Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets”

Allah the Exalted said: Is it a negation, and is it a Hijazi form or not? The answer is that it is not operative, because the operation belongs to *kana* and it does not have meaning that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not say "What the Messenger of Allah was," but rather he said speaking about him as a person among people, and then he said after that thereby establishing for him the message. And his saying: with the alif, because it is the news of *kana* so he is not Abu Zayd, meaning his father, so it is not forbidden for him to marry his wife Zaynab. His saying: by adoption or by adoption and birth? By adoption and birth as well, because the three sons of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) all passed away before they reached manhood; they all died while they were young. And some of the scholars of knowledge said "The intended meaning is the father of one of your men by adoption, because he said:

of your men

من رجالكم

so he attributed the men to him and did not say 'the father of one of the men'" and on this basis, there is no evidence in the verse that he is not a father of the men by lineage and adoption. And this is the closest view: that the intended meaning is the father of one of your men by adoption, in order to negate what was known among them, namely that Zayd ibn Harithah was the son of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And his saying: has passed to us in what came before that some of the Salaf recited "and he is a father to them." So how do you reconcile this with this verse? The reconciliation is to say that here he is not the father of any of the men by adoption, but he is a father to the believers... in terms of teaching, guidance, and direction. The author derived that "the Messenger of Allah" is in the accusative case for a deleted verb, estimated to be "the Messenger of Allah was" meaning a messenger, i.e., the messenger of Allah the Exalted to His servants. meaning and he was the Seal of the Prophets, so he does not have a son after him who would be a prophet. And this interpretation that the author adopted is subject to consideration, because he says: so he does not have a son after him who would be a man and become a prophet. And this is based on the assumption that it is necessary that the son of a prophet after him be a prophet. And this is not necessary, for not all the sons of some of the prophets were prophets. It is true that many of the prophets had sons who became prophets, like Ibrahim for example, but that does not mean that it is necessary that all of them, if they left sons, would be prophets. But the meaning of his saying: is that there is no prophet after him; this is the meaning of the verse that admits of no other. There are two readings of it, one with the kasrah and the second with the fathah, and in my opinion it is with the kasrah. In that "Khatim" is a name of the doer, meaning the one who seals them. And in the reading with the fathah on the taa, it is like the seal (tool) of sealing, i.e., with which he seals, so the taa is opened. And the *khatam* is what a thing is sealed with, yes, like the ring that is on the finger and the name of its owner is written on it; so when he wants to seal a document, he seals it with this ring. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is *Khatim* and *Khatam*: *Khatim* because he is the last of them, and *Khatam* as if he stamped upon the messages after that, so it is not possible for a message to come after him. And this is the benefit of the two readings. And his saying: this, as you see, in the Qur'an and in the Sunnah as well, there are many proofs indicating that he is the Seal of the Prophets (peace and blessings be upon them all). Yes, and on this basis, there is no prophet after him.
If you say, "Has it not been established that 'Isa (Jesus), peace be upon him, will descend in the last of time and he is a prophet?" The answer is yes, he will descend and he is a prophet, but the prophethood of 'Isa did not renew after that; rather, he was a prophet before he was raised up, and his prophethood did not renew after the prophethood of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Thus, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was the Seal of the Prophets. Will 'Isa bring a new Shari'ah? No. If you say, "Does he not abolish the jizyah, break the cross, and kill the pig, and accept only Islam?" The answer is yes, and these rulings are contrary to the ruling of the Shari'ah now. Does that mean he brings renewed rulings? The answer is no, because the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) informing about this constitutes his approval of it, so this becomes part of the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). This is because it is known that the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is his saying, his doing, and his approval. So when he spoke about 'Isa approving these actions, that became part of his Sunnah. And thus, 'Isa did not bring a new prophethood, nor did he bring new legislation, and there is no problem in that.