I have some Muslim friends but they’re not Ahmadis and they have asked me to find out from you what the word Khataman Nabiyeen means. I know myself but I don’t know how to explain myself so if possible could you? Well this is a question which requires a very wide and widely covering answer and if the question should be treated in depth. In fact I have spoken for nearly five hours on this subject at Jalsa Salana and still I couldn’t exhaust myself and I mean exhaust the subject and I have spoken elsewhere on different angles of the same subject so how can you require me to do justice to discuss this important question in a matter of a few minutes?
But if you want just the bare facts, the bare facts are that we believe as Ahmadis in all the possible meanings of the word Khatam. It should be remembered that the word Khatam has a Zabar inflection on the Teh part, the word Teh. There are three deflections in Arabic a Zabar, a Zayr and a Pesh. Like the English vowel system, this is a vowel system in Arabic, if it is Zabar it is read Khatam, if it is Zayr it is read Khatam, if it is Pesh it would be read Khatam but Khatam is no word. So either it could be Khatam or Khatam and they both have different meanings.
Khatam has the measure of Ism Fayl which is like Qatil. Qatil means the one who murders, Fayl which means the one who does a thing and Hamil the one who bears a thing and Shamil who shares a thing and Shayr who says poems, verses, share and so on and so forth. The measure is exactly the same and each word which you pronounce like this in this style bears the same meaning of somebody who does a thing. So Khatam if it were a Khatam, the word Khatam in the Holy Quran it would mean the one who finishes. Khatama yaqtamo khatamun. But the word Khatam with a Zabar that is a positive inflection on it does not mean Ism Fayl.
It means a different thing and the Arabic, all the Arabic dictionaries give this support this view that the word Khatam means a ring, a signet ring in fact like the one I’m wearing. This is the true meaning. Khatam is the signet ring which carries some inscriptions on the one side in the flat side. So because the Arabs or the people in that age used to stamp their letters with their signet ring which was inscribed something on it so that was used as a seal. So the derived meaning of the word Khatam is the seal. So the second meaning and in fact the meaning of the word as it is used in the Holy Quran is seal. So what would be the meaning of seal of prophets? Now this is to be understood. The Prophet was not a thing like a I mean a dead thing like a ring. So it must have a significance and it must derive its significance from the usage of the ring which is signet ring.
So that means he is the seal of prophets or certifier of all prophets without whose seal a prophet would not be called a prophet. That is the one most important fundamental meaning. That is to say if you want to measure the truth of a prophet and he is proved good and true according to the standards laid down by Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam then and only then that prophet should be believed in. But if he does not bear the testimony of our Hazrat sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and of the Holy Quran that prophet will be without the seal mark of our Hazrat sallallahu alaihi wa sallam so he will not be a prophet at all.
That is one meaning. Another meaning derived from the same word as extensively used in the Arab world are to be the best. The word seal in Arabic is used to mean the best and this should be remembered and this meaning is true in not only in Arabic but in every other language of the world. This is the most interesting thing. It is used both as khatam or as khatam and in verb form as well not only in the noun form. For instance in Urdu we say uspar shairi khatam hai. Uspar hikmat khatam hai. In English we say he is the last of things. He is the last word. Both these have the same connotation. It means that he is the very best among his class. When you say somebody is khatam ush shoura in Arabic that also means exactly the same thing.
For instance mutanabbi a great Arabic poet is called khatam ush shoura exactly like khatam al-nabiyyin mentioned in the Holy Quran. So in this sense khatam means the very best. Not the last in time but last in status. The highest in his class. The very end of things in the meaning of that in this in sense not in time. So when we say aap par khitabat khatam hai, aap par hikmat khatam hai, aap par shairi khatam hai or your last word in this and your last word in that, it always means you are the very best. So we also agree that this is the true meaning and in fact this is the most fundamental meaning of the word khatam. And in this sense the word khatam is used by Ahazrat Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam himself as applied to Hazrat Ali, the fourth caliph of Islam.
