and the verb jaʾa ("came") is in the past tense, which means that Ahmad has already come, and we know of no one who came after Jesus except Muhammad ﷺ.
There is a distinction between the two names Muhammad and Ahmad, both in form and in meaning.
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Formally:
– Muhammad is a passive participle.
– Ahmad is a comparative/superlative noun. -
In meaning:
– With Muhammad, the act of praise is carried out by other people—people praise him.
– With Ahmad, the act of praise issues from him, that is, he ﷺ is the foremost of mankind in praising Allah; at the same time, the praise also attaches to him, meaning he is the most deserving of being praised.
Thus Muhammad denotes that he has in fact been praised, whereas Ahmad signifies that his praise is of a kind he truly deserves, for he is the person most entitled to praise. Perhaps this is why Allah inspired Jesus to proclaim: “and bringing good tidings of a Messenger who will come after me, whose name is Ahmad” (Q 61:6)—to show the Children of Israel that he is the foremost of people in praising Allah and the one most worthy of praise.
The poet’s phrase “the finest Prophet ever sent” combines prophethood and messengership. The word nabiyy is derived either from nabaʾ (“news”) on the pattern faʿīl with the sense of mafʿūl, or from nobwah, meaning “elevation,” for nabā yanbū means “to rise.” A prophet is undoubtedly of exalted rank, and Muhammad ﷺ is the most perfect of all who were sent and the most perfect of all who were informed; hence the poet says, “Muhammad, the finest Prophet ever sent.”
The author chose to say “Prophet ever sent,” not “Messenger ever sent,” because every messenger is necessarily a prophet, and the indication of prophethood in the word “messenger” is only implicit. When the explicit term is mentioned, it conveys the intended meaning more eloquently. By coupling prophethood with messengership, the author makes an explicit statement about prophethood; had he limited himself to “messenger,” we would have derived the sense of prophethood only