This excerpt is taken from Sheikh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amanpuri's book Khatm-e-Nubuwwat.
The Nation of the Prophet
In the religion of Islam, there is no concept of the advent of any prophet or prophet-caliph after the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
Sayyiduna Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, narrates that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said:
بينا أنا نائم أتيت بخزائن الأرض، فوضع فى كفي سواران من ذهب، فكبرا علي، فأوحى الله إلى أن أنفخهما، فنفختهما فذهبا، فأولتهما الكذابين اللذين أنا بينهما، صاحب صنعاء، وصاحب اليمامة .
“In a dream, the treasures of the earth were brought to me, then two gold bracelets were placed on my palms. They felt heavy upon me, so Allah revealed to me to blow on them. I blew on them, and they flew away. I interpreted this as two liars living during my lifetime, one from Sana'a and the other from Yamama.”
Reference: (Sahih al-Bukhari: 4374, Sahih Muslim: 2274)
Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, narrates:
قدم مسيلمة الكذاب على عهد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، فجعل يقول : إن جعل لي محمد الأمر من بعده تبعته، وقدمها فى بشر كثير من قومه، فأقبل إليه رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ومعه ثابت بن قيس بن شماس، وفي يد رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قطعة جريد، حتى وقف على مسيلمة فى أصحابه، فقال : لو سألتني هذه القطعة ما أعطيتكها، ولن تعدو أمر الله فيك، ولئن أدبرت ليعقرنك الله، وإني لأراك الذى أريت فيه، ما رأيت، وهذا ثابت يجيبك عني ثم انصرف عنه، قال ابن عباس : فسألت عن قول رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : إنك أرى الذى أريت فيه ما أريت، فأخبرني أبو هريرة : أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال : بينا أنا نائم، رأيت فى يدي سوارين من ذهب، فأهمني شأنهما، فأوحي إلى فى المنام أن أنفخهما، فنفختهما فطارا، فأولتهما كذابين يخرجان بعدي، أحدهما العنسي، والآخر مسيلمة .
“During the time of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, Musaylimah the liar came to Medina with many people from his tribe and said that if Muhammad, peace be upon him, appointed me as a prophet after him, then I would obey him. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, went to him, and Sayyiduna Thabit ibn Qais, may Allah be pleased with him, was with him. The Prophet, peace be upon him, had a stick in his hand. He said to Musaylimah: I will not even give you this stick. Surely, Allah’s judgment about you will be fulfilled. If you do not obey me, Allah will destroy you. I saw a dream about you, and it will come true. Now, Thabit ibn Qais, may Allah be pleased with him, will respond to your further words.” Saying this, the Prophet, peace be upon him, returned. Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, also says that when I asked about these dreams of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, told me that these dreams are: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: I saw two bracelets in my hands in a dream, and they felt heavy to me. Then in sleep, I was revealed to blow on them. I blew on them, and they flew away. I interpreted them as two liars who will cause harm after me; one is Aswad Ansi and the other is Musaylimah.”
Reference: (Sahih al-Bukhari: 4373, Sahih Muslim: 2273)
In Sahih Bukhari, the words are:
فقال له مسيلمة : إن شئت خليت بيننا وبين الأمر، ثم جعلته لنا بعدك .
“Musaylimah said to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him: If you appoint prophethood to me after yourself, then I will not claim prophethood at this time.”
Reference: (Sahih al-Bukhari: 4378)
Sayyiduna Wahshi ibn Harb, may Allah be pleased with him, narrates:
قدمت على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، فلما رآني قال : أنت وحشي قلت : نعم، قال : أنت قتلت حمزة قلت : قد كان من الأمر ما بلغك، قال : فهل تستطيع أن تغيب وجهك عني قال : فخرجت فلما قبض رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فخرج مسيلمة العذاب، قلت : لأخرجن إلى مسيلمة، لعلي أقتله فأكافي به حمزة، قال : فخرجت مع الناس، فكان من أمره ما كان، قال : فإذا رجل قائم فى ثلمة جدار، كأنه جمل أورق ثائر الرأس، قال : فرميته بحربتي، فأضعها بين ثدييه حتى خرجت من بين كتفيه، قال : ووثب إليه رجل من الأنصار فضربه بالسيف على هامته .
“I came to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, and he asked: Are you Wahshi? I said yes. He said: Did you kill Hamza, may Allah be pleased with him? I replied: Yes, you have received the correct news. He said: Avoid coming before me.” I left from there. After the death of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, the fitnah of Musaylimah the liar intensified, and I thought in my heart to kill Musaylimah so that the burden of killing Hamza, may Allah be pleased with him, would be lifted from me. I joined the army fighting against him. What did I see? A man standing in a crack of the wall, who was wheat-colored like a gray camel, and his hair was disheveled. I looked at him and thrust my spear into his chest, piercing through to his back. Then an Ansari cut off his head with a sword.”
Reference: (Sahih al-Bukhari: 4072)
Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Mas’ud, may Allah be pleased with him, narrates:
أن مسيلمة بعث رجلين أحدهما ابن أثال بن حجر، فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : أتشهدان أن محمدا رسول الله؟، قالا : نشهد أن مسيلمة رسول الله، فقال النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم : آمنت بالله ورسله، لو كنت قاتلا وفدا قتلتكما .
