Sami Zaatari has produced an
article where he seeks to prove from the Quran that Muslims are forbidden to, and therefore do not, worship Muhammad.
He cites specific verses and hadiths which he erroneously thinks support his position, while ignoring all the scores of passages and narrations which show that Muhammad was worshiped by his followers.
In fact, all Zaatari has done by quoting these citations is to prove that Islam contradicts itself since it expressly forbids worshiping any creature, and claims that Muhammad was nothing more than an imperfect mortal, and yet places Muhammad on the same level with his god by turning him into another object of religious worship and devotion.
Zaatari issues a series of challenges to anyone who would argue that Muslims do in fact worship Muhammad. We have, therefore, decided to respond to those challenges.
He writes:
-Show a single Quranic passage that commands Muslims to worship Muhammad
-Show a single hadith that commands Muslims to worship Muhammad
-Show any companion that worshiped the Prophet Muhammad with the consensus of the other companions
It is our pleasure to provide answers to Zaatari’s challenges. So here they are.
Making Du’a (Invoking) and Praying to Muhammad
Muhammad instructed his followers to pray to him directly during their daily acts of worship:
Narrated Shaqiq bin Salama:
'Abdullah said, "Whenever we prayed behind the Prophet we used to recite (in sitting) 'Peace be on Gabriel, Michael, peace be on so and so. Once Allah's Apostle looked back at us and said, 'Allah Himself is As-Salam (Peace), and if anyone of you prays then he should say, At-Tahiyatu lil-lahi wassalawatu wat-taiyibatu.
As-Salamu 'ALAIKA aiyuha-n-Nabiyu wa rahmatu-l-lahi wa barakatuhu. As-Salam alaina wa ala ibadil-lah is-salihin. (All the compliments, prayers and good things are due to Allah:
peace be on YOU, O Prophet and Allah's mercy and blessings be on YOU. Peace be on us and on the true pious slaves of Allah). (If you say that, it will be for all the slaves in the heaven and the earth). Ash-hadu an la-ilaha illa-l-lahu wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhu wa Rasuluhu. (I testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and I also testify that Muhammad is His slave and His Apostle)." (
Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 12, Number
794)
This isn’t the only time that Muslims were instructed to pray and/or make invocations to their prophet.
There is a specific narration which says that Muhammad actually taught a blind man to pray to Allah as well as to himself, an invocation which Muslims continued to use long after Muhammad’s death:
Tirmidhi relates, through his chain of narrators from 'Uthman ibn Hunayf, that a blind man came to the Prophet and said, "I've been afflicted in my eyesight, so please pray to Allah for me." The Prophet said: "Go make ablution (wudu), perform two rak'as of prayer, and then say:
"Oh Allah, I ask You and turn to You through my Prophet Muhammad, the Prophet of mercy; O MUHAMMAD (YA MUHAMMAD), I SEEK YOUR INTERCESSION with my Lord for the return of my eyesight [and in another version: "for my need, that it may be fulfilled. O Allah, grant him intercession for me"]."
The Prophet added, "And if there is some need, do the same." (Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri,
Reliance of the Traveller: The Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law (Umdat Al-Salik) in Arabic with facing English text, Commentary and Appendices, edited and translated by Nuh Hah Mim Keller [Amana Corporation; Revised edition, July 1, 1997], w40.3, p.
935; bold and capital emphasis ours)
Muhammad expressly instructed the blind man to address him directly in his prayer in the same way that he addresses Allah!
The blind man wasn’t told to simply ask Allah to heal him on behalf or for the sake of Muhammad. Rather, he was specifically directed to address Muhammad directly by asking for his intercession.
Now just in case Zaatari attempts to explain this away by saying that this took place when Muhammad was still alive, the following is a report of a man who offered up this same exact invocation during the caliphate of Uthman bin Affan: