The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 230
CH. 4 AN-NISA' further supported by the verse which speaks of Prophets generally and says, And those who believe in Allah and His Messengers, they are the Truthful and the Martyrs in the presence of their Lord (57:20). When read together these two verses purport to mean that whereas the followers of other Prophets could only rise to the rank of the Truthful and the Martyrs, and no higher, the followers of the Holy Prophet can achieve even higher ranks; viz. they can rise to the rank of a Prophet also. مع Some critics take exception to the particle rendered as "among" but generally taken to mean "with" and allege that a follower of the Holy Prophet will only be placed "with" the Prophets and not "among" them. Apart from what has been said under Important Words, if the particle be taken to denote that a follower of the Holy Prophet is merely joined to and placed with these four classes of men, without actually becoming one of them and without attaining their rank, it will follow from the construction of the verse that not only no person, by following in the footsteps of the Holy Prophet, can attain to the rank of a Prophet but also that he cannot even attain the rank of a Siddiq (Truthful) or a Shahid (Martyr) or a Ṣāliḥ (Righteous) but that he can only be joined to and placed with the people holding these ranks without himself attaining to their spiritual status, which is simply absurd. It is evident that the preposition rendered as مع 670 PT. 5 "among" governs all the four nouns equally viz. the Ṣāliḥin, the Shuhada', the Siddiqin and the Nabiyyin, the four having been linked together in one chain. So what holds good in one case should hold good in the other cases as well. Hence, if according to this verse a person can attain the rank of a Ṣāliḥ (Righteous) by following the Holy Prophet of Islam, he can also attain the rank of a Prophet. If we deny the rank of a Prophet to the followers of the Holy Prophet, we will have to deny to them the rank of the Righteous also. مع مع Besides, as shown under Important Words, it is wrong to say that the preposition & always denotes merely being physically joined to or placed with a class of people physically without attaining to their position or rank. The word has been used at several places in the Quran in the sense of i. e. "among" or "from among" (see 3:194 and 4:147). In the latter verse, i. e. 4:147, God says that those of the hypocrites, who repent and amend, will be i. e. "among the believers". Now by no stretch of imagination can it be presumed that these people will only "be placed with the believers" and will not form part of them. The verse thus definitely proves that the word ~ has been used here in the sense of ¿ or "among" and in no other sense. So is the case with 3:194. It is exactly in this sense that it has been used in the present verse. If, in the above- mentioned verses in which the word & occurs, it is taken to give the sense