Muhammad the Narcissistic Prophet
Was Muhammad a humble man, a man of God, a prophet of Allah? Was he someone loved for who he was? Or did he promote himself as the best who ever was?
It’s no surprise that cult leaders do this. Once you’ve convinced others that you are God’s chosen man, there’s only a small step to convince others that if they need to treat you well because God will love you if you do that. Or God will be angry at you if you don’t do that.
Say, [O Muhammad], “If you should love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” (3:31)
If you are a believer, you may think “Allah ordered all this, not Muhammad.” But try to look at it from the perspective of a neutral observer. What are the possibilities?
- God exists, and he chose Muhammad to communicate with, preferring him in every way to others.
- God didn’t choose Muhammad. Muhammad used God talking to him to gain these benefits.
At the very least, we should consider the possibility that it’s made up, because the motive for personal benefit is there.
If there was another man who said and did these things, what would you think of him? Are these not red flags when a person claims God speaks to him and receives these benefits for being “God’s chosen one”?
You must love him. It’s an order!
Have you ever had someone tell you that you have to love them? If someone told you that, would you love them? I wouldn’t. You can’t demand love. Love is something that comes naturally.
Muhammad must be the first man in history to order his followers that they must love him:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said “None of you will have faith till he loves me more than his father, his children and all mankind.” (Bukhari)
And does this following story seem just a tiny bit narcissistic to you?
Once Umar was walking with the Prophet ﷺ, and he said
“By Allah, I love you O Prophet of Allah”.
The Prophet ﷺ asked, “More than your children, O Umar?”
Umar replied “Yes, O Prophet of Allah.”
The Prophet ﷺ asked, “More than your money, O Umar?”
And Umar replied, “Yes, O Prophet of Allah”
The Prophet ﷺ then asked him, “More than yourself, O Umar?”
Umar replied, “No, O Prophet of Allah”
The Prophet ﷺ then told him “O Umar, your faith will never be complete until you love me more than yourself.”
We all understand why we love these things. It’s because this love is natural. Our kids are part of us. Loving ourselves is how we survive. Wealth is what we use to subsist. If we didn’t love ourselves, we would throw ourselves into destruction. Yet that’s exactly what Muhammad wanted. Muhammad wanted his followers to put him ahead of all of them so that if he told them to die for him, they would.
In terms of red flags for cult leaders, there’s already a lot of them.
The prophet is The Best that ever was or will be
The book that Muhammad came with states that he is the more important than the believers are:
The Prophet is more worthy of the believers than themselves, and his wives are [in the position of] their mothers. (33:6)
It reminds them they need to put him first. He is the important one here. Even if they have to die for him.
And in the following verse it praises his morality:
And indeed, you are of a great moral character. (68:4)
Is he praising himself? Or is God just making sure we know he’s a great guy?
The best husband
Muhammad also bragged about being the best husband, despite his obvious marital issues with his nine wives:
“The best of you is the one who is best to his wife, and I am the best of you to my wives.” (Hasan hadith in Ibn Majah, also Tirmidhi Saheeh)
He had to actually tell everyone that he was the best to his wives. It wasn’t enough for us to see this, but he had to say it too.
In reality, his wives were not happy and wanted to divorce him. Allah ended up threatening to replace all of them with better wives:
Perhaps his Lord, if he divorced you [all], would substitute for him wives better than you — submitting [to Allah], believing, devoutly obedient, repentant, worshipping, and traveling — [ones] previously married and virgins. (66:5)
Is this how the best husband would behave? Using God to make petty threats like this? That I will replace you with other women who are better than you?
In the following verse Allah yet again tells believers that Muhammad comes first:
O you who have believed, do not put [yourselves] before Allah and His Messenger but fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing. O you who have believed, do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet or be loud to him in speech like the loudness of some of you to others, lest your deeds become worthless while you perceive not. (49:1–2)
They are to talk to him gently, and to not raise their voices to him. They are to always remember that he comes first. He always comes first. Notice a pattern?
“Peace and blessings be upon you Prophet”
The Messenger of Allah said: “May his nose be rubbed in the dust, one in whose presence I am mentioned and he does not send blessings upon me.”
Narrated and classed as Hasan by at-Tirmidhi (3545); classed as Saheeh by al-Albaani
That idiom “May his nose be rubbed in the dust,” means “may he be disgraced.”
This follows what the Quran says:
Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him and salute him with all respect. (33:56)
Yet again Muhammad complains about people who don’t ask God to bless him:
“The miser is the one in whose presence I am mentioned and he does not send blessings upon me.” Narrated and classed as hasan by al-Tirmidhi, classed as Saheeh by al-Albaani
Imagine telling your community of followers that they must recite blessings on you every single time they say your name. How much more needy can you get, despite already being the chosen one of God? Was he insecure? Or just wanted to be always exalted like this?
Read his poetry and say his name in every prayer
Muslims read the Quran, which Muhammad claimed was from Allah, for each and every single obligatory prayer (salah/namaz). If the Quran is actually his words, this is the ultimate in narcissism — making people around you memorize your poetry and recite it repeatedly.
Not just that, he is to be mentioned by name in every single prayer that Muslims do 5 times a day:
“Oh Allah send peace and blessings on Muhammad like you did for Ibrahim.. “
Muhammad’s names and titles
Muhammad is considered the seal of the prophets, the sayyid (leader) of mankind, al-Mustafa (the chosen one), and so on. He is the greatest prophet, will have the biggest following on the day of judgement, and is also the best person who ever has lived. His companions, who fought, killed, and enslaved women and children are the most blessed of all who ever existed after him.
There are a multitude of sayings provided by him about how special he is which I need not repeat here as the point has already been proven.
Allah makes decisions to please Muhammad!
We have certainly seen the turning of your face, [O Muhammad], toward the heaven, and We will surely turn you to a qiblah with which you will be pleased… Quran 2:44
In this verse, Allah said he saw Muhammad turning to Mecca and to changed the direction of prayer for his satisfaction. This is not my opinion but was mentioned by Yasir Qadhi in his seerah series.
In 33:53 Allah complains about people annoying Muhammad by staying in his house too long. In 66:5 Allah threatens to replace his wives with better ones.
In 49:1–2 Allah tells people to lower their voices to him or their deeds will be lost.
Do you see a pattern here? Why is it that Allah is so concerned about these petty things that seem to bother Muhammad in particular?
Is this man Muhammad really that special that God needs to intervene in such frivolous issues?
Remember, nobody ever saw Allah talk to Muhammad. All they saw is Muhammad claiming that Allah spoke to him, and he reaps the rewards.
But Muhammad was corrected in the Quran!
Muslims sometimes bring up the fact that Muhammad must have been honest because the Quran corrects him! What kind of liar would do such a thing? Well, a clever one.
Muhammad was corrected in very insignificant ways, probably when he felt he made a lapse of judgement and regretted his decision. This happened a few times for example when he ransomed the captives of war for money at Badr instead of executing them and then Allah said he should have executed them (8:67). Of course the famous example of Muhammad not paying attention to the blind man (Surah Abasa) also comes to mind. Notice how since Muhammad is the only one talking to Allah, nobody actually knows what Allah is saying except him? Convenient, isn’t it?
In conclusion, Muhammad was narcissistic. He made himself the centerpiece of his religion while simultaneously claiming the religion was actually about Allah. He received many benefits because he was able to convince others of his “special position” with Allah.
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