low in his footsteps’], which points to the fact that رُسُل [ Rusul ] here signifies Mursal i n, be they Prophets, Messengers, or Mu h addath i n. Since our Noble Master and Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is Kh a tamun-Nabiyy i n [the Seal of the Prophets] and no Prophet can come after the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, that is why, in the Islamic dispensation, Muhaddath i n have been appointed in place of Prophets. The following verses refers precisely to this: 1. And caused after him Messengers to follow in his footsteps ( S u rah al-Baqarah, 2:88). [Publisher]