:salam2: Sister,
Thankyou for posting your question.
I always put that in the back of my mind, assuming I'm not understanding something (which I'm probably not), but the "Beware of Harun Yahya" thread brought this up. In the thread I stated that I perceived there to be some things in Islam that come close to idolatry in every day practice, although just "shirk" would be a better word I think since there's nothing to do with idols.
WHAT IS SHIRK?
Let us first discuss what does Shirk means? The greatest of all major sins is Shirk-that is to say, associating anyone or anything with Allah and it is of two kinds.
The first is to believe that Allah has an equal or to worship something or someone other than Him such as stone, a tree, a star, the sun, the moon, or a prophet, a saint, or an angel. This is the greatest Shirk about which Allah says:
Indeed, associating anything with Allah is a great wrong. (Surah Luqman 31:13).
Indeed, the one who associates anything with Allah, Allah will forbid him the Garden and his abode is the Fire (Al-Maidah 5:75).
Allah’s Messenger (Pbuh) asked his companions: “ Shall I not inform you about the three greatest sins?” They said: Yes, Messenger of Allah.” He then continued: “ Associating other objects of worship with Allah, disobedience to parents and lying under oath (deliberate perjury) and bearing false witness.” (Bukhari and Muslim). He also said: “ Avoid the seven noxious things, “ in which associating anything with Allah” is included.
The second kind of associating anything with Allah is insincerity and ostentation of one’s deeds as stated by Allah:
Anyone who is expecting to meet his Lord should act righteously and not make anything as a sharer in the worship of his Lord (Al-Kahf 18:110). That is to say, in all one’s deeds, one ought not to act for the sake of ostentation, but sincerely for the sake of Alalh alone.
Prophet Muhammad said: “ I warn you against the lesser polytheism.” The companions asked: “What is lesser polytheism, Messenger of Allah?” He replied: “Showing off”. On the day when Allah most high will reward people for their deeds, he will tell them, “ Go to those people for whose attention and praise you did these deeds and see whether they will reward you.” (Muslim and Ahmad). He also said: Allah says: “ If anyone does anything in which he associates another with Me, His action belongs to the one for whose sake he did it and I am clear of it. (Muslim and Ibn Majah).
So if anybody thinks that in Islam Prophet mohammed is being worshipped or has been elevated to very high status of God, he can apply following Acid Test.
Any candidate who passes the Acid test can be called God.
Any candidate, who claims to be God and fits in this four-line definition, passes the Acid test, is entitled to be called God and worshipped as God. Suppose a lunatic says that Muhammad (pbuh) is God, (God forbid).
Let’s put him to the test of Surah Ikhlas.
i. "Kul hu allah hu ahad" – Say He is Allah, The One and Only;
Is Muhammad (pbuh) one and only? No! he was not the only messenger. There were many other messengers.
ii. "Allah hus Samad" – Allah, The Eternal, Absolute;
We know that Muhammad (pbuh) had to undergo many hardships. Though he was the mightiest messenger of God, he died at the age of 63 and was buried in Madeenah.
iii. "Lam ya lid wa lam yulad" – He begetteth not Nor is He begotten;
We know that he was born in Makkah and his parents were Abdullah and Aaminah. He even had several children e.g. Fatimah, Ibrahim (may Allah be pleased with them), etc.
iv. "Wa lam ya kullahu kufuwan ahad" – And there is none like unto Him.
It should be clear to all that the Muslims love and revere the Prophet (pbuh) and are supposed to follow each and every of his commandments, yet you will not find a single Muslim in the whole world, who in his senses will ever say that Muhammad (pbuh) is God.
The Islamic Creed is, "La illaha illallah Muhammadur Rasoolullah", which means that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad (pbuh) is the messenger of Allah. This is repeated five times a day during the call for prayer, so that the Muslims are reminded daily that although they respect and obey him, he is only a Messenger and servant of God, and not God Himself. So there is no question of Shirk or Idolatry!
I understand that the reason Muhammad (pbuh) is mentioned more over other prophets is because he was the one to reveal the Qur'an and was the last messenger. And I'm not questioning why he should be respected, remembered, or followed, but it bothers me that he has a place in prayers when none of the other prophets do by name. To me, it seems like its getting very close to how Catholics pray to Mary instead of just to God alone.
If i am understanding correctly you are pointing about the name of prophet mohammed which we take during reciting of Darud i.e.
Translation:
Oh Allah, send grace and honour on Muhammad and
On the family and true followers of Muhammad
just as you sent Grace and Honour on Ibrahim
and on the family and true followers of Ibrahim
Surely, you are praiseworthy, the Great.
