FINALITY OF PROPHETHOOD
Syed Abul A’la Maududi
CONTENTS
1. Finality of Prophethood
2. The Verdict of the Text of the Qur’an
3. The Dictionary Meaning of the Word ‘Khatam-al-Nabiyyin’
4. The Observations of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W)
5. The Consensus of the Companions
6. The Consensus of all the Ulema of the Ummat
7. Is God the Enemy of our Faith?
8. Do we Need A Prophet Now?
9. A New Prophethood is a Curse rather than a Blessing for the Ummah
10. The Reality of ‘Masih’ i.e., “The Incarnation of Jesus Christ”
11. Tradition relating to the Descent of Christ, Son, Of Mary.
12. The Verdict of these Traditions.
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and the Most Beneficent
Finality of Prophethood
"O people ! Muhammad has no sons among ye men, but verily, he is the Apostle of God
and the last in the line of Prophets. And God is Aware of everything." (Surah Al Ahzab:
40)
This verse has been revealed in the fifth Ruku' (para or passage) of Surah al-Ahzab. In
this Ruku' Allah has provided answers to all those objections raised by the hypocrites,
which had given rise to a storm of calumnies, slander and mischief in respect of the
marriage of Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) with Hadrat Zainab (may
Allah be pleased with her).

These hypocrites argued that Zainab was the wife of an adopted son of the Holy Prophet
and by this connection she stood in the position of the Prophet's daughter in-law. Hence,
after her divorce from Zaid, the Prophet had taken his own daughter-in-law as wife.
In order to refute this allegation Allah told clearly in verse 37 that this marriage had
Divine sanction behind it and was made to serve as a lawful precedent for Muslim men to
marry the wives of their adopted sons after they had been divorced by their husbands.
Later in verses 38 and 39, Allah affirmed that no power could hinder the Prophet from
discharging a Divine obligation. The Prophets are ordained to fear God, not the people. It
has been an invariable practice of the Apostles to transmit the Divine message without
any extraneous care and to perform the duties enjoined upon them by Allah without fear
or hesitation. Afterwards a verse was revealed which extinguished the basis of all
objections.
In the first place, they had charged "You have taken your daughter-in-law as wife, in
contravention of your own law that the wife of a son is forbidden to his father."
In refutation of this charge it was affirmed by the Almighty: "Muhammad had no sons
among ye men..." thereby making absolutely clear that the man whose divorced wife was
taken into wedlock by the Prophet being not his real son; the act, therefore did not imply
violation of it.
The argument of their second charge ran thus: "Admitted that the adopted son is not the
real one, and on that basis a father might lawfully marry the divorced spouse of his
adopted son, but where was the compulsion for the Prophet to do so?"
Allah affirmed in answer to this charge: "But, verily, he is the Apostle of Allah". The
implication is that it was Allah's mandate to the Holy Prophet to wipe out all prejudices
and declare all taboos that pagan custom had unnecessarily imposed upon the people, as
lawful. In this respect the Prophet's action was unequivocal and left no room for doubt.
(footnote 1,)
Footnote 1.
At this point those who deny the finality of Muhammad's Prophethood (PBUH) demand to
know the tradition in which this allegation has been reported. This query in fact lays bare
their ignorance. The Holy Qur'an furnishes answers to the charges of the mischiefmongers
at several points without actually mentioning the charge. In each case,
however, the relevant text bears unmistakable evidence as to which allegation is being
answered. In the present case also the answer contains the substance of the question.
The use of the conjunctive word "but" at the end of the first sentence presupposes that
part of the question had yet to be dealt with. The second sentence, therefore, furnishes
answer to the remaining part of the question. The first sentence had revealed to the
objectors the answer to their charge that 'Muhammad had married his daughter- in-law.'
However, the second point of the question "where was the compulsion for the Prophet to
do so" still called for an answer. This answer was provided by the next sentence in the

text. "But verily, Muhammad is the Apostle of God and last in the line of Prophets of