Truth about Khatm-e-Nabuwat — Page 132
prophethood and that his own personal view was that every prophet must necessarily bring a new law and since there is no new law to replace the one brought by the Holy prophet (Allah bless him) till the Day of judgement, there can therefore be no prophet after him in a true sense of the term. In this regard, it mU11t, at the outset, be noted, as a point of guiding principle, that we do not stipulate, unqualified agree- ment with the views of Hazrat Shaikh-i-Akbar in all matters. According to us authoritativeness vests only in Allah and in His Prophet as their commands and verdicts. are obligatory in every respect and with- out the slightest deviation, qualification or reserve and non~ other commands that finality of authority. 'fhe views of all others will be subject to scrutiny' in the light of the Quran and Hadith with due • reg_ard to their status, the principle J. >. f"\. . t:,-' \. i. ,. . I. . J. ,i. . "accept what is correct and reject what is incong- ruous" being the determining rule. We have not cited here the evidence of Hazrat Shaikh Muhyyuddin lbne Arabi in re1pect of all his views and beliefs collective- ly but as strictly limited to his stand on a specific issue, to show that the Shaikh shares our belief that only the door of law-bearing prophethood is closed after the advent of the Holy Prophet (Allah bless him) and not of all categories of prophethood. His evidenc:e in this particular question is quite clear and explicit, leaving little room for d;;,ubt. Even if Hazrat Shaikh lbne Arabi held the belief (supposing it only for the sake of argument) that every prophet must bring a 1ew law, our conclusion is hardly affected, as firstly this is irrelevent to the issue in hand, secondly because, we have already dealt with this aspect of the question when discussing our reference of Imarn Shirani and proved with the cumulative force of evidence adduced from the Quran, the Hadith, history and reason that it is not necessary for every prophet to bring a new law. Hazrat Shaikh-i-Akbar however divides prophethood in 182