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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Theological Instructions LESSON THIRY-FIVE: THE SEAL OF PROPHECY Introduction By focusing upon the universality of the religion of Islam, the contingency of the abrogation of Islamic law through the nomination of a new Prophet is denied. However a dilemma still remains, that a Prophet might come for the application and propagation of Islam, since many of the prophets before had such responsibilities.

As with the Prophet Lot (a) who was concurrent to the Prophet Abraham (a), and followed and implemented the same Divine law as he did, which was similar to that of the prophets of the children of Israel (banī Israel). It is for this reason that the topic of the seal of the prophecy of the Prophet of Islam (s) must be discussed separately. a.

The Qur’anic proofs for the seal of prophecy One of the necessities of the religion of Islam is to believe in the Prophet of Islam being the seal of the prophets, and that after him no Prophet has appeared or will appear on the face of the earth. Those who are not of the Islamic creed also confirm this fact. This matter does not need any proof or argument for its establishment; however it can be verified through the Noble Qur’an and through the widely transmitted traditions (mutawātir).

The Qur’an has mentioned:“Mohammed is not the father of any of your men, but he is the apostle of Allah and the last prophet; and Allah is cognizant of all things.”(al- Ahzāb) This use of this verse for proving that the Prophet of Islam is the seal of all prophets (as) has been criticised by some Islamic antagonists: One such criticism is that the word seal (khātam) also carries the meaning of a ‘ring’, and that perhaps in the mentioned verse the latter meaning is implied.

The second criticism assumes the meaning of the word ‘seal’, but that the line of prophets alone is terminated and not that of apostles or messengers. The answer to the first question raised is that the ‘seal’ is the instrument through which a thing is concluded, hence due to this, a ‘ring’ is also given this name because through a ring, letters and documents were stamped and concluded.

The answer to the second criticism raised is that every messenger that has the position of apostle has the station of prophethood aswell. Therefore the termination of the chain of prophets concurrently terminates the chain of messengers.