Myth: Muslims worship Muhammad
According to Islamic belief, the
Prophet Muhammad was the last Messenger of God. He, like all of God's prophets
and messengers - such as Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus -- was only a human
being. Christians came to the mistaken assumption that Muslims worship Muhammad
by formulating an incorrect analogy - they worship Jesus so they assumed Muslims
worship Muhammad. This is one of the reasons that they called Muslims by the
incorrect name "Mohammedans" for so many years! Muhammad, like Jesus,
never claimed divine status. He called people to worship only Almighty God, and
he continually emphasized his humanity so that people would not fall into the
same errors as Christians did in regards to Jesus. In order to prevent his
deification, the Prophet Muhammad always said to refer to him as "the
Messenger of God and His slave". Muhammad was chosen to be God's final
messenger --- to communicate the message not only in words but to be a living
example of the message. Muslims love and respect him because he was of the
highest moral character and he brought the Truth from God - which is the Pure
Monotheism of Islam. Even when Islam was in its very early stages, God revealed
that Muhammad "was sent as a mercy to all of mankind" - thus informing us
that the message of Islam would become very widespread. Muslims strive to follow
the great example of Muhammad, peace be upon him, but they do not worship
him in any way. Additionally, Islam teaches Muslims to respect all of God's
prophets and messengers - but respecting and loving them does not mean
worshipping them. All true Muslims realize that all worship and prayer must be
directed to Almighty God alone. Suffice it to say that worshipping Muhammad ---
or anyone else --- along with Almighty God is considered to be the worst sin in
Islam. Even if a person claims to be Muslim, but they worship and pray to other
than Almighty God, this cancels and nullifies their Islam. The Declaration of
Faith of Islam makes it clear that Muslims are taught only to worship God.
This declaration is as follows: "There is nothing divine or worthy of being
worshipped except for Almighty God, and Muhammad is the Messenger and Servant of
God".
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