Messengers Are Also Servants of Allah: A Study on Shirk and Tawhid

One of the greatest mistakes humanity has made throughout history is weakening faith in Allah and attempting to define His عظ greatness through a human being. The messengers sent through divine revelation are humans who convey the unity and existence of Allah. However, people have tended to attribute extraordinary qualities to these messengers, elevating them to a divine status.
In this article, this tendency and its contradictions with the belief in tawhid will be examined through the lenses of Christian tradition and Islamic traditionalism.
In Christian tradition, the distortion of the term “Lord” into a divine status and its attribution to Prophet Jesus is a clear example of placing a human in the position of God. This understanding assigns Allah’s creative power to a human being, which contradicts the belief in tawhid.
Similarly, in the Islamic world, it is noteworthy that some groups attribute supernatural qualities to Prophet Muhammad, claiming that he is the very reason for creation. For example, in Mawahib al-Ladunniyyah, the following statement is found:
> “If not for you, I would not have created you, nor the heavens and the earth.”
Such statements carry the danger of committing shirk (associating partners with Allah). However, the Qur’an clearly states that messengers are only human beings and that their duty is solely to convey Allah’s message:
> “Say: I am only a human being like you. It is revealed to me that your god is only One God. So take a straight path to Him and seek His forgiveness. And woe to those who associate partners with Him!” (Fussilat 41:6)
The fundamental problem of traditionalist understanding is that instead of knowing Allah directly and turning only to Him, it sees messengers as intermediaries and attributes extraordinary qualities to them. This situation brings the danger of shirk.
However, Allah clearly states that messengers are also human beings and were created solely to serve Him:
> “And I did not create jinn and mankind except to worship Me.” (Adh-Dhariyat 51:56)
The Qur’an provides many examples showing that messengers are human beings capable of making mistakes. One clear example is the Prophet Yunus, who left his people out of anger. This demonstrates that messengers are not flawless or sinless and that they too were tested by Allah.
Another mistake made by traditionalists is attempting to create a hierarchy among prophets, considering some superior to others in absolute terms. However, the Qur’an indicates that while messengers are a mercy to humanity, distinctions among them are based on Allah’s decree, not human judgment:
> “Those messengers—We favored some over others. Among them were those to whom Allah spoke, and He raised some in degrees. And We gave Jesus, the son of Mary, clear proofs and supported him with the Holy Spirit. If Allah had willed, those after them would not have fought each other after clear proofs had come to them. But they differed; some believed and some disbelieved. And if Allah had willed, they would not have fought, but Allah does what He wills.” (Al-Baqarah 2:253)
This verse emphasizes that messengers were sent with different roles according to Allah’s will, but these differences do not justify humans ranking them by their ownمعیار. Closeness to Allah is a matter known only to Him.
The messengers of Allah are human beings tasked solely with conveying His unity and existence. Attributing superhuman qualities to them, deifying them, and assigning Allah’s creative power to them means deviating from the belief in tawhid.
The extraordinary attributes ascribed to Prophet Jesus in Christianity and to Prophet Muhammad in parts of the Islamic world reflect a deficiency in people’s faith in Allah and their difficulty in believing in an unseen God.
However, the Qur’an states that everything has been created solely for the unity and greatness of Allah. Human beings are created to understand Allah and worship Him. Messengers, too, are only servants of Allah, and this fundamental truth must never be forgotten.
Returning to the belief in tawhid enables a person to focus on their true purpose of existence and keeps them away from shirk.