besides Allah, and also took the Messiah, son of Mary, as a lord; yet they were commanded only to worship one God—there is no deity but Him. Exalted is He above whatever they associate with Him.

Nevertheless, the Christians have joined the Jews in diminishing the rightful status of many prophets. They claim that Solomon was not a prophet; they maintain that the disciples are on the same level as Moses and Abraham; and they assert that anyone who acts upon God’s commandments, even though he is not a prophet, becomes the equal of the prophets and may institute a law of his own. Some Jews, for their part, went to excess regarding ʿUzayr (Ezra) until they declared that he was the son of God.

For this reason our Prophet said in the sound hadith:
“Do not exaggerate in praising me as the Christians exaggerated in praising Jesus son of Mary. I am only the servant of Allah, so say: the servant of Allah and His messenger.”