Once he addressed Hazrat Ali and told him that anta khatam al-awliya’i wa ana khatam al-nabiyyin, khatam al-anbiya. O Ali, you are the khatam of the saints or saintly people as I am the khatam of the prophets. So we quote this tradition extensively in favor of our interpretation of the khatam al-nabiyyin. As against the interpretation attributed to this idiom by our non-Ahmadi ulema who are very hostile to us on this regard, in this regard, they say the word khatam should be meant, should be translated only as last in time after which there is none. And they insist the that the Arabs only use it to indicate finality in time, not in status.
This is the debate going on between us and the non-Ahmadis. So we quote no less in authority than Ahazrat Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam himself who knew Arabic far more, much much more than all the combined Arabs of today. And even his enemies admit that the his knowledge of Arabic and his style of Arabic and his class of Arabic was second only to the Holy Quran. They say after the Holy Quran the most beautiful speaker or writer or speaker of Arabic was Ahzrat Muhammad Mustafa Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So if he uses the word khatam in some sense there is no man on earth who can deny that usage to be the correct usage. This is our argument. So we find him addressing Hazrat Ali and telling him you are the khatam of saintly people, of ulia, as I am the khatam of all the Prophets.
So we generally ask our adversaries, the hostile ulema, to translate this tradition as they please. And then they will find themselves in great difficulty. They can’t get out of this mess. If they translate it as final in time, after which there is none of that class to appear, then they will have to translate it in application to Hazrat Ali as well. Because the same word, the same idiom and said by the same person in the same breath, in one single sentence both these words are combined. So if you translate it and try your hand at it you’ll be surprised that it’s impossible. If the word khatam really means final in time, the last in the sense of time, so that none can appear after him of belonging to that class, then you know what Ahzrat Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam has told Hazrat Ali.
Of course you know then, because I have just quoted the hadith. He said you are the khatam of ulia, that is saintly people, as I am khatam of prophets. So that would mean that, O Ali, you are the last of saintly people to be seen in Islam, as I am the last of prophets to be seen in this world. After you, no saint will ever be born in Islam. No pious person will ever appear in Islam. You are the last. Whoever wants to set his eyes on a saintly person, he should set his eyes upon you. Like after my death, the world will never see a prophet again. Is that the right meaning? If that is the meaning, then Islam is devoid not only of prophethood, but of every good quality, because saintliness is the ultimate of every religion.
If you can’t gain saintliness from any religion, then what is left here? Nothing. So we quote not only Ahzrat Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, we begin with him, because he’s the first and last, of course, but we quote other Arabs in support of our usage. We say a mutanabbi, for instance, as I’ve just quoted, is called khatam ash-shaura. And not only that, we quote that Bu’ali Sina is called, and still it is written on his Al-Qanun, the canon. You know that is a famous book on medicine, and it is held in very high respect by all of the world. And canon is a byword now in the history of medicine. And Bu’ali Sina is supposed to be a legendary figure, a classical person, in the art of healing.
So all the doctors, all the people worth the song here, attached to this profession, know Bu’ali Sina, what he is, and how big a physician he was. So on his book, on the art of healing, whose name is Al-Qanun, it is said in English, tenet of Bu’ali Sina. It is written that he was khatam al-aqidba. Like the Prophet, he is declared khatam al-nabiyyin in the Holy Qur’an. Like Hazrat Ali, he is called khatam al-auliya. Like Mutanabbi, he is called khatam al-shaura. Now, would you attempt to translate it, in the way the Muslim ulema opposed to us, would have us translate word khatam al-nabiyyin? Try your hand and then you’ll see how difficult, how impossible it becomes for you to do that.
Because if the word khatam, as they insist, has no other meaning but the finality in time, then you know what all this means? That means Bu’ali Sina was the last of the physicians that the world was ever to set its eyes upon, and after that no physician would ever appear on earth. Mutanabbi was last of the prophets, last of his class, last of poets, last of his class, and after Mutanabbi’s death, the world would be completely devoid of poetry and no poet would ever be witnessed, never be seen on this earth again. And that means that Hazrat Ali, as I have just told you, was the last of saints. So the whole world of Arabic expressions goes awry, topsy-turvy, you find disorder in the world of meaning.
