These words make it absolutely plain that Hazrat Mirza is not claiming anything here which he was denying previously. The Qadiani belief about this booklet is that previously Hazrat Mirza had been denying claiming to be a prophet and in this booklet he was now claiming to be a prophet. But Hazrat Mirza says that the sense in which he previously allowed the application to him of the words nabi and rasul, it is in exactly the same sense that he is now affirming that application.

Therefore we must look in his previous writings to see in what sense had he never denied being called a prophet. This is the sense in which a muhaddas is a prophet, i.e. in the imperfect, or linguistic, or metaphorical sense. See the two quotations in Note 20 in this connection.

As Hazrat Mirza has referred here to his previous denials of claiming prophethood, and has in fact confirmed them, we may quote here some of those vociferous denials to show exactly what he denied and what he did not deny:

1. "Let it be clear to him [an opponent Maulvi] that I too curse the man who would claim prophethood ... And it is not wahy nubuwwat but wahy wilayat which is received by the saints under the shadow of the prophethood of the Holy Prophet Muhammad by perfect obedience to him, in this we do believe. ... In short, there is no claim of prophethood on my part either. The claim is only of wilayat [sainthood] and mujaddidiyya [being a mujaddid]." (Majmu'a Ishtiharat, vol. ii, pp. 297-298, January 1897)

2. "One of the objections of those who call me kafir is that they say: This man claims prophethood and says that I am one of the prophets. The answer is that you should know, O brother, that I have not claimed prophethood nor have I said to them that I am a prophet. ... I said to them nothing except what I wrote in my books, namely, that I am a muhaddas and Allah speaks to me as He speaks to muhaddases." (Hamamat-ul-Bushra, 1894, p. 79)

3. "I make no claim to prophethood. This is your mistake, or you have some motive in mind. Is it necessary that the person who lays claim to revelation should also be prophet?" (Jang Muqaddas, June 1893, p. 67)

4. "I do not make a claim to prophethood ... After our leader and master, Muhammad mustafa, may peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him, the khatam-ul-mursalin [last of the messengers], I consider anyone who claims prophethood and messengership to be a liar and kafir." (Majmu'a Ishtiharat, vol. i, pp. 230-231, statement issued on 2 October 1891.)

5. "By way of a fabrication, they slander me by alleging that I have made a claim to prophethood and that I deny miracles and the angels. It should be remembered that all this is a fabrication." (Kitab al-Bariyya, January 1898, p. 182, footnote)

6. "Can a wretched imposter who claims messengership and prophethood for himself have any belief in the Holy Quran? And can a man who believes in the Holy Quran, and believes the verse 'He is the Messenger of Allah and the Khatam an-nabiyyin' to be the word of God, say that he is a messenger and prophet after the Holy Prophet Muhammad? Anyone who is fair-minded should remember that I have never, at any time, made a claim of prophethood or messengership in the real sense. To use a word in a non-real sense, and to employ it in speech according to its broad, root meaning, does not imply heresy (kufr). However, I do not like even this much, for there is the possibility that ordinary Muslims may misunderstand it." (Anjam Atham, January 1897, p. 27, footnote)

In all the above extracts, Hazrat Mirza has denied claiming to be a prophet, without any reservation or qualification. What is more, using very strong language he has called this allegation against him as a "fabrication", and cursed anyone who claims prophethood and described such a claimant as a liar, a kafir, and a wretched imposter. While denying claiming prophethood what he did not deny was claiming to be a recipient of revelation as bestowed upon non-prophets.