Zilli Nabuwaah in the Quran

Part 1:

The reader's attention should be drawn to Allah’s statement that He has sent a Messenger to two different people:

هُوَ الَّذِي بَعَثَ فِي الْأُمِّيِّينَ رَسُولًا مِّنْهُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَإِن كَانُوا مِن قَبْلُ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ

He is the One [Allah] Who sent in the Ummiyyeen [illiterate Arabs] a Messenger [Muhammad] among them, to recite upon them His [Allah’s] Signs, to purify them, and to teach them the Book and the Wisdom. And they were, before this, manifestly astray.

وَآخَرِينَ مِنْهُمْ لَمَّا يَلْحَقُوا بِهِمْ ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ 

And [also] among the Aakhareen [others] who have not [yet] met them [Ummiyyin]. And He [Allah] is the Mighty, the Wise.

(Sura 62: 2–3)

The second Verse quoted is a continuation of what is being stated in the first, namely, that Allah has sent a Messenger among the Ummiyyeen, and He has sent the same Messenger among the Akhareen.

This is why the second Verse begins with the letter ‘Waw’, and it is an example of al-Waw Aatifa, a prefixed conjunction (a particle which connects two words, phrases, or clauses together).

Hence, the sending of the Messenger is being connected to what is mentioned after the prefixed conjunction, namely, the Akhareen. Allah says that among them this same Messenger [Muhammad] peace be upon him is to be sent.
Furthermore it is stated that the Akhareen are others whom the Ummiyyeen [illiterate Arabs among whom the Prophet was raised] haven’t met. The reason these two groups have not met each other is because they are separated by time.

The exegetes understand ‘Akhareen’ (others) to be a reference to the Ajam (non-Arabs). Now it is obvious that the Prophet (peace be upon him), who passed away some 15 centuries ago, never appeared among such ‘Akhareen’, yet the grammatical structure of this Verse is such that one has to understand that two sendings of the same Messenger are being described, one among the Ummiyyeen and another among the Akhareen.

A clue to solving this apparent paradox of how the same Messenger can be raised up among two different groups of people who have never met each other, due to the separation in time, can be found in the Prophet’s explanation of this Verse in an authentic Hadith:

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، رضى الله عنه قَالَ كُنَّا جُلُوسًا عِنْدَ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَأُنْزِلَتْ عَلَيْهِ سُورَةُ الْجُمُعَةِ ‏{‏وَآخَرِينَ مِنْهُمْ لَمَّا يَلْحَقُوا بِهِمْ‏}‏ قَالَ قُلْتُ مَنْ هُمْ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ فَلَمْ يُرَاجِعْهُ حَتَّى سَأَلَ ثَلاَثًا، وَفِينَا سَلْمَانُ الْفَارِسِيُّ، وَضَعَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَدَهُ عَلَى سَلْمَانَ ثُمَّ قَالَ ‏"‏ لَوْ كَانَ الإِيمَانُ عِنْدَ الثُّرَيَّا لَنَالَهُ رِجَالٌ ـ أَوْ رَجُلٌ ـ مِنْ هَؤُلاَءِ

Narrated Abu Huraira: While we were sitting with the Prophet (ﷺ) Surat Al-Jumu'a was revealed to him, and when the Verse, "And He (Allah) has sent him (Muhammad) also to other (Muslims).....' (62.3) was recited by the Prophet, I said, "Who are they, O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)?" The Prophet (ﷺ) did not reply till I repeated my question thrice. At that time, Salman Al-Farisi was with us. So Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) put his hand on Salman, saying, "If Faith were at (the place of) Ath-Thuraiya (Pleiades), even then (some men or a man from these people (i.e. Salman's folk) would attain it." (Bukhari Sharif)

Some versions of this Hadith mention that men (plural) will reach it (faith) but others mention a single man. The point is, however, that the Prophet (peace be upon him) by mentioning a single man, was not referring to the Akhareen necessarily, but referring to the sending of Him to be raised among the Akhareen. Although only a single Messenger is mentioned as being raised up among two different groups, the Prophet (peace be upon him) has apparently described his ‘second raising’ among the Akhareen as being fulfilled in the appearance of a man from the people of Salman al-Farisi (R.A), who shall appear at a time when the Earth has empty of Faith and Faith has gone up to be suspended in the Stars.

