An Enlightened New Aspect of Khatamiyyat

The basic meaning of Khatamiyyat that has been expounded here is that Khatamiyyat does not limit itself to just excelling all others in spiritual rank, instead it passes these excellences on to others. Khatamiyyat does not denote acquiring the highest spiritual rank and withholding it from everyone else; rather, it spreads its grace with such grandeur that every follower excels in spiritual rank. The Promised Messiah(as) mentions this subject further in a couplet, saying:

We became the Best of Nations by following you, O the Best among the Prophets.

We marched forward by treading in your footsteps.

(A’ina-e-Kamalat-e-Islam, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 5, p. 226)

These are some examples that I have cited from the writings of the Promised Messiah(as). But the writings of the Promised Messiah(as) on Khatamiyyat are such a vast treasure that our opposing clerics do not possess an iota of it. Any honest and pure-hearted person who studies the writings of the Promised Messiah(as) would agree with these insights. Past Muslim scholars have separately mentioned some of the meanings of Khatamiyyat which the Promised Messiah(as) has written about comprehensively. Just as the Holy Prophet(sa) is the Khatam of all the Prophets, the Promised Messiah(as) is the Khatam of all of the people in love for the Holy Prophet(sa). There is nothing that others have described about the Holy Prophet(sa) that the Promised Messiah(as) has not encompassed in his writings; and there is nothing that others have described in which the Promised Messiah(as) has not surpassed them in grandeur.

Hazrat Sheikh Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad al-Hasan al- Hakim at-Tirmidhi (d. circa 255AH), in his book Khatmul-Auliya’ on page 241, writes:

We hold that the title of Khatamun-Nabiyyin signifies that prophethood with all its noble qualities and grandeur has come to perfection in Muhammad(sa). That is why Allah the Almighty likened his heart to a container which assimilated all the noble qualities of prophethood and then it was sealed. (Khatmul-Auliya’, p. 341, published by Catholic Press, Beirut)

Just ponder over the difference. Since the word ‘seal’ had been used, Imam Tirmidhi says that after all the excellences had been combined, a seal was put upon them. This implies an end to those excellences. In contrast, the Promised Messiah(as) says that combining of all excellences is a valid concept. But the idea that the Holy Prophet(sa) limited those excellences to himself is not correct; he combined them but did not stop their further dissemination. In this respect, the commentary by the Promised Messiah(as) regarding the following verse is worth reading:1

Imam Razi writes in Tafsir-e-Kabir Razi, vol. 6, p. 31:

Intellect is the khatam (culmination) of everything. [Arabic proverb] Therefore, it is necessary for ‘khatam’ to mean the best. Don’t you realize that when our Prophet(sa) was declared Khatamun-Nabiyyin, he was declared the best of the Prophets. (Tafsir-e-Kabir Razi, vol. 6, p. 31, under the verse, Surah Taha, 20:26, by Imam Muhammad Fakhr-ud-Din Razi)