From: ahmed@dsg.cs.tcd.ie (Ahmed El-Habbash)
Subject: Re: The Finality of Allah's Apostle (SAW)
Organization: DSG, Dept. of Computer Science, Trinity College Dublin
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 13:37:25 GMT

In <1992Nov19.200333.13526@ryn.mro4.dec.com> hakim@bigq.enet.dec.com (Kamran Hakim) writes:


>In article <1992Nov18.131752.30657@davidsys.com>, merchant@davidsys.com 
>(Rukhsana Merchant) you write:

>RM>	The Finality of Allah's Apostle (SAW).
>RM>
>RM>	Abu Haraira report Allah's Messenger (SAW) as saying:
>RM>	The similitude of mine and that of the Apostles
>RM>	before me is that of a person who built a house
>RM>	quite imposing and bueatiful, but for one
>RM>	brick in one of its corners.   People would
>RM>	go around it, appreciating the building, but
>RM>	saying: Why has the brick not been fixed here?  He
>RM>	said:  I am that brick and I am the last of the 
>RM>	Apostles.
>RM> 
>RM>		Sahih Muslim.

>Dear Rukhsana,

>Allah the Creator and the Builder has indeed built the house, and Prophet 
>Muhammad was indeed the last brick of that house or the last of the 
>Apostles. However, the IMPLICATION that this house constitutes the END 
>of God's Creativity and Buildership is a theological absurdity which is 
>against the teachings of the Holy Qur'an about Godhood.

No, I think we are not supposed to use our own philosophy and and
assumptions about God's creativity, or aother attributes of God.
He God is the only one who can tell us about that.

The Hadeeth mentioned above, by sister Rukhsana, is very clear.
Allah has created one house of Prophethood, which was completed to its
final form by Prophet Mohammed(saw).

There is another Hadeeth that supports the finality of the Prophet
Mohammed (saw), when he said to Imam Ali (ra): "To me, you are like
Haroon to Moses, but there is no prophet after me"  

How can you understand this Hadeeth. If there is no even individual
prophets after Mohammed (saw), how can you add the concept of
new cycles of prophets, and why should be there other cycles. 

Are these different cycles going to be sent for humans (decendants of Adam), 
or for animals. If it is for humans, then there is no logic behind it, and
it contradicts with the mentioned Hadeeths, but if it is for animals and
other creatures, then we don' need to think about it unless we have
animals at home and we want them to follow these new fashions of
prophethhoods. It would be better to have special groups for animals,
such as soc.culture.dog. soc...sheep, soc.donkey, etc.,  to
start preaching to them these brand new interpretations, about the new
cycles of prophets, which will concern them directly.

The Quran also was clear about it when it refers to Mohammed (saw) as
the last of the prophets.

The Quran, the words of God, is preserved in its original form, and the
Quran states that the religion of God has been completed and perfected.
So why Islam as the religion of God was completed, and why the Quran is
wanted by God to be preseved in its original form, if there is going to
be other cycles (endless), of prophets.

You don't feel that the signs of the last day are very clear. I myself,
don't feel that there is enough time to have new cycles even for animals,
this technology, nuclear energy on the earth is sufficient to bring it to 
an end soon, don't you feel that?


>It is possible to understand this saying of Prophet Muhammad in a
>different manner, WITHOUT LIMITING God's Creativity and Buildership.

The creativity of God is not limited to creating Prophets. Also it is
not the sort of creativity that can be predicted by our philosophies and
imagination. It is beyond your or my capability to think even about the
existing creation of God.

>That is to say: God, the Builder, built a HOUSE through His Messengers 
>and Prophets (i.e. 124000 of Them from the time of Prophet Adam to the
>time of the Seal of the Prophet according to a Hadith from Imam Ali.) 
>and Prophet Muhammad was the last brick in this HOUSE, or the last
>Apostle in the Adamic cycle of God's Creativity. However, upon the 
>completion of this HOUSE, God's creativity DOES NOT STOP, it rather
>continues towards building a CITY in a new cycle of creation whose
>appearance is ushered by Imam Mihdi and whose foundation is laid by 

Imam Mehdi as you say is not a prophet, he is Imam, which means a
leader, so he should not fit into your imaginary cycle. Jesus (pbuh) is
already form the decendants of Adam, so he will not be accepted to enter
the new cycle.
>Issa-bni Maryam as a token of God's grace in a NEVER-ENDING process 
>of God's Creativity. Such an approach in understanding the finality
>of Prophet Muhammad keeps the Creatorship of God intact and bestows
>meaning to the Mission of Mihdi and the Return of Christ.

>I hope this offers another perspective for your consideration.

This offers your perspective only.

>RM>--
>RM>31. Say: If you love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you
>RM>and forgive you your faults, and Allah is Forgiving, MercifuL
>RM>32. Say: Obey Allah and the Apostle; but if they turn back, then
>RM>surely Allah does not love the unbelievers.
>          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
>RM>The Holy Quran: The Family of Imran.

>No doubt about this Rukhsana. Indeed, to know God, to love God and to obey 
>God becomes possible through knowing, loving and obeying God's Apostle. It 
>is a token of God's mercy and love towards humanity that the cycle of 
>REVELATION from God should NEVER end with a specific Prophet, so that God's
>Will is EXPRESSED and human obedience to God is TESTED. Finality of God's
>REVELATION would be against God's grace and justice.

But ignoring about the universality and generality of the last message
of Islam is against God's wisdom. God's grace and justice should be
viewd from a perspective of having one religion, one message which is
complete and perfect. Any other revelations will not achieve more
than conflicts and confusions. We have an experience of few false
revelations, which did not achieve more that hatered and wasting time
and bandwidth in empty debates and arguments. 

{ so many lines deleted }

>Warm regards,

>Kamran Hakim

All the best

-- 
Ahmed I. El-Habbash, 
Department of Computer Science, Trinity College,
Dublin 2, Ireland.
Tel: office: +353-1-7021524