Support the Messengers not idolise them!
Perhaps the most obvious Quranic command with regards to the relationship between the messenger of God and his followers is found in the numerous verses that contain God's command for all believers to obey God and obey the messenger (e.g. 5:92). This command is repeated in numerous Quranic verses. By trying to comprehend the meaning of this command we find that this is one of the most manipulated verses in the Quran.
According to the belief of the majority of Muslims, this command means that they should obey every word uttered by the messenger, and also live their lives by copying his "sunna" (methodology). As a result, they have set up a new source of jurisdiction (hadith and sunna) which they believe is the genuine teachings, sayings and preaching of the messenger.
But through a simple examination of the Quranic verses that command us to obey the messenger, it becomes quite clear that the emphasis is on obeying the "message" and not the personal views of the messenger. In his personal views he could be right or wrong. But the message he delivers from God is always the uncorrupted truth. There are no verses in the Quran that say obey God and obey Jesus, Moses or Muhammad, the word used in all such verses is always: obey the messenger. This confirms that the emphasis is on the message and not the person of the messenger.
We read in the Quran clear confirmation that we should not idolise God's messengers nor love them as we should love God:
"Yet, some people set up idols to rival God, and love them as if they are God. Those who believe love God the most. If only the transgressors could see themselves when they see the retribution! They will realize then that all power belongs to God alone, and that God's retribution is awesome" 2:165
We are also told that no genuine messenger will command his people to idolise him or love him as they should love God:
"Never would a human being whom God blessed with the scripture and prophethood say to the people, "Idolize me beside God." Instead, (he would say), "Devote yourselves absolutely to your Lord alone," according to the scripture you preach and the teachings you learn.
Nor would he command you to idolize the angels and the prophets as lords. Would he exhort you to disbelieve after becoming submitters"? 3:79-80
In spite of these clear words in the Quran, sadly we find that Satan has enticed people to idolise their messengers and turn them into god-like figures who are regarded as infallible and perfect!
To achieve his aim, Satan resorts to well known tricks which sadly most believers fall victim to:
1- The first of the tricks used by Satan is to corrupt the words of the messenger after his death, and fabricate sayings by the messenger where he is claimed to have commanded his people to love him to the extent of worship. Satan did this with Jesus and the Christians, and also with Muhammad and the Muslims. With regards to Jesus, the reader is asked to pose the question:
How many times do you hear the words "love Jesus" and "let Jesus into your life" and "Jesus died for you" ... etc"?
On the other hand, how many times do you hear the words "Let God into your life", "worship God" ... etc?
With the Muslims, Satan employed the same tactics. He fabricated sayings and attributed them to prophet Muhammad where it is claimed that Muhammad asked all Muslims to love him more than they love their children their families, themselves and more than they love the whole world !
Here we must ask the following question: Is it possible for us to love someone more than ourselves and more than the whole world unless we in fact worship that person?
Moreover, God tells us in 3:79-80 that no genuine messenger would ask his people to idolise him besides God. Why do they not believe God's words and in stead believe a dubious hadith that is a complete lie against the prophet?
We need to apply some common sense here; Is it possible that prophet Muhammad who was commanded to preach the love and devotion to God alone (3:79-80), made a U-turn and in stead asked people to love him to the extent of worship?
Obviously not! Muhammad, like any other of God's messengers, never advocated the love of himself, without any doubt he must have only advocated the love and worship of God. To even suggest that Muhammad advocated the love of himself is to actually insult his integrity as a prophet of God and to undermine the purity of his devotion to God.
2- The second trick used by Satan to lead the people to idolise God's messengers is to invent a lie that says that there is no salvation except through the messenger of God. As a result, the people idolise these messengers in the belief that salvation can only be attained through them. With the Christians, Satan invented the concept of "Salvation through Jesus". With Muslims, Satan invented the concept of the "Intercession of Muhammad". Although the titles of the two concepts are different yet the end result is the same. The Christians have been led to believe that they cannot get to heaven except through Jesus. On the other hand, the Muslims have been led to believe that they will never exit hell and enter heaven except through the intercession of Muhammad! Along the way, Satan has corrupted the meaning of verse 19:71 in the Quran in order to trick Muslims into believing that they are all initially destined to hell. Please see: The manipulation of 19:71
And since Muslims genuinely believe that they have no chance of exiting hell unless Muhammad intercedes for them, they inevitably end up idolising Muhammad against his wishes.
Needless to say, the whole concept of intercession is totally against the truth of the Quran.
To read the detailed account of this issue please check the following page:
3- The third of Satan's tricks is to trick the people into believing that the messenger gave all his life and died for them. Once again this was Satan's trick with the Christians as they were made to belief that Jesus voluntarily suffered and chose to die on the cross because of his love to his fellow man and for the sake of taking away the sins of the world!
Equally, with the Muslims, Satan has led them to believe that Muhammad lived through torture and great pain and suffering for their own sake and because he loved them so much.
As a result, these people find themselves with no choice except to idolise and love these messengers to the extent of worship so as to pay back the love and suffering endured by the messengers.
In reality, neither Jesus nor Muhammad nor any messenger had any choice in the way they lived or died. They were all ordained by God and blessed to be deliverers of His message. God chose the persons of Jesus, Muhammad, Abraham and others, but had God willed He would have chosen a completely different set of people. The messengers of God carry out God's commands because of their utter devotion to God and not because they wish or could take the sins of anyone.
In essence, all praise, gratitude and devotion should be to God alone and not to the person of the messenger.
The Quran contains numerous verses that enjoins us to praise and glorify God day and night, but not one single verse where we are invited to glorify the messenger. Nevertheless, it is a sad fact that the majority of Muslims praise and commemorate the name of Muhammad day and night when the name of God is more worthy of constant praise.
Sura 33, verses 40 to 43:
“Muhammad was not the father of any man among you. He was a messenger of God and the final prophet. God is fully aware of all things.
O you who believe, you shall commemorate God frequently.
You shall glorify Him day and night.
He is the One who helps you, together with His angels, to lead you out of darkness into the light. He is Most Merciful towards the believers."
The wisdom learnt from the above verses is as follows:
1- There is a famous saying among the Arabs; when someone is constantly praising another person people would tell him “why are you always glorifying this person? Was he your father or something?”
The very indicative words “Muhammad was not the father of any man among you” followed by the words “He was a messenger of God and the final prophet” are definitely along the same line of thought as the above Arab saying.
2- These words are immediately followed by the word: “you shall commemorate God frequently” … in other words, it is God (and not Muhammad or any messenger) who is worthy of all our commemoration and glorification.
And as further confirmation we read the words which follow: ”You shall glorify Him (God) day and night.”
3- Further assurance is given in the words that it is God and His angels (and not Muhammad) who is the One ”to lead you out of darkness into the light”.