This could not be true. But the meaning which we insist are the true meaning of the word khatam, are applicable in every position, every situation. And there is not the slightest objection against all those meanings. You apply those meanings to any situation you can conceive, and the answer will always be correct. That is the very best. So the Holy Quran tells us, of all the prophets, Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa s.a.w. stands supreme, beyond a peer, beyond an equal. He is the very best and the very highest of all the prophets. And this is true. And our Prophet s.a.w. tells us that Hazrat Ali s.a.w. was the best of saintly people who were ever to appear in his Ummah.
He was the greatest of saints. And he’s held in this position, although among Khulafa, Hazrat Abu Bakr is held to be the first, but the Sufis have their origin from Hazrat Ali. And there is a special, you know, term saint, wali. And Hazrat Ali seems to be, or is accepted to be, the very best of the Uliya’ of Ummah. In that class, I mean. Among the poets, the Arabs still say, Mutanabbi is the best. Among the healers, it is still held that Abu Ali Sina was the topmost, although he belonged to a very old age. But his works are classical and so original that the West had to borrow from him. And yet he’s held in the highest esteem, like Aristotle, you know, in his own region, like Plato in philosophy and so on.
So this is the true meaning. Khatam, to be the very best, the topmost. And the third meaning, which is also established, is the beauty, the adornment. Because a ring to a finger is a source of adornment and beauty. Like all ornaments are to ladies. So the ornament of a finger is a ring. If you wear a ring and you remove it from the finger, the finger looks without, you know, that slightly something without some important thing. In ladies, in a bride’s hands, in a bride’s little finger, you can see, you can imagine how beautiful the ring appears. And without the ring, the finger seems to be devoid of some charming element.
So in that regard, the word Khatam is used also by the Arabs extensively. If somebody is the source of charm and beauty among some people, the very, the most beautiful among a gathering, the very first in beauty and charm, as if he or she were responsible for all the beauties of that atmosphere. Then that person is called Khatam as well. For instance, you know, there are some people, when they leave the session, you feel as if all the charm has left. When they come, as if they have brought all the charm with them. So in that sense, the word Khatam is also applicable to Hazrat Aqdas Muhammad Mustafa ﷺ. And it means that he is the very charm, the spirit, the very essence of prophets. If he were not there, the session of prophets would be without charm, without detection, without beauty. He has brought beauty to the prophethood.
He has brought excellence and charm and all that is adorable to the Anjuman, to the class of prophets. So we also believe in that. So whatever is authentic, we believe. Not only that, we extend this concession to the adversaries of Ahmadiyya that all right, you translate it as you please. Whether it is authentic or not authentic, we accept. But we are going to prove it, that you do not believe in that and we believe in your meaning as well. So they say all right, as Khatam, the one who finishes. Khatama means he finished. Khatam, if it is read with a zehr inflection, instead of Khatam you read it Khatim, then it would mean the one who finishes prophets.
So they say look here, now you have to agree that prophethood is finished. He has finished all the prophets. We said yes, but in what sense? I mean you can finish a thing by eating it up or by killing someone. That is not what he has done. What does it mean he is finished? First of all you concentrate and find out the meaning of this word as applicable to the situation. Then we will see what happens, what results from all this investigation. Now the prophets, if you say prophets are finished, that is a different thing. But if you say somebody has finished the prophets, what would it possibly mean? It can only mean two things. Either that somebody has killed all the prophets or that somebody has appeared at a time when no other prophet prior to him was alive, automatically, as if he was had finished them. That is the physical meaning.
