With-Love-to-Muhammad

146 With Love to Muhammad sa the Khātam-un-NabiyyīnLawgiver (Muhammad) used the phrase, “the brick(that completes) the house”, for that final stage. 144This quotation expresses the same understanding that theAhmadiyya Muslim Jamā‘at believes. Ahmadī Muslims believethat Khātam-un-Nabiyyīn distinguishes the Holy Prophet sa withthe highest status of perfection, or the final stage. Ibn Khaldūneven goes on to say that the Messiah of the latter days will bethe Khātam of the saints in the sense that he will be the best ofthe saints. Farhan Khan should re-read Ibn Khaldūn’s quotationwithout his pre-disposed belief of the “end of prophethood” tounderstand what Ibn Khaldūn is really saying.Fifth, Farhan Khan says, “...suppose the Ahmadī[Muslims] consider Ibn Khaldūn an authoritative figure and usehis statements as proof of the interpretation of the hadīth. Theyconveniently fail to quote him when he says that from now untilthe end of time, there will be no more prophets.” 145 When anAhmadī Muslim reads this, he is shocked at the extraordinarybias with which it has been written. Ahmadī Muslims do notquote Ibn Khaldūn’s quotation to show that he believed in thecontinuation of prophethood. They merely quote his position onthe hadīth under discussion. They show that they are not alonein such an understanding of that hadīth and these interpretationsbelonged to previous scholars. Moreover, Ibn Khaldūn isquoted by Hazrat Mirzā Tāhir Ahmad rh in his book, IrfāneKhatme Nubuwwat, and it was written in response to a booklet144The Muqaddimah, translated by Franz Rosenthal, Chapter III, Part 51 – TheFatimid. The opinions of the people about him. The truth about thematter. Sufi opinions about the Mahdī(see:http://asadullahali.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/ibn_khaldunal_muqaddimah.pdf,pdf page 412, retrieved January 15, 2014)145Khan, With Love, Page 15