THE FINALITY OF PROPHETHOOD pdf download

The Finality of Prophethood By S. Abul A’la Maududi

 THE FINALITY OF PROPHETHOOD

Book Contents

Foreword – 2

• 1 Finality of Prophethood –
• The Verdict of the Text of the Qur’an –
• The Dictionary Meaning of the Word ‘Khatam-al-Nabiyyin’ –
• The Observations of the Holy Prophet (SAW) –
• The Consensus of the Companions –
• The Consensus of all the Ulema of the Ummat –
• Is God the Enemy of our Faith? –
• Do we Need A Prophet Now? –
• A New Prophethood is a Curse rather than a Blessing for the Ummah –
• The Reality of ‘Masih’ ie, “The Incarnation of Jesus Christ” –
• Tradition relating to the Descent of Christ, Son, Of Mary –
• The Verdict of these Traditions –

From the Book

“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 daughter-in-law as his wife.

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. Afterward, a verse was revealed that extinguished the basis of all objections. In the first place, they had charged “You have taken your daughter-in-law as a wife, in contravention of your 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 clear that the man whose divorced wife was taken into wedlock by the Prophet was 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?”