Oh Allah, send your blessing on Muhammad and
the true followers of Muhammad, just
as you sent blessings on Ibrahim
and his true followers
Surely, you are praiseworthy, the Great
* As you can see above that the name of Prophet Ibrahim is also mentoned. So saying why name of only prophet mohammed is mentioned is not true.
* If you read carefully you can see that Prophet mohammed is not being asked for anything (like idolators may ask their idols or christaian may ask to mary). Infact we are actually asking Allah to bless Prophet Mohammed and his true followers.
* Now your valid question may be why we send darud to prophet? Why a common man is sending darud to Prophet?
(c) Islam unlike most other religions doest not profess God-head for its Prophets. The Prophet (Pbuh) was asked to declare their human origin and nature in uncertain words.
“Say: I am only a mortal like you. My Lord inspireth in me that your God is only one God and whosoever hopeth for the meeting with his Lord, let him do righteous work and make none Sharer of the worship due unto his Lord”. (18:110)
The Prophets were humans selected and inspired by God to propagate the message of peace. They made it clear that their selection and guidance was due to God’s Mercy and Beneficence unto them and they also attributed their success and high places in the Hereafter to Allah’s Benevolence instead of their own righteous deeds. They guided us and prayed for us. We are in their debt and the least we can do to repay their debts, is to stick to the straight path showed by them and pray for them. We Muslims pray for all the Prophets including Jesus Christ (A.S)
Because of a clear cut conception of unity of not mixing it with any duality, trinity or polynity, there are no contradictions or unexplainable mysteries in Islamic prayers and worships Jesus Christ himself prayed for showing signs and when in trouble.
While raising lazarus from dead, Jesus made it clear the miracles, he performed, were due to God’s help and Benevolence on him.
“So they took away the stone (from the grave) And Jesus lifted up his eyes (towards God) and said: father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. I knew that thou hearest me always, but I have said this on account of the people, standing by, that they may believe that thou didst sent me. When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice: Lazarous come out.” (Jn 11:41-43)
In the garden of Gethsemane, while his seekers were coming to arrest him, Jesus was praying to God, and pleading to be saved from their hands.
“And going a little further, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him and he said: Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee, remove this cup from me, get not what I will, but what thou wilt”. (Mk. 14:35-36)
According to Bible, when Jesus was put on the cross, he pleaded for God’s mercy.
“And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Elim, Lama sabachathani? That is: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me”? (Mt 27:46)
So, Jesus Christ, even according to Bible, needed God’s mercy. God hears even the sinner’s prayers directly and that is what we Muslim do. We pray for ourselves, we pray for all humanity and we also for God’s Prophets.
I'm not questioning why the hadith are important guidelines for us and should be read and preserved so we can see how Muhammad (pbuh) lived and how, historically, people lived, but many Muslims put it on the same level as the Qur'an. Are they supposed to be on the same level? I know God tells us to listen to what the prophets say, but wouldn't that mean you should listen to what they're revealing (in this case, the Qur'an) and then use them as an example? It just doesn't seem right to me that the hadith are given just as much standing and importance as the Qur'an is. Yes, Muhammad (pbuh) was a prophet and was protected and guided by God, but that doesn't mean that in the end he was ultimately human and did make some mistakes. Why should a human - even if a prophet - have as much say as God? To me, it just seems like God and his word should naturally be above all others. If the Qur'an is a perfect book, and complete, then why do we still need even more guidelines?
* What is Sunnah? The Sunnah refers to the actions, statements and way of life of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
* God Himself in the Quran has ordered Muslims to take the Prophet as their role model and to listen and obey his words.
* Sunnah is also definitive explanation of the Quran itself. Without it there can be no true understanding of how to implement Islam
* Thus the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad is the
SECOND of the two revealed fundamental sources of Islam, after the Glorious Qur'an.
* The Prophet’s authenticSunnah was preserved and is contained in what is known as the hadeeth literature
* The Companions of the Prophet understood that the Prophet Muhammad was the final messenger sent for humankind and that the task of preserving his teachings would fall upon their shoulders. It was up to them to make sure that what happened to the previous prophets’ teachings would not happen to the Prophet Muhammad’s message.
Additionally, the Prophet himself impressed upon them the fact that they had the responsibility of taking from the Prophet and conveying to others. For example, the Prophet told them, in front of the throngs of the people at the time of pilgrimage:
“Let the one who is present inform the one who is absent. Perhaps the one who is present may convey it to one who can grasp it more than he can.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim)
* However, the Prophet also warn them in a very stern fashion about conveying anything from him which may not be correct. Using the Arabic word kadhab, which in the dialect of the Prophet did not mean “to lie” but meant to convey something which is not correct, the Prophet stated:
“Convey from me, even if it is just a verse. And narrate [stories] from the Tribes of Israel and there is no harm. And whoever falsely attributes something to my authority shall take his own seat in the Hell-fire.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
A hadith is composed of two parts: the matn (text) and the isnad (chain of reporters). A text may seem to be logical and reasonable but it needs an authentic isnad with reliable reporters to be acceptable.
