يَا بَنِي آدَمَ إِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِّنكُمْ يَقُصُّونَ عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِي فَمَنِ اتَّقَى وَأَصْلَحَ فَلاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

What the Bahais say:
This verse refers to a never-ending chain of prophets and Bahaullah was merely one of these prophets. In effect, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was not the last prophet.

What is the basis of this interpretation:
This interpretation takes into consideration the Quranic Verse out of context without giving due consideration to its spirit and to the verses preceding and succeeding it. In effect, it is an inaccurate interpretation.

What the Muslims say:
In this verse Allah announces to all mankind that He will send forth a chain of prophets to narrate His Signs. When taken in context of Surah Ahzaab: 40), it means that the chain of prophets that Allah will send forth will end with Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

First let us look at Surah Aaraaf a little more closely to understand its 35th verse better. We find that like the 35th verse, there is a series of Quranic verses beginning with 'O ye Children of Adam!' To be precise there are 4 verses wherein Allah exhorts mankind (the Children of Adam). These verses are in the backdrop of the incident involving the deceiving of Adam and Eve by Satan. Allah ordered them out of Paradise, but not before He advanced some words of admonition and advice for them. I have listed the 4 verses below, the verse under review (Surah Aaraaf: 35) comes at the end.

يَا بَنِي آدَمَ قَدْ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ لِبَاسًا يُوَارِي سَوْءَاتِكُمْ وَرِيشًا وَلِبَاسُ التَّقْوَىَ ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ ذَلِكَ مِنْ آيَاتِ اللّهِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَذَّكَّرُونَ

O ye Children of Adam! We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your shame, as well as to be an adornment to you. But the raiment of righteousness,- that is the best. Such are among the Signs of Allah, that they may receive admonition! (Surah Aaraaf: 26)

يَا بَنِي آدَمَ لاَ يَفْتِنَنَّكُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ كَمَا أَخْرَجَ أَبَوَيْكُم مِّنَ الْجَنَّةِ يَنزِعُ عَنْهُمَا لِبَاسَهُمَا لِيُرِيَهُمَا سَوْءَاتِهِمَا إِنَّهُ يَرَاكُمْ هُوَ وَقَبِيلُهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لاَ تَرَوْنَهُمْ إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا الشَّيَاطِينَ أَوْلِيَاء لِلَّذِينَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ

O ye Children of Adam! Let not Satan seduce you, in the same manner as He got your parents out of the Garden, stripping them of their raiment, to expose their shame: for he and his tribe watch you from a position where ye cannot see them: We made the evil ones friends (only) to those without faith. (Surah Aaraaf: 27)

يَا بَنِي آدَمَ خُذُواْ زِينَتَكُمْ عِندَ كُلِّ مَسْجِدٍ وكُلُواْ وَاشْرَبُواْ وَلاَ تُسْرِفُواْ إِنَّهُ لاَ يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِينَ

O Children of Adam! Wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer: eat and drink: But waste not by excess, for Allah loveth not the wasters. (Surah Aaraaf: 31)

يَا بَنِي آدَمَ إِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِّنكُمْ يَقُصُّونَ عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِي فَمَنِ اتَّقَى وَأَصْلَحَ فَلاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

O ye Children of Adam! Whenever there come to you apostles 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. (Surah Aaraaf: 35)

It is apparent to any objective reader the nature of these verses and the divine wisdom behind revealing them. Before sending Adam and Eve to the earth, Allah wishes to admonish mankind so that they are armed to meet the rigours of earthly life. To that end, Allah counsels man to acquire righteousness and piety, to beware of the Satan, not be excessive and accept the signs of the Prophets.

To answer the crooked interpretation advanced by the Bahais to support Bahaullah's prophethood in the light of this verse:

Since the Holy Quran has no contradiction every verse has a deeper interpretation that makes it compatible with all the other verses. In this case (Aaraaf: 34), the Bahais have offered a simplistic interpretation that contradicts the clear verse of Surah Ahzaab: 40 - 'Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets' (Read More)

Therefore, this verse should be interpreted as 'O Children of Adam, My Prophets will come to you and this chain will terminate with Muhammad.'

