Khilafat is a Sunnat Allah. According to Islamic teachings, and historic
evidences of enduring Divine practice ['Sunnat Allah'], a Prophet of God is usually succeeded by a
system of 'Khilafat' among the believers who followed in the footsteps of that
elect of God. Since the traditions of the Holy Prophet (sa) also acknowledges
prophets of the past without any large body of disciples and followers in their
times, how the mission of God as represented by the Messenger is continued in a
new era after the Prophet's times is indeed a matter of Divine Plan and related
decisions. In the aftermath of a question received by a member of our Jamaat on
prophethood and Khilafat, Hazrat Imam Muhyiuddin Al Khalifatullah
Al Mahdi Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius has advised his disciples to bear in mind that Allah’s works
and plans are always perfect. People may not understand a matter but that Allah
has the perfect reply for it.
Reproduced below is the Question raised to, and the Response offered by Hazrat Saheb (aba):
The Question is as thus: Huzur, there is a Hadith which
states that: 'There had not been any prophethood which was not succeeded by
Khilafat' (Kanz al-Ummal, Hadith 32246)
But in another long Hadith it is
mentioned that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had said: 'Nations were
displayed before me, one or two prophets would pass by along with a few
followers. A prophet would pass by accompanied by nobody…' (Bukhari)
The question here is that if a prophet had no follower, how could he be succeeded by Khilafat?