And the spiritual meaning which are in fact more appropriate and apt for this situation. Because prophets have come for spiritual reasons, not for physical finishing people. Finishing of the people. They come for the spiritual world. So the spiritual meaning of finishing in this context would be that a prophet has come who has finished other prophets in their spiritual benefit. That is to say, they will not anymore give their benefit to any people. All the benefit which is to be had now is to be had from the one who has finished the earlier prophets. And the benefit begins to flow from him now, not from the earlier prophets. This is the true meaning of the word khatim if it is translated as the one who finishes. In no other sense could the Prophet finish all the prophets. Either he happened to be born or to be raised at a time when all other prophets had died and there was no other prophet living.
So as if he were the finisher of all those prophets. Or better so, he had finished them in their office, in their missions. That is to say they were no longer required. They were redundant. After the very best prophet had come, the smaller ones and the earlier ones whose missions had ended up anyway, they were just redundant. They were not required. This is the meaning of true finishing and this is exactly what we insist one should believe in. But we believe in both these. I’ll come to that. In the first sense, we insist that we also believe in this meaning of the word khatim and our adversaries who would tell the people on the beat of the drum that we do not believe in the word khatim themselves do not believe in it. Because according to our belief, all the prophets before our Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam had died a natural death before the appearance of our Lord. And nowhere on earth, search wherever you may please, would you find the mention of any living prophet at the time of our Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
So he was naturally the khatim in this sense as well. The physical khatim. When he appeared, there was no other prophet left. But our non-Muslim ulema who oppose us, they believe that Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, was still alive. And he was a test case. If our Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was to be taken as a physical ender of prophets, here was the test case. A prophet was living and he could not kill him. He could not finish him. The other way round happened according to their belief. They still believe and most insultingly to our Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam as we see it, that Jesus Christ remained alive during his lifetime. He saw our Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam die from the heaven from above. And he still survived.
So who is the last prophet then? The one who survives, a prophet who is born in his presence and he dies a natural death after a few years and he still lives on and on. Or the one who has died in his presence. I mean, who is the final one? So we believe that he is. Our Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is in this respect. They don’t believe in him. And the second meaning, which is the real meaning, is the spiritual meaning. That when our Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam appeared, he made, he rendered all other prophets unnecessary, meaningless. They were no longer required.
Even if they had lived physically, they were not to be followed. Because benefit was now to flow entirely and totally from our Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, who was raised for the benefit of the entire world. No other prophet in any other region would ever be required. But our Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and all the rest of the prophets were no longer needed. Now, in this sense, we believe that he was the last of the prophets. Yet, our adversaries do not. Those who hold us responsible, I mean, who declare that we deny in this meaning of the word Khatam, they themselves are in fact guilty of this denial. But first of all, let me further explain this meaning of Khatam.
When the night comes, when there is no sun, you need lights, artificial lights. But when the sun appears, are they any longer needed? Suppose you keep the lamps burning still. Even if they are burning, they are not needed. They’re useless. It is stupid. It is a madly act to keep the lights burning. It’s a sheer waste. After the sun has risen. So, this is the true meaning of Khatam in this respect. The very son of prophethood, Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, has risen now from the horizon. And he’s the son of the entire globe. There are no two sons for this one globe. He has appeared after him, nor before him. A son would be required. The result is that all the earlier prophets have been rendered meaningless and useless.
But even when the sun sets, even when the sun disappears, you get benefit of his light, not of somebody else’s light, reflected from the moon. And the full moon is that of the 14th, which reflects the maximum light from the sun. So, when moon lights the earth, he does not stand as rival to the sun. He derives all its light from the sun and reflects it to the people of earth or to the earth, taking it, borrowing it from the sun, not from himself. So, he can’t be counted as a rival to the sun. But if some other star appears and says, well, in presence of this sun, you follow my light and you don’t need any more this sun, that is an insult to the sun.
So, they, the non-Ahmadi opponents of Ahmadiyyat, they believe exactly in that situation, in that possibility. I mean, that, what I should call, I mean, that concept of prophethood. They believe that despite the fact that Ahazrat is the last of the prophets, the final, the one who has finished all of the prophets, yet Jesus Christ peace be upon him, would be able to give his benefit
