Types of Claims to Prophethood

Deniers of the Finality of Prophethood and proponents of false ideologies have concocted various self-styled categories of prophethood. Their goal is to create breaches in the consensus belief of the Muslim Ummah and to paint their baseless claims with an academic facade.

The following are the five categorizations of claims to prophethood:

1.    Claim to Independent or Legislative Prophethood In this type of claim, the claimant asserts that he has been granted a completely new Sharia (law), commandments, and a divine book from Allah Almighty, which possesses the authority to abrogate or alter the rulings of the previous Sharia. Making such a claim after the Sharia of Muhammad (PBUH) results in being unanimously considered outside the fold of Islam, an infidel (Kafir), and an apostate (Murtad).

2.    Claim to Non-Legislative or Propagational Prophethood By virtue of this claim, the claimant does not lay claim to a new Sharia or a new book. However, he insists that he is receiving divine revelation solely for the propagation and promotion of the previous Sharia (e.g., the Sharia of Muhammad, PBUH) and that he has been granted the office of a prophet. According to the unanimous consensus of Islamic scholars, this claim is also dynamic misguidance and an open rebellion against Islam, because the door to the revelation of prophethood has been completely closed after the Prophet (PBUH).

3.    Claim to Shadowy (Zilli) Prophethood This is a baseless philosophical and misleading pseudo-mystical term. According to this claim, the claimant asserts that as a result of his spiritual evolution, rigorous discipline, and true servitude to the original Prophet, he has developed within himself a perfect reflection or shadow (Zill) of the original Prophet's attributes, thereby acquiring the grace of prophethood. Scholars of the Ummah have declared this to be disbelief (Kufr), as prophethood is not something acquired through effort (Kasbi) but is purely gifted (Wahbi), granted solely through divine selection.

4.    Claim to Manifestational (Baruzi) Prophethood Under this false claim, the claimant asserts that he has reappeared in the world as a perfect manifestation (Baruz) of the spirituality of a past Prophet, and that his own personal identity has been annihilated, becoming part of the original Prophet's existence. This belief is, in reality, a derivative of the Hindu concepts of transmigration of souls (Tanasuk) and incarnation (Hulool). Proponents of this claim are deemed heretics (Zindeeq) who have no connection to Islam.

5.    Claim to Partnership in Prophethood In this type of claim, the claimant accepts that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) is indeed a true messenger of God. However, he wrongfully assumes that he has also been commissioned alongside the Prophet (PBUH) as an equal partner or helper in the function of prophethood (such as the claim of Musaylimah the Liar).