Part 2:

 Previously, we examined the ayah of Qur'an al-Karim:

and stated that the inclusion of the Waw al-‘Aatifa, a prefixed conjunction (a particle which connects two words, phrases, or clauses together) yields the meaning that Allah Most High has sent His Messenger Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) with two sendings, one to the Ummiyyin and the second to the Aakharin. The ignorant ones argue that the implication of this Verse is only that the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) has been sent for everyone, both the Ummiyyin and the Aakharin. They therefore deny our reading and understanding that two actual sendings are spoken of in this Qur’anic passage. In support of my thesis that the grammatical structure of the Ayah proves two sendings of the same Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) I shall present references from the classical books of Tafsir:

{ وَءاخَرِينَ } عطف على الأميين. يعني بعث في آخرين منهم

Source: Tafsir al-Kabir (Fakhr al-Din al-Razi); v. 30, p. 4

More quotes are:

يقول تعالى ذكره: وهو الذي بعث في الأميين رسولا منهم، وفي آخرين منهم لما يلحقوا بهم فآخرون في موضع خفض عطفاً على الأميين

Source: Tafsir Ibn Jarir al-Tabari

Note to be made: The word minhum occurring in both Verses 2 and 3 indicate that the same Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) is sent or raised up among the Ummiyyin and among the Aakharin. In other words, just as the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) was raised up, in his essence, among the illiterate Arabs, likewise, he is to be raised up among the Aakharin, whom most of the exegetes identify as the Ajam (non-Arabs) of the latter days, a view reinforced by the Hadith of the Pleiades cited in the previous entry.

Regarding minhum, Imam al-Shawkani writes in his commentary of this passage:

{ مِنْهُمْ }: من أنفسهم، ومن جنسهم، ومن جملتهم

“From among them” from among themselves [anfusuhum], and from among their genus [jinsuhum], and from among their allocation [jumlatuhum].

{ وَءاخَرِينَ مِنْهُمْ } معطوف على الأميين أي: بعث في الأميين، وبعث في آخرين منهم

Source: Fath al-Qadir (Shawkani), p. 1490

And:

قوله تعالى: { وَآخَرِينَ مِنْهُمْ } هو عطف على «الأمِّيين» أي بعث في الأميّين وبعث في آخرين منهم

Source: Tafsir al-Qurtubi

And:

وبعث محمداً في آخرين منهم

“And Muhammad was sent in the Aakharin, among them”

Source: Zad al-Masir (Ibn al-Jawzi), p. 1433

And:

{ وَءاخَرِينَ مِنْهُمْ } مجرور معطوف على { ٱلأَمّيّينَ } يعني أنه بعثه في الأميين الذين على عهده وفي آخرين من الأميين

Source: Tafsir al-Nasafi; v.3 p.470

*Note: Although Imam al-Nasafi states here that the second Ba’th (‘sending’) of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was among the latter ones from among the Ummiyyin, the majority of exegetes conclude that the Aakharin are separated from the Ummiyyin by time and refer to the Ajam (non-Arabs). Nevertheless, Imam al-Nasafi has based his reasoning on the grammatical structure of the Verse hence it cannot be denied that two distinct sendings of the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) are proven from this Qur’anic passage.

An example of the Waw al Aatifa:

آمَنَ الرَّسُولُ بِمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مِن رَّبِّهِ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ
The Messenger has believe in what was sent down unto him from his Lord, and the Believers [also] (Surah 2:285)

In conclusion, this passage of the Qur’an al-Karim puts forward a critical idea; the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be sent and raised up among the Aakharin also, like he was raised up and sent among the Ummiyyin some fifteen centuries ago. But since the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has passed away and is no more in this world, how can he be sent and raised up among the Aakharin of the latter-days. As was suggested previously where it was cited the Hadith of the Pleaides, the second advent of the Prophet (peace be upon him) shall be fulfilled in the emergence of a pious, saintly Believer from among the people of Salman the Persian. But this person has been identified with the Person of sayyidina Muhammad Rasul Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam), and this is to be understood through the concepts of buruz and Zilli form.

