The correct interpretation of the meaning of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “Do not praise me as the Christians praised Jesus, the son of Mary.”

The Shaykh : The origin of this excess stems from understanding this hadith with a meaning broader than what the hadith in its entirety indicates, because this hadith can be directed and interpreted in one of two meanings. The first is: : Do not exaggerate in praising me, and the implication of this is: praise me, but do not exaggerate. This is the first meaning. The other meaning, which appears to me to be the case, is that he forbade his nation, also in the context of blocking the means to harm, from praising him (peace and blessings be upon him) with anything from their own minds, fearing that the praise might lead them astray from justice and the word of truth. This is the meaning that is stronger in my view, first by looking at the entirety of the hadith where he said: . It is as if a questioner there is asking: So what do we say, and how do we say it, and how do we praise? So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) answered, as is his custom, and there is nothing strange in that, for as He said, the Exalted: . Do not increase in my praise beyond what my Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He, has praised me with. So the meaning is not: do not exaggerate, but rather do not praise me except with what has come in the Book and the Sunnah. What inclined me to this second meaning is that the scholars of hadith mentioned this hadith in the chapter: The Humility of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), the chapter of the humility of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), or the chapter of the humility of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). If the hadith were interpreted with the first meaning, the hadith would not agree with the chapter heading, and the chapter would not have been headed for this hadith, because to say “do not exaggerate in my praise” is an obligation, whereas the chapter is about the humility of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). What befits this humility is that he (peace and blessings be upon him) says: Do not praise me, and do not say about me anything other than “the servant of Allah and His Messenger,” because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, described him (peace and blessings be upon him) in this way. So, in the context of blocking the means to harm, as this hadith came, even if some seeking of blessing (tabarruk) occurred from some of the Companions, and if that is authentic from some of what came from those after them, these are individual cases upon which a general ruling is not established to be broadcast among the Muslims, because the outcome will be excess regarding the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and this is what he directly forbade. And that was an explanation of the like of His saying, the Exalted: . This is what I have in answer to this question.