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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 (Shahadah) 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".
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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