Khatam an-Nabiyyin
Khatam an-Nabiyyin, usually translated as Seal of the Prophets, is a title used in the Qur'an to designate the prophet Muhammad. It is synonymous with the term Khātam al-Anbiyā’. Among Muslims, it is generally regarded to mean that Muhammad was the last of the prophets sent by Allah.
Occurrence in the Quran
The title khatam an-nabiyyin or khatim an-nabiyyin, usually translated as "Seal of the Prophets", is applied to Muhammad in verse 33:40 of the Qur'an. The popular reads,There is a difference among the schools of Qur'anic recitation regarding the reading of the word خاتم in verse 33:40 – it can be read as either khātim or khātam. Of the ten qirā’āt regarded as authentic – seven 'mutawātir' and three mashhūr – all read خاتم in this verse with a kasrah on the tāʼ with the exception of 'Asim, who reads with a fatḥah on the tāʼ. The reading of al-Hasan, a shadhdh recitation, is also khātam.
The recitation that has become prevalent in most of the world today is Hafs 'an 'Asim – that is, the qirā’ah of 'Asim in the riwāyah of his student Hafs. The reading of 33:40 according to Hafs 'an 'Asim is as follows:
Quranic use of the root kh-t-m
The nouns khātam and khātim are derived from the root kh-t-m. Words based on this root occur in the Quran eight times:- five times as the Form I verb khatama
- once as the noun khātim, or khātam according to the qirā’ah of ‘Āṣim
- once as the noun khitām, or khātam according to the qirā’ah of al-Kisā’ī
- once as the passive participle makhtūm
Hadith
"Keystone" ("brick") metaphor
In a well-known hadith reported by Abu Hurayrah, Jabir ibn Abd Allah, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri, and recorded by al-Bukhari, Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, al-Tirmidhi, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Nasa'i, and others, Muhammad compared the relationship between himself and the previous prophets to a building missing a single brick. In Sahih al-Bukhari it is reported by Abu Hurayrah that Muhammad said, "My similitude in comparison with the prophets before me is that of a man who has built a house nicely and beautifully, except for a place of one brick in a corner. The people go about it and wonder at its beauty, but say: 'Would that this brick be put in its place!' So I am that brick, and I am the seal of the prophets". This hadith is narrated with similar wording in Sahih Muslim, Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, as-Sunan al-Kubra of al-Nasa'i, and Sahih Ibn Hibban. In Mu'jam al-Awsat, al-Tabarani narrated a variant wording of the hadith with the last statement being, "So I am that , I am the seal of the prophets, there is no prophet after me". Ibn Hibban also has a variant ending with "I was the place of that brick, with me concluded the messengers". In Sahih Muslim and Musnad Ahmad the hadith is also reported by Jabir ibn Abd Allah, with the last statement being "So I am the place of that brick, I have come and concluded the prophets". Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi in his Musnad has from Jabir, "So I am the place of that brick, with me concluded the prophets".Other hadith
In another hadith, Muhammad prophesied the appearance of a number of false prophets before the day of judgement, while asserting his status as the seal of the prophets. It is reported by Thawban ibn Bajdad that Muhammad said, "The Hour will not be established until tribes of my ummah unite with the idolaters, and until they worship idols. And in my ummah there will be thirty liars, each of whom will claim to be a prophet, I am the seal of the prophets, there is no prophet after me.". Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman reports that Muhammad said, "In my ummah there will be twenty-seven liars and dajjals, among whom are four women, I am the seal of the prophets, there is no prophet after me".Classical lexicons
According to the authoritative dictionary Lisan al-Arab of Ibn Manzur,According to Taj al-Arus of al-Zabidi,
Further,
Traditional interpretation
The title is generally regarded by Muslims as meaning that Muhammad is the last in the series of prophets beginning with Adam. The belief that a new prophet cannot arise after Muhammad is shared by both Sunni and Shi'i Muslims. Some of the most prominent historical Sunni texts on creed explicitly mention the doctrine of finality of prophethood. For example, in al-Aqidah at-Tahawiyyah it is asserted that "Every claim to the prophetic office after his is a delusion and a wandering desire." In another popular work, al-Aqidah an-Nasafiyyah, it is stated, "The first of the prophets is Adam and the last is Muhammad."Academic views
doubted the authenticity of the verse 33:40 and claimed it to be of late origin. Yohanan Friedmann states that Hirschfeld's arguments "that the title khatam an-nabiyyin is unusual, that it only appears once in the Qur'an, that the word khatam is not Arabic…do not seem valid arguments against the authenticity of the verse."Frants Buhl accepted the traditional meaning of last prophet.
