And when this all indicates that the claimant is not a son, they had said when he married Zaynab, as narrated by al-Tirmidhi from Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her: he married the wife of his son. Allah, glorified and exalted is He, informed of this in a way that is one of the signs of prophethood and the greatest evidence of the message. He said: ﴿What was﴾ meaning in any way of the absolute existence of ﴿Muhammad﴾, meaning despite the multitude of his wives and children, ﴿a father to any of your men﴾, not metaphorically by adoption nor literally by birth. This is to establish that the wife of the son is forbidden to him. And He did not say: from your sons, even though at that time, which was the year five and what was close to it, he had no son. He mentioned, due to His knowledge, glorified is He, that a son would be born to him, Ibrahim, peace be upon him. And with what had preceded him of the sons who had not reached puberty - upon all of them be prayers and peace.

And when there is a contradiction between his ﷺ being a father to any of the men in reality and his being the Seal of the Prophets, He said: ﴿But﴾ it was in the knowledge of Allah, the unseen and the witnessed, that he is ﴿the Messenger of Allah﴾, the greatest king, of whom all others are His servants. So between you and His Messenger, from the perspective of the absolute message, there is a metaphorical fatherhood and sonship. As for from His perspective, it is with compassion, mercy, upbringing, and advice without making that sonship a prohibition upon any of your women. Otherwise, there would be no distinction for the position of prophethood. And as for from your perspective, it is with the obligation of glorification, respect, obedience, and the sanctity of the wives. And as for the fact that the message is from Allah, of whom there is none greater, it necessitates that the people convey all that He has commanded him with. And you have received His saying, the Most High: ﴿Call them to their fathers﴾ [al-Ahzab: 5]. And the noble duty necessitates that he be the first to act upon this matter, so he does not call anyone from your men after this his son.

And when the absolute prophethood and the absolute messengership are not contradictory to the fatherhood of men, he said: ﴿and the Seal of the Prophets﴾. This is because his message is universal and his prophethood, along with it, is the miracle of the Qur'an. Therefore, there is no need for any new prophet or messenger after him. No one will be born after him who will be a prophet. This is necessary so that no son of his reaches the age of manhood, and if it were decreed that there would be a prophet after him, it would only be from his lineage, out of honor for him, because he is the highest in rank among the prophets and the greatest in honor. No prophet has a miracle except that he has something similar or greater than it. If one of his children were to become a man, he would have been a prophet after the emergence of his prophethood. And Allah has decreed that there will be no prophet after him, as an honor for him. Ahmad and Ibn Majah narrated from Anas and Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, that the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said about his son Ibrahim: 'If he had lived, he would have been a truthful prophet.' Al-Bukhari has a similar narration from Al-Bara' ibn Azib, may Allah be pleased with him, and Al-Bukhari also has a narration from Ibn Abi Aufa, may Allah be pleased with him: 'If it had been decreed that there would be a prophet after Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, his son would have lived. But there is no prophet after him.' The conclusion is that no prophet will come after him with a new law at all, nor will there be a renewal of the prophethood after him. The matter has come to the point that the decree is: Muhammad was not in a position where prophethood would be renewed after him with a message or otherwise. However, he was - although he is the Messenger of Allah - the seal of prophethood. It is only that he was sent in a miraculous manner due to what has preceded of the points and others. This verse confirms his being the seal in the most eloquent and greatest manner. This is because it is in the context of denying that any of his sons could be one of their men in a true or metaphorical sense, without the aspect of [the implication of a female or] being a messenger and a seal, preserving the status of prophethood from being renewed after him for anyone. If that were the case, it would only be a child of his. And indeed, the death of his children, blessings and peace be upon him, was preferred to elevate his noble status so that no one could ascend it, regardless of who they were. This is because the benefit of the coming of the prophet is to complete something that was not brought before him. And with him, blessings and peace be upon him, completion has occurred, so there remains no aspiration after that. 'I was sent to complete the noble morals.' As for the renewal of what has weakened due to what some of the wicked have introduced, the scholars are sufficient in this due to the existence of what was specifically given to him, blessings and peace be upon him, from this miraculous Qur'an, which whoever hears it is as if he has heard it from Allah, due to the realization and certainty that no one else can say anything of it. So whatever confusion occurs regarding this, it is confirmed by those whom Allah wills among the scholars. Thus, the insight returns [as has been narrated in some reports]: 'The scholars of my nation are like the prophets of the Children of Israel.' As for the coming of Jesus, peace be upon him, after the Mahdi, may Allah be pleased with him, renews all that has weakened from the pillars of noble morals, it is for the sake of the trial of the Dajjal, then the calamity of Gog and Magog, and similar matters that no one other than a prophet can handle. And how beautiful is what has been transmitted from Hassan ibn Thabit, may Allah be pleased with him, in his elegy for Ibrahim, the son of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, where he said:

Your son Mahmoud has passed, of good outcomes he was not tainted by a fault, nor was he criticized by word or deed.

He saw that if he lived, he would equal you in high status, so he preferred to remain alone without a like.

And Al-Ghazali, may Allah have mercy on him, said in the last of his book Al-Iqtisad: The nation understood from this word - that is, the word of this verse - and from the indications of his conditions, blessings and peace be upon him, that he made clear there would be no prophet after him forever, and no messenger after him forever, and that there is no interpretation or specification in it. And he said: Whoever interprets it by specifying the prophets (p-367) among the resolute messengers and similar to this, his words are of the types of delusion, and it does not prevent the ruling of declaring him an infidel, for he is a denier of this text which the nation has unanimously agreed upon that it is not to be interpreted or specified. This is his statement in the book Al-Iqtisad, I have quoted it from him without intermediary or imitation, so beware of listening to anyone who quoted from him other than this, for it is a distortion that evades the proof of Islam from him:

And how many have criticized a correct saying, and its flaw is from the flawed understanding.

And it has become clear by this that the coming of Jesus, peace be upon him, does not detract from this text, for he is from his nation, blessings and peace be upon him, affirming his law, and he was a prophet before him who did not bring forth anything that did not exist, [so it was not] a flaw in the seal, and it affirms the honor of our prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and were it not for him, he would not have existed, and that is because no prophet among the prophets has honor except that he has, blessings and peace be upon him, a like or higher than it. And the prophets used to come affirming the law of Moses, peace be upon him, renewing it, so the one affirming the law of our prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, who follows his religion was one who abrogated the law of Moses, peace be upon him.

And when the situation is determined in this matter that he will not have a son who becomes a man, in the context of encompassing knowledge, the estimation is: because He, glorified and exalted is He, has encompassed knowledge that despite the multitude of his wives and the number of his children, no male child will be born to him who becomes a man. (And Allah) [is] the one who has every attribute of perfection eternally and forever, (with everything) (p-368) of that and other than it, (is All-Knowing) so He knows who is suitable for the seal and who is suitable for the beginning. The teacher Wali al-Din al-Malawi said in his book Hisn al-Nufus in the question of the grave: And his specification, blessings and peace be upon him, with Ahmad and Muhammad in knowledge and attribute is a clear proof of his sealing, for praise is coupled with the conclusion of matters, and the last of their supplication is that praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds. And Al-Suhaili has clarified this in the surah of the disciples from the book of Al-I'lam. It has ended. And I have clarified in the surah of the bee that the essence of the material of praise is upon reaching the goal and riding the end.