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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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What is the ruling on mentioning the phrase "our master Muhammad" in the prayer, given that a hadith prohibiting this has been reported?

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The Shaykh : The questioner asks: What is the ruling on mentioning the phrase "our master Muhammad" in the prayer, considering what is heard of a hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that prohibits calling him "master" over anyone?
The questioner is referring to the hadith
Do not call us masters in the prayer لا تسوّدوني في الصلاة
"Do not call us masters in the prayer." This expression has no basis, neither linguistically nor in the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). That is, there is no explicit prohibition against calling the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) "our master," meaning saying "our master, the Messenger of Allah." There is no explicit hadith prohibiting this. Rather, there are hadiths in which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) described himself as the master of mankind and the master of people on the Day of Resurrection. You have all heard some of these. But does the fact that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is truly the master of people justify us adding to the prayer what Allah has not prescribed? The answer is no. I do not wish to lengthen the discussion on this, as I have mentioned it repeatedly, but I will clarify the matter for those who may not have heard the previous discussion and are hearing it now. If a person praying said in the tashahhud, "The greetings are for Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He," is this not an exaltation of Allah, Mighty and Majestic? Without a doubt, it is. But is it permissible for him to do so? The answer is no. Does this answer mean that the one answering does not exalt the Lord of the Worlds? By no means. Rather, this is part of the complete exaltation of the Lord of the Worlds: to adhere to His Shari'ah and not add to it, even by a single letter from ourselves. "The greetings are for Allah" is a prescription that Allah revealed to His Messenger, who taught it to his Companions. He paid special attention to teaching it to them. For example, Ibn Mas'ud says: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) taught me the tashahhud in the prayer, and he held my hand between his two hands, and my hand between his two hands". This means the Messenger was holding Ibn Mas'ud's hand, teaching him the wording of the tashahhud in the prayer closely and attentively. Therefore, the Companions of Ibn Mas'ud said that he, in turn, taught them the tashahhud and would correct any one of us if we added a single letter to the tashahhud; he would hold us accountable for it and disapprove of it. So, if we say "The greetings are for Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He," we have not come with a statement that is wrong in terms of meaning, but we have certainly come with a statement that is wrong in terms of following the Sunnah. We did not follow the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in his teaching of this tashahhud to his Companions without this addition. If it is obvious to every Muslim who has been given a particle of intellect and knowledge that this addition, although it does not contradict the majesty and greatness of Allah, is not permissible because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not teach it to his Companions, then it is even more so that it is not permissible for the one praying to add the phrase "our master," which exalts the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). This is because exalting Allah is more obligatory for us than exalting the Messenger. Yet, from the previous example, we have learned that it is not permissible for us to exalt Allah with what has not been prescribed. Therefore, it is even more so that we should not exalt the Messenger of Allah with what Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, has not prescribed.
Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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