Shah Waliullah and the Second Advent of Prophet  ﷺ. 

This notion of a second advent is derived from the opening passage of Surat-al-Jumu’a (Sura 62) of the Holy Quraan, specifically when Allah Most High says:

وَآخَرِينَ مِنْهُمْ لَمَّا يَلْحَقُوا بِهِمْ ۚ

And Allah is the One Who has sent an Apostle in the Others too, who is from among them

(Sura 62: 3)

Despite the grammatical structure and wording of this Quraanic passage which manifestly establishes a second بعث ‘advent’ for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to be raised among the Aakharin, there are those who stubbornly persist in denying any such notion of a second advent. For this reason, if there are any from among them who have any regard for the great Mujaddid of the 12th century H, namely, Shah Waliullah, Muhaddith of Delhi, then they should know that the latter subscribed to the notion of a second advent. He wrote:

وأعظم الأنبياء شأناً من له نوع آخر من البعثة أيضاً وذلك أن يكون مراد الله تعالى فيه أن يكون سبباً لخروج الناس من الظلمات إلى النور وأن يكون قومه خير أمة أخرجت للناس فيكون بعثه يتناول بعثاً آخر

“The greatest of the Prophets in the matter (of excellence) is the one that that has a second advent too. The intention of Allah Most High in this is that it (the second advent) become a means for the bringing out of the people from darkness into Light. His (such a Prophet’s) people become the best Umma raised up from mankind, so the purpose of his (first) advent is fulfilled in the second advent too.”

Source: Hujjat Allah al-Baligha; v. 1 p. 156

The great scholar and Muhaddith of the Ahl al Hadith school, Muhammad b. Abdur Rahman al-Mubarakfuri (d. 1483 H), in explaining the verse of the Holy Qur'an:

وَّ اٰخَرِیۡنَ مِنۡہُمۡ لَمَّا یَلۡحَقُوۡا بِہِمۡ ؕ وَ ہُوَ الۡعَزِیۡزُ الۡحَکِیۡمُ “

And others among them who have not met them. And He (Allah) is the Mighty, the Wise.” (Surah 62:3)

The Muhaddith explains the verse as indicating that the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihi wasallam) has been sent with two sendings, one sending (بعث) to the Ummiyyeen, meaning the unlettered Arabs among whom the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihi wasallam) was born and raised, and a second seconding to the Akhireen, meaning those people who will come after during the latter days, particularly the non-Arabs. Mubarakfuri writes: 

قوله وآخرين منهم مَجْرُورٌ عَطْفًا عَلَى الْأُمِّيِّينَ أَيْ بَعَثَهُ فِي الْأُمِّيِّينَ الَّذِينَ عَلَى عَهْدِهِ وَبَعَثَهُ فِي آخَرِينَ مِنْهُمْ meaning that the “Akhireen” are in addition and continuation of what has been said about the Ummiyyeen. That is, the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihi wasallam) has been sent among the Ummiyyeen who were in his time, and he has been sent among the Akhireen from among them.

Al-Mubarakfuri, like many other commentators and scholars, has affirmed the fact that this passage of the Holy Quran proves a sort of second coming or sending of the Prophet (Sallallaho alaihi wasallam) in the latter days but in a metaphoric sense. This fact is further elucidated by the authentic Hadith about faith being brought back from the Pleiades by a man from the people of Salman al-Farisi (R.A). 

Reference: Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi; v.9, p.209

Disclaimer:A lot of this information was taken from this website https://islamsalvationfromhell.blogspot.com/. While the owner isn't an Ahmadi Muslim he has a lot of similar beliefs to us.