Though there are other examples, here is two examples from surah 3 that illustrate my point.

33 He sent down to you this scripture, truthfully, confirming all previous scriptures, and He sent down the Torah and the Gospel

Thus with the revelation of the Koran the previous revelations are confirmed.

350 "I confirm previous scripture - the Torah - and I revoke certain prohibitions imposed upon you. I come to you with sufficient proof from your Lord. Therefore, you shall observe GOD, and obey me.

Here Isa confirms what came BEFORE him, as each messenger would. Thus Isa is the stamp of the prophets before him - he has the role of authenticating them.

Note that authentication and confirmation are two aspects of the same thing

Synonyms confirm, corroborate, substantiate, authenticate, validate, verify
These verbs mean to affirm the truth, accuracy, or genuineness of something. Confirm implies removal of all doubt ?We must never make experiments to confirm our ideas, but simply to control them? (Claude Bernard). Corroborate refers to supporting something by means of strengthening evidence The witness is expected to corroborate the plaintiff's testimony. To substantiate is to establish by presenting substantial or tangible evidence ?one of the most fully substantiated of historical facts? (James Harvey Robinson). Authenticate implies the establishment of genuineness of something by the testimony of an expert Never purchase an antique before it has been authenticated. Validate refers to establishing the validity of something, such as a theory, claim, or judgment The divorce validated my parents' original objection to the marriage. Verify implies proving by comparison with an original or with established fact The bank refused to cash the check until the signature was verified.

This is my understanding on the matter.

Regards.

Thank you for your nice points. Your last post raised a point in my mind. That is when the prophets announced the coming of Muhammad, they were actually trying to authenticate themselves through him. As if they were saying that Muhammad is coming to authenticate us.

The other point is the fact that Muhammad authenticated himself.

Salaam and have a good night

Hussein

Just to clarify on Hussein's nice posting regarding the sealing or authentication of messages that have come before.

Each prophet is the seal of the prophets before them. Their coming validates the true messages that have come previously. No prophet from God will come and say for example that God is three - the prophet who comes always validates the truth of what came before.

Thus Muhammad is/was the latest of the prophets (that we acknowledge) who authenticated the prophets.

Regards.

to me, the stamp is something you close the letter with, so that no once can tamper with it. If someone did tamper with it, then it will be known.

You always put the stamp at the end of the letter to indicate that there are no more words to be added.

So the stamp authenticates what came before it and says that what comes after can be suspect.

Salaam

Hussein

Peace Hussein,

Documents in ancient times were not closed as you might think. That only happenned with the common use of paper. The seal on such documents did not necessarily come at the end either - sometimes it was placed centrally or in a corner.

You correctly point out that the seal prevents forgery or falsehood. That's the primary reason for the stamp.

Therefore the seal on such open documents served the primary purpose of authentication.

Closure would imply the case in which the privacy of a letter is the primary concern - in which case the letter may be closed/sealed for that purpose - and this was a later mediaeval usage for seals.

The message of God is never private or secret - it is open and stands as open truth. Closure is not even a consideration. The seal in the context of God is always for authentication - not for closure.

Examples of seal / stamp.

http//www.smith.edu/hsc/museum/ancient_inventions/images/hsc03a.jpg

Thanks for your conclusions.

To the best of my undrestanding

?Authenticator?
Surely the prophet did authenticate some of the prophets but not those that where not mentioned ? because he did not mention some he did not authenticate them that is simple for a lay man to understand.

Now , each time a revelation came in the past there where a series of prophets who
Came afterwards explaining the message but of course then the last prophet in that series would always be the sealer of the message ? I think.

In this case there where not any prophets to come after this prophet so he became the sealer as well.As he didn?t have any heirs/male children,as usually the prophets where the descendants.
033.040
SHAKIR Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Last of the prophets; and Allah is cognizant of all things.
People have always made their prophet to be the last before aswell-as you now!

4034 (YA) "And to you there came joseph in times gone by, with Clear Signs, but ye ceased not to doubt of the (Mission) for which he had come At length, when he died, ye said 'No apostle will Allah send after him.' thus doth Allah leave to stray such as transgress and live in doubt,-

But if Allah ever sees a need he I am sure will send a messenger again and thus another sealer of that message aswell ? But God knows Best.

007.035
YUSUFALI O ye Children of Adam! whenever there come to you messengers from amongst you, rehearsing My signs unto you,- those who are righteous and mend (their lives),- on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve.

Gods Blessings on all of us.

I thank you for your responses and your examples. you said

SO MY QUISTION TO YOU, IS THE SEAL PERMANENT ?.

Only GOD is permanent.

I do want to revisit this discussion and your original very thought provoking post. The root KH-T-M means to Seal for the verb and the word KHITM means the actual seal.

