Testimony of the Holy Quran — Page 43
HADRAT MIRZA GHULAM AHMADAS 43 Messiah for this Shariah, so that he, too, should invite towards righteousness with only compassion, mercy, and heavenly light. And just as Hadrat Masīh came around 1,400 years after Hadrat Mūsā [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 Masīḥ, too, was a Prophet, the answer is that both Prophet and Muhaddath enjoy the same status of a Mursal [i. e. one who is sent by God]. Just as God has named Prophets as Mursalin [the commissioned ones], so has He named Muhaddathin [recipients of divine converse] as Mursalin. It is with the purpose of indicating this that the Holy Quran says: وَقَفَّيْنَا مِنْ بَعْدِهِ بِالرُّسُلِ ) God did not say قَفَّيْنَا مِنْ بَعْدِهِ بِالْأَنْبِيَاءِ ]'caused after him Prophets to fol- low in his footsteps'], which points to the fact that رُسُل ]Rusul] here signifies Mursalin, be they Prophets, Messengers, or Muhaddathin. Since our Noble Master and Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is Khatamun-Nabiyyīn [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, Muhaddathīn 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 (Sūrah al-Baqarah, 2:88). [Publisher]