Sūrah al-'Arāf, 35

This argument stems from The Quranic Evidence: Truthfulness of The Promised Messiah by Ansar Raza, in the chapter titled “The Possibility of Prophethood” under the section “Children of Adam”.

O children of Adam, If Messengers come to you from among yourselves, rehearsing My Signs unto you, then whoso shall fear God and do good deeds, on them shall come no fear nor shall they grieve.

- Muhammad ‘Ali Translation

Ahmadi Argument

This verse clearly speaks about the coming of prophets in the future after Muhammad. To prove this, one must first establish a premise.

When Islam was revealed to the Muslims, the legitimacy of all other nations had expired. Now, only the prophethood of Muhammad is valid. Anyone who belonged to a previous nation must now accept Islam. With this premise, one can infer that any verse that is directed to humanity is also ultimately directed to the Muslims.

This verse is telling the children of Adam, who include the Muslims, that messengers will come who will be reciting the verses of Allah. In clear Arabic, Allah is saying that other prophets will come after Muhammad who will be reciting the verses of Allah; therefore, other prophets can continue to come from among this nation. One of those Prophets is Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

Muslim Response

This verse in no way implies that prophets will continue to come from among this nation. It is referring to previous nations. This is clear upon further analysis of both the context of the verse and the language that Allah uses to address humanity.

If one were to take this ayah in isolation from the rest of the sūrah, then the Ahmadis would have a solid argument. However, one must look at the verses before and the verses after this one verse to understand its context and ultimate meaning before making reckless changes in theology.

Context of the Ayah

The introduction of Sūrah Al-‘Arāf is a narration of what happened to the Prophet Adam عليه السلام during his first interaction with Shaytān. After his error, Allah gave Adam a prayer by which he could seek forgiveness and also gave his offspring pieces of advice to keep safe from Shaytān. Among the pieces of advice was that if messengers came to them reciting the signs (verses) of Allah, then the children of Adam are supposed to follow them. From the context, one can clearly see that this was advice given to Adam and addressed to his children from the very beginning of their life in the dunya. Therefore, it applies to all nations, such as the nations of Noah عليه السلام, Ibrahīm عليه السلام, Mūsā عليه السلام, and 'Esā عليه السلام. All of these prophets came with ayāt (miracles, signs, verses) that they recited to their people to affirm their truthfulness.

Now, a prophet has come to Arabia. He is following the same pattern of the previous prophets, calling humanity to the oneness of Allah and affirming his truthfulness with clear signs of Allah. Just like the advice of the previous nations, the Arabs must also follow Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم.

Question to ask Murabbis

1. Why does this verse say “O Children of Adam”, which seems to indicate this verse was addressed to all of humanity, instead of “O you who believe”, which would indicate