Malfuzat – Volume X — Page 538
538 MALFUZAT ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF URDU VOLUME IO The Claim of the Promised Messiah, Peace be upon Him My claim is only that God has sent me due to the evils of the present day. And I cannot conceal the fact that I have been con- ferred the honour of communion and converse, and God con- verses with me and does so abundantly. This is indeed what is called 'prophethood' but not actual prophethood. نَباً is an Arabic word meaning news. Now, anyone who reveals to people the news received from God, would be called a نبن ]Prophet] in Arabic. I do not separate myself from the Holy Prophetsas and make any claim. This is merely a dispute in semantics. Plentiful communion and conversation [with God] is alternatively called prophethood. Look, the quote from Hazrat Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her, provides clarity on this issue: قُوْلُوْا إِنَّهُ خَاتَمُ النَّبِيِّينَ وَلَا تَقُوْلُوْا لَا نَبِيَّ بَعْدَهُ ]Say, he (the Holy Prophet) is Khatamun-Nabiyyin-the Seal of the Prophets-but do not say that there is no Prophet after him']. If prophethood has been discontinued in Islam, then rest assured that Islam, too, has died and there is no distinctive Sign in it either. If a garden is abandoned and forgotten by its caretaker and gardener, and he remains unconcerned about watering it, then the result is obvious: it would dry up and become fruitless in a few years, and ultimately its wood would be used for fire. In reality, the dispute between them and us is about termi- nology. They, too, acknowledge communion and converse [with God]. Mujaddid Sahib² also acknowledges this. He writes that those holy men who have communication and converse with 1. Ad-Durr al-Manthür fi Tafsir al-Ma'thür, by Jalal-ud-Din Suyuti, Part 5, p. 386, Dārul-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah [Publisher] 2. From Badr: Mujaddid Sahib [Ahmad al-Faruqi] Sirhindi (Badr, vol. 7, no. 25, p. 9, dated 25 June 1908).