I Am A Muslim. Do I worship Muhammad?
by William C. King
Halifax, NS Canada
October 2011
The last two long conversations I had about Islam with people left me in wonderment. Sometimes you can speak to someone for 2 hours and it is only after an hour and 45 minutes that you even start to comprehend the core issue that has put up a barrier to understanding between both people.
For instance the first conversation ended rather abruptly when the man who I had been talking to regarding Islam and Christianity (he had approached me with questions about Islam) looked at me and unequivocally asked me, "did Muhammad die?" "Yes", I replied. "The God I pray to is alive!", he told me. Before I got the chance to explain he had already turned and walked away.
Conversation two ended much better as we had more time to flush out the underlying issue that was truly holding us back. We make a lot of basic assumptions about what another believes before we even start conversing. Left unchecked we, place the second brick on the first, thinking that we are both in agreement on the placement and the material makeup of the first brick. Often it is these assumptions of what we believe to be the basic understandings of each other that causes our "house of understanding" to be built on a leaning foundation. By the time we get 4 stories up we are then tilting quite heavily on the side, and we realize that we are becoming more distanced from each other. We start to look at the other thinking that their architectural plan ( their faith ) must have some very drastic differences from ours.
Back to the second conversation. We had the luxury of time. Over two hours we spent. We discussed, time, prophet-hood, mathematics, electronics, autism, food sources, the financial breakdown, education, law, travel, middle eastern culture vs the normative teachings of Islam, god with a small "g" and God with a big "G". We had time. And you know what! It was about 1 hour and 45 minutes into our conversation that the same issue that kept the first man and I apart was brought to the surface.
The man believed that we worshiped Muhammad, that we prayed towards Mekkah because it was the Prophet's birthplace and we were honoring him, that we say peace be upon him after the name of the Prophet as a sign of glorification! This came out after almost two hours of conversation. Thank God we were not texting! We would have never reached the second floor of our "House of Understanding"!
100 years ago we had more opportunities to engage in deeper, longer, conversations. Today's world is rife with "information exchange" however the information is usually quick, bite sized chunks about a multitude of different subjects. We get our information from a wide number of online sources such as Face Book, Twitter, YouTube, Text, eMail; even the nightly news is a series of short bursts of information given to us on a sporadic rather jumbled approach at peppering our mind, leaving us ultimately confused but with the impression that we actually learned something. Brittney Spears, Kim Kardashian, American Idol, Hacked Voice-mail, Iraq War, The Hockey Scores, Earthquake in Japan, Starvation in Somalia and back to Kim Kardashian again. Albert Einstein summed up what is happening in the world of facts and news today when he said, "Information is not knowledge".
We have to really ask ourselves, "where am I getting my information from?" "Am I getting my information about Islam from the same source that is showing my 7 year old daughter murders and rapes on television during an hour that every rational person would know that she is still awake?" "Am I getting my information about Islam from the same source that is telling me that success is based on physical acquisition of goods and money?"
The major disseminators of information to the minds of the masses carve out their very existence selling advertising to those who wish to sell the idea of success being "drive one today", or "diamonds are forever", or "just do it". Does it then not make sense to you that if they do a good job informing you correctly about the faith of Islam which tells you that life in this world is impermanent and that we are all going to die one day and our physical wealth, our looks, our wrinkle free faces, our curvaceous and youthful body will eventually leave us, they will be working themselves out of a job!
This bombardment of the senses with the quick sound clip, the downloadable 4 minute YouTube video, the almighty Tweet, the rotf, the omg, the lol and the brb is unfortunately leaving us with the sensation of being full however as the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him told us, it is like drinking the water of the ocean. The more you drink the reality of the situation is the thirstier you are.
I almost fainted when I discovered that because we say Peace be Upon Him after mentioning the Prophet's name that this indicated a form of glorified reverence for the man who was Muhammad (peace be upon him). I explained that in Arabic we say peace be upon him that we are referring to God's Peace be Upon him. I explained that every statement in reference to the Prophet is to indicate exactly the opposite of what he originally thought. When we say may God's Peace be upon the Prophet we are cementing in our minds that the Prophet is the recipient of God's Peace and therefor one who has need of God's Peace, one that can not create God's peace, that the Prophet was a servant of God, NOT God nor a Son of God as a son of a camel is a camel, a son of a man is a man, a son of God would be a God. Muhammad was not God or a son of God. He was the man Muhammad, the Prophet Muhammad.
A person makes this statement to become a Muslim, "La ilaha il-Allah, Muhamadu-Rasullulah". There is no god except Allah, Muhammad is God's messenger. The first sentence starts with a negation, a negation which indicates that nothing is God, that within the creation, the creation itself, or even in the minds of the creation God is not! Anything that is quantifiable in this existence is not God. Anything that holds our hearts that exists dependent on this physical existence is not God. Anyone who prays is not God. Anyone who eats is not God, anyone who has needs is not God. God is the one who provides, not the one who needs. God is the one who answers prayers, not the one who prays, God is the ONE, the unseen, the ONE who exists independent from this existence and therefor is Glorified above this existence and is not inside His created existence but rather the Creator of all existence! Since Muhammad, God's Peace be upon him prayed, since Muhammad existed in the physical realm, since Muhammad ate, since Muhammad was seen, he is not God which leads us to the second half of the statement. "Muhammad is a Messenger of God"...
