The Promised Messiahas states:
“A successor is called a khalifa. The successor of a prophet in the real sense can only be the one who has the excellences of a prophet on a shadow-like basis … In fact, a khalifa is the reflection of a prophet. As no person can live forever, God Almighty willed to retain the existence of prophets – who are the most eminent and best among all beings of the world – as a reflection till the Day of Judgement. It is for this reason that Allah the Exalted chose Khilafat so that the world may never and at no time be deprived of the blessings of prophethood.”
(Shahadat-ul-Quran, Ruhani Khazain, Vol. 6, p. 353)