There are strong Hadith, Weak Hadith and Even Fabricated Hadith as we can sometimes find these days floating on internet/emails. But scholars have put the condition for the acceptance of Hadiths so that no one can falsely attributes something to Prophet Mohammed.
A Hadith must meet the following five criteria in order to be accepted in Islamic law as a source of legal ordinance:
1. Continuity of the chain of transmitters (ittisal assanad): The chain of transmitters has to be acceptable. That is, none of the transmitters must be missing from the chain of narrators. Furthermore, each transmitter must also have heard the Hadith in question directly from the transmitter before him. Knowledge of this is verified with the help of the biographical sciences of Hadith.
2. The integrity (adalah) of the transmitters: The integrity is established in terms of their outward observance of Islam. In other words, it is ascertained that they practice what is required of them by Islam and that they are not known to engage in doing things which are forbidden. Again this precondition is verified through the biographical sciences of Hadith.
3. Soundness of memory of the transmitters: It must be verified through the biographical sciences of Hadith that each transmitter has a sound memory or that his books were accurate and that he only transmitted directly from his books.
4. Conformity of the Hadith: It is important that the Hadith conforms with similar Hadiths on the same topic which are stronger than it. This conformity should be both in the chain of transmitters and the text. Non-conformity in the chain of transmitters, for example, might be if one of the transmitters in the chain is different from the one mentioned in a stronger version of the same Hadith. Non-conformity in text would imply divergence in the meaning of this Hadith from the one which is stronger.
5. The absence of defects (illah) in the hadith: A defect (illah) in this context is defined as a hidden shortcoming in the Hadith which takes away from its authenticity. At first a Hadith appears to be free from flaws, but an investigation reveals the shortcoming. The defect can be in the chain of transmitters or in the text or both.
As we all Muslims believe, that the Quran is the word of Allah containing guidance on all aspects of life. The Quran commands us to perform Salaat. Our beloved Prophet (pbuh) shows us how and commanded ‘Pray as you see me praying’. There can be no addition to or subtraction from the manner of performing the Prayer.
The Quran commands us to perform the Hajj and to experience its benefits. Our Prophet (pbuh) shows us how to perform the Hajj and commanded. ‘Take from me your rites in performing the pilgrimage.’ The pilgrimage must there fore be performed as he did it with only the variations and allowances as he permitted.
Thus we see that following sunnah (hadith literature) means:
* To follow the Quran but with better understanding, as Prophet approved it. As we see that if explnantion of Quran was left for the understanding of individuals, it would have divided this whole ummah into thousand of scattered groups.
* They also act as clarifications for those of us that are a bit thick headed.
* They also act as references for adab (Islamic Manners).
* Hadiths are good because they also can show how women were integral parts of early Islam.
* They show how a man is to be good to his wife by showing how the Prophet (pbuh) was with his wives and how he adjudicated between his followers
Following the Prophet's "examples and sayings" are thus not contrary to the teachings of Quran and as we can see in the following verses below that Quran directing us to follow our Prophet (PBUH) and in no way following his example can be considered as Shirk.
3:31 Say [O prophet]: "If you love God, follow me, [and] God will love you and forgive you your sins; for God is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace."
3:68 Behold, the people who have the best claim to Abraham are surely those who follow him - as does this prophet and all who believe [in him] - and God is near unto the believers.
7:157 "Those who follow the apostle, the unlettered prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own (scriptures),- in the law and the Gospel;- for he commands them what is just and forbids them what is evil; he allows them as lawful what is good (and pure) and prohibits them from what is bad (and impure); He releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that are upon them. So it is those who believe in him, honour him, help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him,- it is they who will prosper
7:158 Say: "O men! I am sent unto you all, as the Messenger of Allah, to Whom belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth: there is no god but He: it is He That giveth both life and death. So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the Unlettered prophet, who believeth in Allah and His words: follow him that (so) ye may be guided."
To sum up here Think of the Quran as the foundation and the house. The Hadith are the furniture and roof. The Opinions of Scholars can be the door, windows and garden outside. All make for the dwelling.
Wasalam
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so much, that it almost seems as if there are people that worship him. that there are some muslims that are on the border of committing shirk. i have personally met people like this, and i respect their love for him but when you talk about him more than you do Allah SWT it's a problem.i hope i explained this well.
