If Allah appoints someone as His 'Last Prophet'...

If Allah appoints someone as His 'Last Prophet', there is absolutely no possibility of any other person attaining to that dignity after that. God is Omniscient. Man has but limited knowledge. This being so, how can one construe the human praise of a person as 'Last Poet' or the last of the jurists in the same sense as God's pronouncement of a person as the 'Last Prophet'?

The Observations of the Holy Prophet(PBUH) About the Finality of Prophethood The meaning of the word Khatam that emerges out of the context of the Holy Qur'an and which is the same as given in all lexicons of the Arabic language is also affirmed by the observations of the Holy Prophet(peace and blessings be upon him). We quote some authentic traditions to illustrate the case in point: The Holy Prophet (PBUH) observed: "The tribe of Israel was guided by prophets.

When a prophet passed away, another prophet succeeded him. But no prophet will come after me; only caliphs will succeed me." (Bukhari, Kitab-ul-Manaqib). The Prophet of God (PBUH) affirmed: "My position in relation to the prophets who came before me can be explained by the following example: A man erected a building and adorned this edifice with great beauty, but he left an empty niche, in the corner where just one brick was missing.

People looked around the building and marvelled at its beauty, but wondered why a brick was missing from that niche? I am like unto that one missing brick and I am the last in the line of the Prophets." (Bukhari, Kitab-ul-Manaqib).

(In other words, with the advent of the (PBUH) the edifice of Prophethood has been completed and there is no empty niche in this edifice o provide room for another prophet.) Four traditions relating to this subject are recorded, in Muslim, Kitab-ul-Fada''il, Babu Khatimin-Nabiyyin. The latter tradition contains the following additional sentence.

"So I came and in me the line of Prophets has ended." The very same tradition in similar words has been reported in Tirmidhi, Kitab-ul-Manaqib, Bab-Fadlin Nabi and Kitab-Adab, Bab-ul-Amthal.

In Musnad Abu Dawud Tayalisi this tradition has been incorporated among other traditions reported by Jabir bin Abdullah; and its last sentence reads, "It is in me that line of Prophets came to its final end." Musnad Ahmad contains traditions reported by Hadrat Ubayyi bin Ka''b, Hadrat Abu Sa''id Khudri and Hadrat Abu Huraira(may Allah be pleased with them) on the same subject with a slight variation of words here and there.