in praising me as the Christians went to extremes with Jesus, son of Mary, until they claimed divinity for him. I am only a servant, so say: “the servant of Allah and His Messenger.” That is, describe me in these terms and add nothing more. Therefore say: “the servant of Allah and His Messenger,” exactly as my Lord has described me: “All praise is due to Allah, who sent down the Book to His servant”⦗1⦘; “Blessed is He who sent down the Criterion to His servant”⦗2⦘; “And that when the servant of Allah stood up to invoke Him…”⦗3⦘; as well as His words, “O Messenger,” and, “O Prophet.”
Nonetheless, the polytheists would do nothing but violate his command and commit what he forbade. They exalted him with the very forms of veneration he had prohibited and warned against, opposing him in the most blatant manner and imitating the Christians in their excess and their shirk. Their prose and poetry came to contain exaggerations about him ﷺ that are outright idolatry, such as al-Buṣayrī’s words in the Burda when addressing the Prophet ﷺ:
O noblest of creation, I have none to whom I can flee
but you when calamities of universal scope descend.
The subsequent lines likewise direct supplication, pleas for refuge, and deliverance to the Messenger ﷺ, asking him to relieve distress in the tightest and most difficult circumstances, while Allah, Exalted is He, is forgotten. Satan beautified this evil deed for that poet and those like him, presenting such excessive praise—though it is major shirk—as if it were love and veneration for him ﷺ, and depicting adherence to the sunnah by avoiding exaggeration as though it were hostility and disparagement. In truth, committing what he ﷺ forbade by over-praising him, abandoning obedience to him in word and deed, and being displeased with his judgement constitute the real disparagement of him. Genuine veneration and true love for him are realized only by following him and championing his religion and his sunnah.
ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Shikhkhir reported: “I went with the delegation of Banū ʿĀmir to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and we said, ‘You are our master and the son of our master.’ He replied, ‘The Master…’”