Exaggerated Praise of the Prophet

4sunnischools.com/wp-content/plugins/wps-visitor-counter/styles/image/web/0.gif' alt='0'>4sunnischools.com/wp-content/plugins/wps-visitor-counter/styles/image/web/0.gif' alt='0'>4sunnischools.com/wp-content/plugins/wps-visitor-counter/styles/image/web/1.gif' alt='1'>969
Total views : 8794

Do Not Exaggerate In Praising Me As The Christians Praised The Son Of Mary

There is a very famous hadith that is often quoted recorded by Imam al-Bukhari in his Sahih, on the authority of Sayyiduna Umar ibn al-Khattab (Allah be pleased with him) that he heard the Messenger of Allah (salallahu alayhi wa sallam) say: “Do not exaggerate in praising me as the Christians praised the son of Mary, for I am only a Slave. So, call me the Slave of Allah and His Messenger.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, no: 3261)

Imam Hafidh Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (Allah have mercy on him) states in the explanation of this Hadith, quoting from Ibn al-Jawzi:

“The reason behind this prohibition (of exaggerating in the praise of the Prophet) was due to what was mentioned in the Hadith of Mu’adh, where he (Sayyiduna Mu’adh, Allah be pleased with him) sought the Messenger of Allah’s (Allah bless him & give him peace) permission in order to prostrate before him. The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) forbade him from doing so. Hence, the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) feared that someone else may exaggerate even more, thus he was quick to prohibit such exaggeration with great emphasis. Ibn al-Tin said: The meaning of “Do not exaggerate in praising me” is that do not praise me as the praise of Christians. So much so that some exaggerated and regarded him (Sayiduna Esa) to be a partner of God. Some claimed that he was God himself, whilst others said that he was the son of God.”

(Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Fath al-Bari, 12/183-184)

Imam Mulla Ali al-Qari, the noted 11th century Hanafi scholar, from his Mirqat al-Mafatih.  Quotes:

…Adulation is excessiveness in praise and extremism in extolling.

As the Christians adulated the Son of Mary that is, like their adulation of him. What is understood from this is that if he (peace be upon him) is adulated in some manner other than their adulation, it is permitted. May Allah bless the writer of the Burda whence he said, “Leave what the Christians claimed about their prophet then compose what you wish of praise, and implore…”.

From (Imam Baghawi’s) Sharh al-Sunna:

 “…it was that the Christians were excessive in their praise of Jesus (peace be upon him) and they adulated him with falsehood and they made him a son of Allah, Most High. Thus the Prophet (peace be upon him) prohibited them (his followers) from adulating him with falsehood.”…

Al-Tibi said:

“In replacing ‘Jesus’ and ‘the Messiah’, with ‘Son of Mary’, he (Jesus) is distanced from (the notion of) divinity, meaning from the extremism in praise and adulation, and falsity that sees their making the offspring of catamenial women into a god or a son of such… ”

And because of the extremism of the Jews in denigrating the Messiah, and the Christians’ extremism in praising him, (Allah) the Most High has said:

” O People of the Book! Do not take to extremism in your Religion quite apart from the truth…” (Sura al-Ma’ida)

For the truth is in just moderation as was made clear in His (glorified is He) saying:

“…the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, was but a messenger of Allah…” (Sura al-Nisa)

…“I am but a slave…” that is, the elect in the station of distinction. And that, in reality, is the best praise in the sight of the noble and the accomplished. As one (poet) said, “Do not call me except with ‘O His slave’. For it is indeed the noblest of my names.’”

So for that reason Allah has mentioned him (the Prophet – Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) in places within His Book with this exclusive characteristic and magnificent bestowal (i.e. being called His slave) – among them: the station of Rapture (al-Isra’):

“Glorified is He who enraptured His slave by night from the Sacrosanct Mosque to the Distant Mosque…” (Sura al-Isra’),

and the station of sending down the Book:

“Blessed is He who sent The Criterion down on His slave…” (Sura al-Furqan),

“Praise is for the One who sent down on His slave the Book…” (Sura al-Kahf).

Now in all that is a subtle indication and a noble tiding that Divine solicitude is commensurate with the extent of servitude.

So say ‘slave of God, and His messenger’.” that is, to distinguish him (the Prophet) thereby from the rest of His (Allah’s) slaves. And in mentioning those two (slave and messenger) is a hint at the caliber of his status and the far-reaching extent of his purpose.

So for those who do genuinely care about the explanation of the hadith, the adulation referred to by the Prophet (Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) was exceeding the limits with falsehood such as the Christians’ deification of Jesus.

In fact Imam al-Baghawi, just before the passage quoted by Mulla Ali al-Qari, very clearly defines adulation (الإطراء) thus:

“Adulation: exceeding the limit in praise and lying in it.” Sharh al-Sunna

Thus in this hadith the Prophet (Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) was not discouraging praise but rather he was, in his sweet and humble manner, indicating how it should be properly done.

Allah (ta’ala) says in the Glorious Qur’an (Surah 33:56):

“Surely Allah and His angels bless the Prophet; O you who believe call for (Divine) blessings on him and salute him with a (becoming) salutation.”

