Truth about Khatm-e-Nabuwat — Page 84
shall be no prophet after him. They have quoted this tradition in their writings and in their speeches ad infinitum and have with their erroneous expos- ition considerably influenced the heads and hearts of the people. But God willing this magic wil dis- sipate itself before long. This is true that literally '->. . I. a¾. . r. i ':ii bears undoubtedly the meaning 'there is no prophet after me. " But it requires no uncommon learning to see that at times, the word •':ii• (No) negatives a particular contingency and does not necessarily signify a general negation but only a restricted one which, according to Arabic grammar, is termed as "specific negative". In Urdu language too a parallel example will be found in the case of an eminently successful and able Headmaster of a school said to "have topped in merit the rest of his category in th~ area". An expression like this "Lo that is a headmaster and there is no other than him," would certainly not mean, literally that there is no Headmaster other than him in the whole area ; all that it will signify is that there is none of his ability and eimnence in the region. No sens- ible person will dispute the fact that such express- ions occur in every language and are in common use and in wide currency. - In this connection we indeed hardly need seek parallels in other languages, for, the Holy Prophet himself has illustrated an uample of this idiom giving the whole of this ~ntroversy the final quietus. Said the Holy Prophet. v~~til~,~~"jj. . r,t:a,J~l:. l (. . 1. 1. zJ•. ,e,1l!UJ~VcfJtJ. . ,~lS'. H~ 11 There lhall not be another Caesar after the eath of the present Caesar nor another 8'