A lady wrote to Hazrat Amirul Momineen, Khalifatul-Masih V^(aba) that an Ahmadi had said in response to a question on his YouTube channel that “Khatam” was the name of the Holy Prophet^(sa) and therefore, there was nothing wrong with adding the phrase “Khatamun-Nabiyyin” to “Muhammadur-Rasulullah” in the Shahadah and that “Ahmadur-Rasulullah”, as well as “Muzzammil” or “Muddathir” could be added as they too were the names of the Holy Prophet^(sa). She asked whether this view was correct? 

Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul-Masih V^(aba), while replying to the above question in a letter dated 20 October 2020, gave the following instructions:

“In reference to what you have written in your letter, if this person, an Ahmadi, has indeed said so, then they are wrong. It is not at all the position of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat that such a change can take place in the shahadah. Wherever the words of the shahadah appear in the ahadith of the Holy Prophet^(sa), his personal name [Muhammad] has been mentioned in every instance. Nowhere did the Holy Prophet^(sa) or his Companions^(ra) use any of his attributive names instead of his personal name. Moreover, the Just Arbiter [Hakam and Adl] of this age, the Promised Messiah^(as) has also stated the same shahadah across his writings and other discourses and has only used the personal name of the Holy Prophet^(sa) in the shahadah. 

“Hence, not only is this kind of change against uniformity, but it is also against the basic teachings of Islam. Therefore, every Ahmadi ought to avoid such things.”