In Ayah 3340 the word that was used was
This word KHATAM means the one that seals for people or the tool that seals for things. So the signet ring is a khatam because it is the tool of sealing. In your original post, you used Authenticator which is part of the meaning. I think that the one that seals is a finisher and authenticator at the same time. Because that is what the seal does for letters, it closes it and authenticates what was written before the seal was placed.

So Muhammad is the one the Seals the prophets. He did not have to know them all, he just declared them correct and closed their messages, even the ones that were not named in the Qur'an.

Two very important points
1- Muhammad is the one that seals the prophets and not the Qur'an. As mentioned in the Aya 3340
2- Muhammad is dead and therefore the one that seals the prophets to declare that they are authentic is gone.

So let us go back to the letter analogy. Let us say that you have written and then sealed the letter. Then you think that you need to reopen it to add some more writing, then you have to break the seal. However, after you are done, you will need to reseal and reauthenticate what you have done, in order to be believed. If you don't do that then people will say that the letter was tampered with.

Since the one that seals the prophets is gone,then there is no way to authenticate any claim of prophecy after Muhammad.

Therefore if GOD is to allow the seal of prophethood (that was placed by Muhammad and not the Qur'an) to be broken, then GOD did not provide authentication. This makes it then highly unlikely that GOD will break this seal.

Salaam and have a great day.

hussein

See if you can follow this argument

Surely those who believe then disbelieve, again believe and again disbelieve, then increase in disbelief, Allah will not forgive them nor guide them in the (right) path
4137] Inna allatheena amanoo thummakafaroo thumma amanoo thumma kafaroo thumma izdadookufran lam yakuni Allahu liyaghfira lahum walaliyahdiyahum sabeelan

Those who believe, then reject faith, then believe (again) and (again) reject faith, and go on increasing in unbelief,- Allah will not forgive them nor guide them nor guide them on the way.

26] Inna allatheena kafaroo sawaonAAalayhim aanthartahum am lam tunthirhum layu/minoona

As to those who reject Faith, it is the same to them whether thou warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe.
7.
Khatama Allahu AAala quloobihimwaAAala samAAihim waAAala absarihim ghishawatunwalahum AAathabun AAatheemun

Allah hath set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes is a veil; great is the penalty they (incur).

Afaraayta mani ittakhatha ilahahuhawahu waadallahu Allahu AAalaAAilmin wakhatama AAala samAAihi waqalbihi wajaAAala AAalabasarihi ghishawatan faman yahdeehi min baAAdi Allahiafala tathakkaroona

Then seest thou such a one as takes as his god his own vain desire? Allah has, knowing (him as such), left him astray, and sealed his hearing and his heart (and understanding), and put a cover on his sight. Who, then, will guide him after Allah (has withdrawn Guidance)? Will ye not then receive admonition?
Amazing
According to 27 When a person rejects faith a seal is set on their hearts.
But according to 4137 this process can happen over and over . That is opening and setting the seal like believeing and rejecting faith over and over ?????.SO MY QUISTION TO YOU, IS THE SEAL PERMANENT ?.

I Might be wrong though - like before.

THANKS.

Another thread on this http//www.free-minds.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3016&highlight=last

Good thing , i agree with you that it does mean the seal as you sugested but could it be opened by say the Almighty - let me explain.

according to the following ayat's,

Allah hath set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes is a veil; great is the penalty they (incur).
2.

Say "Think ye, if Allah took away your hearing and your sight, and sealed up your hearts, who - a god other than Allah - could restore them to you?" See how We explain the signs by various (symbols); yet they turn aside.
3.

Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets and Allah has full knowledge of all things.
4.

That Day shall We set a seal on their mouths. But their hands will speak to us, and their feet bear witness, to all that they did.
5.

What! Do they say, "He has forged a falsehood against Allah"? But if Allah willed, He could seal up thy heart. And Allah blots out Vanity, and proves the Truth by His Words. For He knows well the secrets of all hearts.
6.

Then seest thou such a one as takes as his god his own vain desire? Allah has, knowing (him as such), left him astray, and sealed his hearing and his heart (and understanding), and put a cover on his sight. Who, then, will guide him after Allah (has withdrawn Guidance)? Will ye not then receive admonition?
7.

Their thirst will be slaked with Pure Wine sealed
8.

The seal thereof will be Musk And for this let those aspire, who have aspirations

As you know all the seals can be opened (except if you argue about where the prophet is concerned) in all the ayats above do you agree,if yes then why shouldn't Allah be able to open this one where the prophet is the seal.

My Salaams.

to me, the stamp is something you close the letter with, so that no once can tamper with it. If someone did tamper with it, then it will be known.

You always put the stamp at the end of the letter to indicate that there are no more words to be added.

So the stamp authenticates what came before it and says that what comes after can be suspect.

Salaam

Hussein

So i think my other topic on this might be,

Salaams.

Yes, very worthy of consideration.