Is the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat the last prophet?

No. In the Islamic sense the last prophet is the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) alone. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), the Promised Messiah, is subordinate to him and holds the station of the Mahdi, the one guided by God.

The phrase “last prophet” has a fixed meaning in Islam. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) brought the last book, the last law and the last authoritative word. After him no book will replace the Holy Qur’an and no law will cancel his. No one shares this rank with him.

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), the Promised Messiah, never claimed this rank. He brought no new book and no new law. Everything he taught, he took from the Holy Qur’an and from the example of the Holy Prophet (saw). He is not an independent prophet but a servant who depends entirely on his master.

Think of a student who has learned everything from his teacher. The further the student goes, the greater the teacher appears. The student does not take the teacher’s place. He shows what the teacher was capable of.

His station is that of the Mahdi. The word means “the rightly guided one”, someone whom God Himself guides. The verse from Surah Al-Jumu‘ah above speaks of later people who will be joined to the first companions. The Promised Messiah (as) came to restore this bond, not to open a new path beside that of the Holy Prophet (saw).