For instance, Allah has in several places in the Holy Quran discussed the creation of man, animals, vegetation, constellations, etc. But that does not mean that the chain of creation is never-ending and will go on indefinitely. In other places in the Quran, Allah has spoken of a definite termination like in Surah Rahmaan: 26-27 -

كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ وَيَبْقَى وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ

So the chain of creation will continue terminating in the Day of Judgement. The children of Adam will perish one day and obviously the chain of prophets will also come to an end.

Take for instance the 27th verse of Surah Aaraaf, 'O ye Children of Adam! Let not Satan seduce you, in the same manner as He got your parents out of the Garden…' Satan, in this verse, is identified as man's enemy. Allah forewarns man to be way of Satan's seduction, but is Satan going to be deceiving forever?

In Surah Hijr: 36- 38, Allah says:

قَالَ رَبِّ فَأَنظِرْنِي إِلَى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ قَالَ فَإِنَّكَ مِنَ الْمُنظَرِينَ إِلَى يَومِ الْوَقْتِ الْمَعْلُومِ

So while Satan is going to deceive man, the period of his creation is limited. He will die one day. Children of Adam will be annihilated one day as underscored by Surah Rahmaan: 26-27. On the same lines, the chain of prophets will also come to an end one day. And as highlighted by Surah Ahzaab, verse 40, prophethood will come to an end in the persona of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Another interpretations of this verse
This verse refers to all mankind - Children of Adam. When Allah has addressed Muslims in the Quran, He addresses them as 'O ye who believe!' If Allah wanted to tell the Muslims that there will be Prophet after Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), He would have said, 'O ye who believe! Whenever there come to you apostles from amongst you, rehearsing My Signs unto you…'

So this verse should be interpreted as - O Children of Adam, My Apostles will come to you and this chain will end in Muhammad (pbuh).

Interpretation of this verse from the Sunnah
While there are too many traditions recorded by Muslim interpreters of the Quran under the 35th verse of Surah Aaraaf, I would like to draw the attention of my readers to just one of those traditions. This should prove sufficient to reject the Bahai misinterpretation of this verse.

In Al Durrul Mansoor volume 3, page 82, the author - Jalaluddin Suyuti has reported this tradition:

Ibne Jarir narrates from Abi Sayyaar Al Silmi: Surely Allah placed Adam and his children in His Palm, then He said - O ye Children of Adam! Whenever there come to you apostles 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.

Then Allah looked towards the Messengers and said - 'O Messengers! Eat from the pure (food) and act righteously, I am aware of what you do. And this, your nation, is one nation. And I am Your Lord, then fear Me.' Then Allah sent them forth.

As this tradition indicates, the Messengers to be sent were a select few that Allah had announced before sending forth His Creation. It is not as the Bahais claim that the Messengers are an indefinite number and will keep coming to mankind. Rather, both mankind and Messengers are a definite number and have been sent to this world for a definite term. The Holy Quran and traditions have pointed out that Islam is the last nation and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is the last prophet.

Conclusion
Once again, the above verses and traditions indicate that there is a disconnect between the interpretation of the Bahais and the actual meaning that Allah wishes to convey in the Quran.

As per the Bahais, there can be a Messenger after the Holy Prophet of Islam. Then why no Messenger was sent by Allah between the Holy Prophet of Islam (pbuh) and Bahaullah - a period of more than 1,200 years? And why was the Shariat (code of laws) of the Bab altered within the space of 7 years to accomodate the laws of Bahaullah?

Bahaullah has himself acknowledged that Hazrat Mohammed (pbuh) was the final Prophet and Messenger from Allah. He says on page 293 of Ishraqat, "Salutations be upon the Lord of mankind..., He (Mohammed), through whom messengership (Risalat) and prophethood (Nabuwwat) have been completed (intahata)"

Bahais have altered the understanding to indicate that Hazrat Mohammed was the last prophet of the "Adamic cycle" and now a "new cycle" has commenced. Who are the Bahais trying to fool? 124,000 prophets passed away from Hazrat Adam (as) to Hazrat Mohammed (pbuh) with none of them even hinting towards a cycle of any kind. On the contrary, we have traditions indicating exactly the opposite.

The above interpretations from Muslim sources should also be sufficient to highlight how the Bahais have misinterpreted the Quran. It is but logical that if we wish to seek a clarification about the Quran, then we should seek it from the one on whom the Quran was revealed and not from some person who was born more than 1,200 years after the incident.