Josef Horovitz suggested two possible interpretations of khatam an-nabiyyin: the last prophet or the one who confirms the authenticity of the previous prophets. Heinrich Speyer agreed with Horovitz.
According to Alford T. Welch, the traditional Muslim belief that Muhammad is "last and greatest of the prophets" is most likely based on a later interpretation of 33:40.
The first modern academic to have studied in detail the history of the doctrine of finality of prophethood is Yohanan Friedmann. In his seminal article, Finality of Prophethood in Sunni Islam, he concluded that although the notion of finality of prophethood "eventually acquired an undisputed and central place in the religious thought of Islam," it was contested during the first century AH. He states, "While it is true that the phrase khatam an-nabiyyin is generally interpreted as meaning 'the last prophet', the exegetical tradition and other branches of classical Arabic literature preserved material which indicates that this now generally received understanding of the Qur'anic phrase is not the only possible one and had not necessarily been the earliest." Due to this Friedmann states that the meaning of khatam an-nabiyyin in its original Qur'anic context is still in doubt.
Wilferd Madelung takes Friedmann's findings into consideration in observing that the original Qur'anic meaning of the term is not entirely certain. However, in a more recent paper he states, "Most Muslims at the time no doubt understood it to mean that he was to be the last prophet and Islam was the final religion, as Muslims have commonly understood it ever since."
Carl W. Ernst considers the phrase to mean that Muhammad's "imprint on history is as final as a wax seal on a letter."
David Powers, also making use of Friedmann's research, believes that the early Muslim community was divided over the meaning of the expression, with some understanding it to mean he fulfilled or confirmed the earlier Christian and Jewish revelations, while others understood it as signifying that Muhammad brought the office of prophethood to a close. He suggests that the Qur'anic text underwent a series of secondary omissions and additions which were designed to adapt the text to the dogma of finality of prophethood, and that the idea of finality only became the prevailing interpretation by the end of the 1st century AH / 7th century. In a review of Powers' book, Gerald Hawting goes further, suggesting that the development of the doctrine was not complete before the 3rd century AH / 9th century. Madelung comments that Power's argument, that verses 36-40 are a later addition dating from the generation after Muhammad's death, is "hardly sustainable."
Uri Rubin holds that the finality of prophethood is a Qur'anic idea, not a post-Qur'anic one, and that the expression khatam an-nabiyyin implies both finality of prophethood and confirmation. In response to Powers and other modern scholars sceptical of the early origin of the doctrine, Rubin concludes from his study "that, at least as far as Sura 33 is concerned, the consonantal structure of the Qur'anic text has not been tampered with, and that the idea of finality of prophethood is well-represented in the text, as well as in the earliest available extra-Quranic materials." Rubin reexamines the early extra-Qur'anic texts cited by Friedmann and other modern scholars, and concludes that rather than indicating that the notion of finality of prophethood is late, the texts confirm the early origin of the belief. He concludes that "there is no compelling reason to assume that the Muslims of the first Islamic century originally understood the Qur'anic khatam an-nabiyyin in the sense of confirmation alone, without that of finality."
Official use in Pakistan
On 22 June 2020, the Government of Pakistan made it mandatory that term be added to the name Muhammad in textbooks and official documents, where previously it was passed on 15 June in the Sindh Assembly.Ahmadiyya Interpretation
Muhammad
The Ahmadiyya Community while accepting Muhammad as the 'Seal of the Prophets' and the last prophet to have brought a complete and comprehensive universal law for humanity, believe that prophethood subordinate to Muhammad is still open. Muhammad is believed to have brought prophethood to perfection and was the last law-bearing prophet, the apex of man's spiritual evolution. New prophets can come but they must be subordinate to Muhammad and cannot exceed him in excellence nor alter his teaching or bring any new law or religion.Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
The Ahmadiyya community believes Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who founded the movement in Qadian, India in 1889, to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, who claimed a certain kind of prophethood but never claimed to have brought any new divine laws or change the law of Muhammad, but to have been Divinely appointed to revive and universally establish the law/religion of Muhammad.Controversy
The Ahmadiyya movement understands the term 'Seal of the Prophets' to indicate the culmination and authentication of prophethood in Muhammad, rather than its absolute cessation. Something that has caused controversy in recent times between Ahmadis and the mainstream who accuse them of denying the finality of prophethood.Muslim scholars vehemently opposed him and in subsequent years a movement was founded to deal with this sensitive issue. This movement is still very active in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries where Ahmadiyya adherents are present.