Special Attributes of the Holy Prophet ﷺ
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ شَاهِدًا وَمُبَشِّرًا وَنَذِيرًا ﴿45﴾ وَدَاعِيًا إِلَى اللَّـهِ بِإِذْنِهِ وَسِرَاجًا مُّنِيرًا ﴿46﴾
O prophet, We have sent you as a witness and a bearer of good news and a warner and as one who calls (people) towards Allah with His permission, and as a luminous lamp. (33:45-46)
The text here reverts to the special perfect attributes of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Five attributes have been mentioned here - 'Shahid', 'mubashshir', "nadhir', da` i ila Allah'. 'siraj munir'. 'Shahid' (a witness) means that the Holy Prophet ﷺ will be a witness of the ummah on the Day of Judgment according to a hadith narrated by Sayyidna Abu Said al-Khudri ؓ and reported by Bukhari, Nasa` i and Tirmidhi. It is mentioned in some parts of that Hadith that on the Day of Judgment when Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) will be presented before Allah, he will be asked whether he had conveyed Allah's Message to his Ummah. He will reply that he did. Then his Ummah will be presented and they will deny having received any message of Allah. Then Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) will be asked whether he has any witness to his claim of having conveyed the message of truth, and he will reply that Muhammad and his Ummah are witnesses. Some narrations have it that he will present the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ as witness and this Ummah will give evidence in his favour. At this, the Ummah of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) will argue 'How can they, who were not even born at that time, give evidence in our case?'
Now the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ will be asked to substantiate their evidence and they will answer that no doubt they were not born at that time but they were told about it by their Holy Prophet ﷺ in whom they believe and trust. At this time the Holy Prophet ﷺ will be asked to give testimony regarding the veracity of his Ummah's statement.
Briefly, the Holy Prophet ﷺ through his testimony, will confirm and verify the statement of his Ummah that, of course, he had given them that news.
Another general meaning of being a witness for the Ummah may be that the Holy Prophet ﷺ will give evidence about the good and bad deeds of all the individuals of his Ummah. And this evidence would be on the basis that the deeds of the Ummah are presented before the Holy Prophet ﷺ every morning and evening daily; some narrations state that the deeds are presented once a week. The Holy Prophet ﷺ thus recognizes each and every individual of his Ummah by their deeds and as such he will be made witness for the Ummah on the Doomsday. (Ibn al-Mubarak from Sa'id Ibn al- Musayyab, Mazhari)
'Mubashshshir' means bearer of good news, and as such the Holy Prophet ﷺ is the announcer of the good news of Paradise for the righteous people of his Ummah.
'Nadhir' means the one who warns; thus the Holy Prophet ﷺ also puts the fear of Allah's punishment in the hearts of his Ummah in case they violate or disobey the injunctions of Shari'ah.