He ﷺ disliked being praised with expressions such as, “You are our master,” “You are the best among us,” “You are the most excellent,” or “You are the greatest.” Though he is indeed the finest and noblest of all creation, he forbade them to use such words so as to keep them from excess and over-praise and to safeguard pure monotheism. Instead, he directed them to describe him with two titles that mark the highest rank a human can attain—titles free of exaggeration and harmless to sound belief: the servant of Allah and His Messenger. He did not wish to be elevated above the station that Allah had chosen and approved for him.

Many people, however, have ignored his ﷺ injunction. They now call upon him, seek his rescue, swear oaths by him, and ask of him matters that should be sought only from Allah—practices commonly found in certain mawlid celebrations, odes, and devotional songs—failing to distinguish between what belongs exclusively to Allah and what is due to the Messenger.

The eminent scholar Ibn al-Qayyim writes in his Nūniyyah:
“To Allah belongs a right that none may share,
And to His servant a right—two rights, a matched pair.
Do not merge the two rights into a single claim,
With no distinction made and no rightful aim.”