The early people of Mekkah when asked to accept the message of Islam, that being that the unseen God of Abraham and Moses is One God and to ascribe no partners to God replied. Their reply is told to us in the Quran, "And they say: "Why does this Messenger (Muhammad) eat food and walk about in markets (like ourselves). Why is not an angel sent down to him to be a Warner with him? "Or why has not a treasure been granted to him, or why has he not a garden whereof he may eat?" And the Zalimun (polytheists and the wrong doers, etc.) say: "You follow none but a man bewitched." (Ch 25: 7-8)
God replies unequivocally and soundly as God does being not the author of confusion. In the Quran, Allah says: "And We never sent before you (O Muhammad) any of the Messengers but verily, they ate food and walked in the markets. And we have made some of you as a trial for others: will you have patience? And your Lord is Ever All-Seer (of everything). (Ch 25 v20)
Muslims unequivocally do not worship Muhammad, or Moses, or Abraham, or Jesus but we believe in them all and in their message of belief in the unseen God and we recognize that they all prayed to the ONE God with all their hearts, minds and souls....
The same chapter that includes the previous Quranic verses also states: "And put your trust (O Muhammad) in the Ever Living One Who does not die, and glorify His Praises, and Sufficient is He as the All-Knower of the sins of His servants."
The rumours of Muhammad's (peace be upon him) death were running rampant one day. People were in shock, in fear, in panic until one of the companions of the Prophet, pbuh, angrily denounced the fact that the Prophet, pbuh, had died. He did this in response to his great love and connection of heart to the Prophet. Abu Bakr who was the Prophet's dear friend, and close companion, addressed the people: "“And now, he who worships Muhammad (Peace be upon him) Muhammad is dead now. But he who worships Allah, He is Ever Living and He never dies. Allah says: ‘Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is no more than a Messenger, and indeed (many) Messengers have passed away before him. If he dies or is killed, will you then turn back on your heels (as disbelievers)? And he who turns back on his heels, not the least harm will he do to Allah, and Allah will give reward to those who are grateful.’” (Quran Ch 3 v1)
I didn't have time to be able to respond to the first man after he told me that Muhammad was dead but that the God he (the man who was discussing this with me) prayed to is alive that: "Yes Muhammad is dead, but who told you I worship Muhammad? I worship the God Muhammad worshiped, I worship the God Jesus worshiped. I AM A MUSLIM!"
by William C. King
Halifax, NS Canada
October 2011
The last two long conversations I had about Islam with people left me in wonderment. Sometimes you can speak to someone for 2 hours and it is only after an hour and 45 minutes that you even start to comprehend the core issue that has put up a barrier to understanding between both people.
For instance the first conversation ended rather abruptly when the man who I had been talking to regarding Islam and Christianity (he had approached me with questions about Islam) looked at me and unequivocally asked me, "did Muhammad die?" "Yes", I replied. "The God I pray to is alive!", he told me. Before I got the chance to explain he had already turned and walked away.
Conversation two ended much better as we had more time to flush out the underlying issue that was truly holding us back. We make a lot of basic assumptions about what another believes before we even start conversing. Left unchecked we, place the second brick on the first, thinking that we are both in agreement on the placement and the material makeup of the first brick. Often it is these assumptions of what we believe to be the basic understandings of each other that causes our "house of understanding" to be built on a leaning foundation. By the time we get 4 stories up we are then tilting quite heavily on the side, and we realize that we are becoming more distanced from each other. We start to look at the other thinking that their architectural plan ( their faith ) must have some very drastic differences from ours.
Back to the second conversation. We had the luxury of time. Over two hours we spent. We discussed, time, prophet-hood, mathematics, electronics, autism, food sources, the financial breakdown, education, law, travel, middle eastern culture vs the normative teachings of Islam, god with a small "g" and God with a big "G". We had time. And you know what! It was about 1 hour and 45 minutes into our conversation that the same issue that kept the first man and I apart was brought to the surface.
The man believed that we worshiped Muhammad, that we prayed towards Mekkah because it was the Prophet's birthplace and we were honoring him, that we say peace be upon him after the name of the Prophet as a sign of glorification! This came out after almost two hours of conversation. Thank God we were not texting! We would have never reached the second floor of our "House of Understanding"!
100 years ago we had more opportunities to engage in deeper, longer, conversations. Today's world is rife with "information exchange" however the information is usually quick, bite sized chunks about a multitude of different subjects. We get our information from a wide number of online sources such as Face Book, Twitter, YouTube, Text, eMail; even the nightly news is a series of short bursts of information given to us on a sporadic rather jumbled approach at peppering our mind, leaving us ultimately confused but with the impression that we actually learned something. Brittney Spears, Kim Kardashian, American Idol, Hacked Voice-mail, Iraq War, The Hockey Scores, Earthquake in Japan, Starvation in Somalia and back to Kim Kardashian again. Albert Einstein summed up what is happening in the world of facts and news today when he said, "Information is not knowledge".
We have to really ask ourselves, "where am I getting my information from?" "Am I getting my information about Islam from the same source that is showing my 7 year old daughter murders and rapes on television during an hour that every rational person would know that she is still awake?" "Am I getting my information about Islam from the same source that is telling me that success is based on physical acquisition of goods and money?"
The major disseminators of information to the minds of the masses carve out their very existence selling advertising to those who wish to sell the idea of success being "drive one today", or "diamonds are forever", or "just do it". Does it then not make sense to you that if they do a good job informing you correctly about the faith of Islam which tells you that life in this world is impermanent and that we are all going to die one day and our physical wealth, our looks, our wrinkle free faces, our curvaceous and youthful body will eventually leave us, they will be working themselves out of a job!
This bombardment of the senses with the quick sound clip, the downloadable 4 minute YouTube video, the almighty Tweet, the rotf, the omg, the lol and the brb is unfortunately leaving us with the sensation of being full however as the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him told us, it is like drinking the water of the ocean. The more you drink the reality of the situation is the thirstier you are.
I almost fainted when I discovered that because we say Peace be Upon Him after mentioning the Prophet's name that this indicated a form of glorified reverence for the man who was Muhammad (peace be upon him). I explained that in Arabic we say peace be upon him that we are referring to God's Peace be Upon him. I explained that every statement in reference to the Prophet is to indicate exactly the opposite of what he originally thought. When we say may God's Peace be upon the Prophet we are cementing in our minds that the Prophet is the recipient of God's Peace and therefor one who has need of God's Peace, one that can not create God's peace, that the Prophet was a servant of God, NOT God nor a Son of God as a son of a camel is a camel, a son of a man is a man, a son of God would be a God. Muhammad was not God or a son of God. He was the man Muhammad, the Prophet Muhammad.
A person makes this statement to become a Muslim, "La ilaha il-Allah, Muhamadu-Rasullulah". There is no god except Allah, Muhammad is God's messenger. The first sentence starts with a negation, a negation which indicates that nothing is God, that within the creation, the creation itself, or even in the minds of the creation God is not! Anything that is quantifiable in this existence is not God. Anything that holds our hearts that exists dependent on this physical existence is not God. Anyone who prays is not God. Anyone who eats is not God, anyone who has needs is not God. God is the one who provides, not the one who needs. God is the one who answers prayers, not the one who prays, God is the ONE, the unseen, the ONE who exists independent from this existence and therefor is Glorified above this existence and is not inside His created existence but rather the Creator of all existence! Since Muhammad, God's Peace be upon him prayed, since Muhammad existed in the physical realm, since Muhammad ate, since Muhammad was seen, he is not God which leads us to the second half of the statement. "Muhammad is a Messenger of God"...
The early people of Mekkah when asked to accept the message of Islam, that being that the unseen God of Abraham and Moses is One God and to ascribe no partners to God replied. Their reply is told to us in the Quran, "And they say: "Why does this Messenger (Muhammad) eat food and walk about in markets (like ourselves). Why is not an angel sent down to him to be a Warner with him? "Or why has not a treasure been granted to him, or why has he not a garden whereof he may eat?" And the Zalimun (polytheists and the wrong doers, etc.) say: "You follow none but a man bewitched." (Ch 25: 7-8)
God replies unequivocally and soundly as God does being not the author of confusion. In the Quran, Allah says: "And We never sent before you (O Muhammad) any of the Messengers but verily, they ate food and walked in the markets. And we have made some of you as a trial for others: will you have patience? And your Lord is Ever All-Seer (of everything). (Ch 25 v20)
Muslims unequivocally do not worship Muhammad, or Moses, or Abraham, or Jesus but we believe in them all and in their message of belief in the unseen God and we recognize that they all prayed to the ONE God with all their hearts, minds and souls....
The same chapter that includes the previous Quranic verses also states: "And put your trust (O Muhammad) in the Ever Living One Who does not die, and glorify His Praises, and Sufficient is He as the All-Knower of the sins of His servants."
The rumours of Muhammad's (peace be upon him) death were running rampant one day. People were in shock, in fear, in panic until one of the companions of the Prophet, pbuh, angrily denounced the fact that the Prophet, pbuh, had died. He did this in response to his great love and connection of heart to the Prophet. Abu Bakr who was the Prophet's dear friend, and close companion, addressed the people: "“And now, he who worships Muhammad (Peace be upon him) Muhammad is dead now. But he who worships Allah, He is Ever Living and He never dies. Allah says: ‘Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is no more than a Messenger, and indeed (many) Messengers have passed away before him. If he dies or is killed, will you then turn back on your heels (as disbelievers)? And he who turns back on his heels, not the least harm will he do to Allah, and Allah will give reward to those who are grateful.’” (Quran Ch 3 v1)
I didn't have time to be able to respond to the first man after he told me that Muhammad was dead but that the God he (the man who was discussing this with me) prayed to is alive that: "Yes Muhammad is dead, but who told you I worship Muhammad? I worship the God Muhammad worshiped, I worship the God Jesus worshiped. I AM A MUSLIM!"