“Musaylimah sent two men to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, one of whom was Athal ibn Hajar. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, asked them: Do you consider Muhammad, peace be upon him, the Messenger of Allah? They said: We consider Musaylimah the Messenger of Allah. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: I believe in Allah and His Messengers. If I were to allow the killing of messengers, I would have killed you.”
Reference: (Musnad Abi Ya’la: 5097, and its chain is Hasan)
Hafiz Haithami, may Allah have mercy on him, said its chain is “Hasan.”
Reference: (Majma’ al-Zawa’id: 314/5)
Sayyiduna Na’im ibn Mas’ud Ashja’i, may Allah be pleased with him, narrates:
سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول حين قرأ كتاب مسيلمة الكذاب، قال للرسولين : فما تقولان أنتما؟ قالا : نقول كما قال، فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : والله لولا أن الرسل لا تقتل لضربت أعناقكما .
“When the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, read Musaylimah’s letter, he asked the messengers: What is your belief? They said: The same as written in the letter. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: In our law, messengers are not killed, otherwise I would have cut off your necks.”
Reference: (Musnad Imam Ahmad: 487/3, Sunan Abi Dawud: 2761, and its chain is Hasan)
Imam Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him, said this hadith is “Hasan.”
Reference: (Al-‘Ilal al-Kabir by al-Tirmidhi: 715)
Imam Hakim, may Allah have mercy on him,
Reference: (52/3, 143/2)
said it is “Sahih” according to Imam Muslim’s conditions, and Hafiz Dhahabi, may Allah have mercy on him, agreed with him.In Sahih Bukhari
Reference: (4379)
, it is mentioned that Aswad Ansi was also killed.Place of Martyrdom
Reflect upon these ahadith! Musaylimah the liar said to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ that he would obey him, provided that after the Prophet ﷺ, prophethood would be with him. But the Prophet ﷺ was not even willing to give him a stick. Since he expressed this intention, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said nothing; otherwise, he would have been killed. Later, when Musaylimah sent two messengers, the Prophet ﷺ told them that if the law against killing messengers did not exist, he would have killed them.
From this hadith, the existence of an Ummi Prophet is also negated, because Musaylimah said he would follow the Prophet ﷺ provided that prophethood would be with him after the Prophet ﷺ, meaning he was ready to be an Ummi (follower). Yet, the Prophet ﷺ did not grant him prophethood but declared him a liar, making it clear that no prophet will come after the Prophet ﷺ. It is also noteworthy that Musaylimah spoke of prophethood after the Prophet ﷺ, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not grant it and instead called him a liar, meaning the Prophet ﷺ by his actions is defining the meaning of the hadith لا نبي بعدي, teaching that this hadith should be taken in its apparent meaning and no other meaning should be given. The consensus of the Ummah also supports this meaning, not any other.
The command of Allah the Exalted is:
فَبِأَيِّ حَدِيثٍ بَعْدَ اللَّهِ وَآيَاتِهِ يُؤْمِنُونَ
“After Allah’s Book and His verses, in whom will you believe?”
Reference: (Al-Jathiyah: 6)
An objection can be raised regarding the above-mentioned ahadith that Aswad Ansi and Musaylimah the liar claimed prophethood during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, so how can it be correct to say that they will claim prophethood after me? The answer is that the meaning of بعدي here is that after my claim to prophethood, people will claim prophethood; it does not mean that after my death people will claim prophethood. Anyone with even the slightest understanding of hadith and the methodology of the muhaddithin can understand this. The evidence for this meaning is:
◈ The Prophet ﷺ told Musaylimah that he had been informed about him, meaning the Prophet ﷺ was informed by revelation that this person would claim prophethood.
◈ Then, during the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, they claimed prophethood, which is why the Prophet ﷺ said:
أولتهما الكذابين اللذين أنا بينهما، صاحب صنعاء، وصاحب اليمامة .
“I have interpreted these two lies as the two liars of Sana’a and Yamamah.”
This makes it clear that بعدي here meant those two people who claimed prophethood after the Prophet’s claim.
A Misunderstanding :
Qadi Iyaz, may Allah have mercy on him (544 AH), writes:
هذا الحديث قد ظهر ، فلو عد من تنبأ من زمن النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم إلى الآن، ممن اشتهر بذلك وعرف واتبعته جماعة على ضلالته؛ لوجد هذا العدد فيهم ومن طالع كتب الخبر والتاريخ عرف صحة هذا، فلولا التطويل لسردنا منهم هذا العدد، والله أعلم .
"This hadith has been fulfilled. If we count the false claimants of prophethood from the time of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, until now, their number will be reached. If there were no fear of lengthiness, we would mention them; those who study history know this fact."
Reference: (Ikmal al-Muallim: 463/8)
From this statement, it has been understood that the false claimants of prophethood mentioned by the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, have been completed in number, so whoever comes now will be true. But this is merely a suspicion:
This is a thought and impossible and madness
Because this is the opinion of Qadi Sahib, may Allah have mercy on him. It is possible that you have not encountered them, and he assumed based on weak evidence that the thirty have been completed.
The reality is that whoever claims prophethood after Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, is false.
Allama Shatibi, may Allah have mercy on him (790 AH), writes:
أن يكون تجديد وحي بحكم بعد النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم، وهو منهي عنه بالإجماع .
"By consensus, claiming renewal of revelation after the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, is forbidden."
Reference: (Al-I'tisam: 260/1, 261)
