Answer
Salam Dear Asim,
Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.
The Holy Quran clearly states that the divine guidance of Allah is completed with the revelation of the very last verse revealed in the Quran, which was in Surah 5, verse 3:
{This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion.} (5:3)
The occasion of this revelation was the last sermon of the prophet, delivered during his last pilgrimage. On this occasion he (peace be upon him) said:
“O people! No prophet or apostle will come after me and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore O people! And, understand words that I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Quran and the sunnah and if you follow these you will never go astray.” (Al-Haythami)
It is evident from these words that:
(a) Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the last prophet.
(b) The Quran, along with the sunnah – which, in fact, is the practical interpretation of the Quran – is the perfected guidance of Allah to mankind.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) has also said:
“…O Allah, be my witness, that I have conveyed your message to Your people.”(Ibn Majah)
And, remember that it was as part of this sermon that the prophet recited to them a revelation from Allah, which he had just received, and which completed and finalized the Quran, for it was the last passage to be revealed (Surah 5, verse 3 – quoted above).
Towards the end of his sermon, the prophet (peace be upon them) asked:
“O people, have I faithfully delivered unto you my message?”
A powerful murmur of assents: “O Allah! Yes!” arose from thousands of pilgrims and the vibrant words “Allahumma na`am” (God! Surely yes…) rolled like thunder throughout the valley.
The prophet raised his forefinger and said:
“O Allah bear witness that I have conveyed your message to Your people.” (Ibn Majah)
The Seal of All Prophets
In addition, we can read the following verse too in the Quran – Surah 33, verse 40:
{Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the messenger of Allah and the seal of all the prophets. And Allah knows all things.} (33:40)
Scholars of Arabic language are unanimous in the meaning of the word khaatam(seal). Every mufassir (commentator of the Quran) has translated khaatam to mean final, including Ibn Jarir al-Tabri, Imam Fakhru-din al-Razi, Imam Jalaalu-din Suyooti, and Ibn Kathir.
The commentators have also agreed that anyone who denies that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is the final and last prophet, is not a Muslim.
There are several sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), which make clear that he is the final prophet. Abu Huraira reports that the prophet said:
“My position, in relation to the prophets who came before me, can be explained in the following example: ‘A man erected a building and adorned his 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 marveled 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 line of the prophets.’” (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim.)
The prophet (peace be upon him) is also reported to have said:
“The chain of messengers and prophets has come to an end. There shall be no messenger nor prophet after me.” (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim)
Eternal Truth
Islam lays a great deal of emphasis upon the one eternal truth, which had been there from the very beginning, that is the truth of tawhid or the oneness of God.
There has never been a time when the religion of God, which calls man to the One and Only God, has not existed in some place or the other. But, the deviations and distortions of that one and true religion made it necessary for its being renewed again and again, by successive revelations.
This was until the guidance of God was completed, through the Last Testament of God, revealed to the last prophet. It is clearly stated in the Quran itself that it would be safeguarded from all corruption and that it will be protected until the Day of Judgment.
This is quite in contradistinction to other scriptures, which came before it. All those scriptures were corrupted and for that reason, replaced by the Quran in God’s scheme of things.
Thus, Islam is the final religion; Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the last prophet and the Quran is the Last Testament of God. Islam expresses, in the most complete and perfect manner, the principle of tawhid (oneness) as encompassing all aspects of human life; thus proving itself to be the very perfection of the message of oneness.
Since Islam is the original religion of all of humanity – since prophet Adam, through all prophets to Prophet Muhammad – as well as being the final religion, Allah reveals at the end of the prophet’s mission this message – again as mentioned above in Surah 5, verse 3:
{This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion.}
And, Allah knows best.I hope this helps answer your question.
Salam and please keep in touch.
(From Ask About Islam archive)
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