The very name “Muhammad” means “the one who is praised, often praised” and the name of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) is also known as “Ahmad” meaning “the one deserving of praise”.

Imam Jalaludin as-Suyuti mentions:

His name is Muhammad and Ahmad; his people are the people of praise (hamd)- and his prayer rite and the prayer rite of his people is opened with praise (hamd). In the Preserved Tablet in God’s abode it was written that his Caliphs and his Companions in writing the Sacred Volume, should open it with praise (Surah 1:1). And in his hand on the Resurrection Day will be the banner of praise. And when he then prostrates himself before God in intercession in our behalf and it is accepted he will praise the Lord with a new song that shall then be revealed to him, for his is the Heavenly Station of Praise (al-maqam al-mahmud, Surah 17:79)-and when he rises up in that Station all the assembly shall praise him, Muslims and misbelievers alike, the first and the last, and all meanings and modes of thankful praise shall be gathered up and offered to him.

There are those naysayers that may object on the grounds that too much praising will lapse Muslims into the major sin of shirk, to this Imam al-Busiri in his amazing Qasidah al-Burdah says:

“Leave what the Christians have said about their Prophet!
And then affirm what you will in praise, and do so with excellence:

It is clear that sending praise, blessings and salutations on the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) is a general obligation on each and every Muslim as mentioned by Qadi Iyad in the Shifa, and if we keep Imam al-Busiri’s principle in mind then there is no danger of falling into the trap that the Christians have fallen into with Sayyidina Isa (AS).

Unfortunately, we live in an age where very few Muslims actually know their Prophet. He is the fountainhead of our guidance and the light by which we tread the straight path, and yet Muslims in general and Muslim children in particular, know more about their favourite pop star, footballer or film actor and our Prophet is as a stranger to them. How can this be? Why have we forgotten the one whom Allah has commanded us to send salutations and blessings upon? Again it comes down to the age in which we live; no more are there special chairs in our masajid where the Sirah or the Shifa’ of Qadi Iyad or the Shama’il of Tirmidhi are read in perpetuity to the faithful as was once the practice throughout the Muslim world. The Mawlid-celebrations of the birth and life of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace)-are frowned upon by certain sections of the community. Our mosques are ill equipped to teach our children anything besides the reading of the Holy Qur’an and the very basics of the faith, which, while important, are insufficient to the long term spiritual and religious development of our community and especially our children who are our future. We have to look at ways in which we can help to nurture the love and familiarity that are missing. From hadith literature we know how important it is to love the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace): Bukhari and Muslim report- “None of you believes until he loves me more than he loves his children, his parents, and all people.” In another hadith in Bukhari the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: “None of you believes until he loves me more than he loves himself.”

The Names of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace)

The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) has many names and titles. Although it is common to list 99 of the most well known names and titles that people should be familiar with, the Holy Qur’an actually lists 77 explicitly and 121 in total if you include verbs. Hadith and other ancient literature take the count of names to 333. But the count doesn’t stop here since names and titles that are appropriate and do not go against the blessed and sacred person of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) can also apply. Imam al-Jazuli’s Da’ail al-Khayrat, for example, contains another 84 and Shaykh Barkat Ali Ludhianvi (RA) in his 5 volume masterpiece Asma al-Nabi al-Karim lists over 1400. 

Names, titles and descriptions serve the outward purpose of familiarising and knowing the thing named and since Islam has never been a religion of iconic images, Muslims have by and large preserved the physical description and characteristics of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) in written form and in such detail that an artist could probably come up with a close approximation of him (Allah bless him and grant him peace) if it wasn’t forbidden (in Shariah) to do so. Inwardly, however, the names and titles serve a different purpose. Countless powers of healing (shifa), benefit (faiz) and blessings (barakah) are associated with some of the names when contained in salawat or salutations. It is well know that if one forgets or looses something then reciting a specific salawat aids the memory, enabling the reciter to recall the thing forgotten or misplaced. Other salutations can bring about peace and tranquillity to a troubled heart and have curative properties as well.

Therefore, we should try and acquaint ourselves with the names and titles of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and the various salawat in the hope that maybe a small portion of the love and familiarity can settle in our hearts too.

Hassan ibn Thabit, the Poet of the Prophet in one of his poems – as quoted by Qadi Iyad in his seminal al-Shifa – shows the direct relationship that exists between the Divine Names and the Names of the Prophet. For example, he shows the relationship between the Divine attribute mahmud and the name Muhammad:

[God] derived for him, in order to honour him, part of His name – Thus the Lord of the Throne is called mahmud, and this one muhammad. [quoted in And Muhammad is His Messenger.

Further evidence to suggest the relationship between The Divine Names and the Prophetic Names is the fact that the Shahada is incomplete without the testification “Muhammadan Rasul Allah” and that Allah has followed His Name with that of His beloved so that faith is incomplete without either component and it is worthy to note that wherever the Divine name is mentioned so to is the name of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace), since it is the Prophet that is our link to the Divine. 

So what can we do to bring the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) back in to our lives and into our hearts and minds? How can we get to the stage of the Sahabah who said “we hear and obey” and for whom the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) was dearer to them than the world and all that it contained included their own selves?

 

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments