disbelieved.’

They then appeal to the Almighty’s words,
“Muhammad is not the father of any of your men.” ⦗Al-Ahzab 33:40⦘,
using the verse to assign to him a share of divinity, thus copying the Christians.

This ḥadīth, however, is a fabrication—so say all scholars of ḥadīth without exception. What is genuinely established from him, peace and blessings be upon him, is the report found in the two Ṣaḥīḥs:
“Do not extol me as the Christians extolled Jesus son of Mary; I am only a servant—(so say: the servant of Allah and His Messenger).”

The Exalted also said about him:
“Say, ‘Glory be to my Lord! Am I anything but a human messenger?’” ⦗Al-Isrāʾ 17:93⦘.

Such notions belong to the same brand of extremism espoused by those who claim that the Lord indwells in the righteous, speaks through their tongues, and that the voice heard from one of them is Allah Himself, not the person. Their words are of the very same ilk as the Christians’ claim concerning the Messiah.

One of them will even say, “The muwaḥḥid (the one who declares God’s oneness) is the muwaḥḥad (the One whose oneness is declared),” and they recite: