# Has Islam become a religion about Muhammad rather than the religion he brought? *Has Islam become a religion about Muhammad? The need for a human archetype* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/b1ooltqtptw/s/11/ - Date: 2021-03-02 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #204 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (55:37–59:58) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1OOltqtPTw&t=3337s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/b1ooltqtptw/ **Topics:** Tawhid and shirk; Personal stories and reflections; The life of the Prophet **Question as asked:** It is prophet worship: the religion brought by Muhammad became a religion about Muhammad. **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** No: there is a deep human need for a human archetype, not someone to pray to, and for Muslims that is the Prophet. He adds that his own life changed in the Prophet's mosque. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says human beings have a fundamental need, deep within the psyche, for a human archetype, not one to pray to. **Evidence, his words at 56:14:** “need for a human not to pray to but a human that is that ultimate archetype for you this is in all it's it's deep within our psyche” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1OOltqtPTw&t=3374s) ## Longer summary A chat comment says that it is prophet worship, since the religion brought by Muhammad became a religion about Muhammad. Mufti Abu Layth answers that if one psychologises human beings there is a fundamental need, deep in the psyche, for a human archetype, not one to pray to, and that this is why the Quran presents the Messenger as the model and says that God raised his mention. He says that, born a Muslim, he accepts a charge of bias, but as someone who studied the faith and observes the world he sees the change the Prophet brought to human civilisation and is proud of the affiliation, without forcing that view on anyone. He then recounts that as a teenager of sixteen or seventeen, not much concerned with religion, he felt the trajectory of his life change during a family visit to the Prophet's mosque, by the barakah of the Prophet, as he told in a recent interview he will share, and that he hopes to return there one day to bring the journey full circle. ## Sources and names cited - Quran 33:21: https://quran.com/33/21 - Quran 94:4: https://quran.com/94/4 - barakah - al-Masjid al-Nabawi (the Prophet's mosque) ## Transcript (machine tier, 55:37–59:58) [54:57] nazami said maybe he has a different interpretation for what he's trying to say and it came out horribly wrong but um maybe he didn't mean it like that i don't know but i mean i don't know maybe he'll do some video explaining this or something but it caused a lot of um you know it caused a huge stir and i and i feel this was like such an unnecessary battle to to fight you know if you're gonna pick your battles for the love of god why would you pick the [55:37] battle that stopped praising the prophet i mean that's like like everybody's just like totally confused where you're coming from this i have to file this away under how not to do controversy but yeah cool people let's um um some rational faith says it is prophet worship the religion by muhammad became a religion about muhammad sallallahu alaihi yeah but that's because you know if you psychologize human beings the fundamental [56:14] need for a human not to pray to but a human that is that ultimate archetype for you this is in all it's it's deep within our psyche and hence allah says you know this this model you want that it is in rasulullah that that is how the the verse of the quran says [56:50] we have raised your um you know your praise amongst mankind allah says in the quran and i'm you know as a muslim obviously i'm born a muslim so people would say well you know that's a bias and i accept that but as somebody who did come to study the faith and observes the world and observes the change that has come to human civilization unquestionably whether direct or indirect one could say from the prophet muhammad s [57:26] proud to have an affiliation to the prophet that's me i mean and look people don't want to i'm not saying that people need to all of humanity need to view the prophet like this they don't you know they they're not muslims or even if some muslims don't want to i find it strange incredibly but i won't you know i'm not about let's force my opinion onto them i'm just telling you this is how i feel okay i feel that wow you know that this and i said in my interview as well that you know with uh dr matthew sajid that i said that i [58:03] um you know in a weird strange way forever i do feel that my whole life changed when i was in the prophet's mosque and i i've given that story the interview is going to as soon as dr mahdi sajid gives it to me i will share it but i i was genuine well i was genuine when i was saying that um that when and the stories there i won't repeat it now but i feel that you know my whole the trajectory of my life changed because i just went there not think you know thinking anything and just went along as a family you know as a [58:41] teenager and what was i 16 17 between 16 17 not really thinking anything not too fussed about uh religion in that way and never envisaging that this would you know my life would the whole trajectory would change and i feel that wallahi that it happened there in in the mosque of the prophet salallahu you know by the barakah of the prophet islam and i feel that you know in many ways you know in years to come you know i've not really gone back for hajj hajju umrah yet [59:20] from that time when i did that but inshallah line years to come when it when it turns full circle you know papi here we're a bit sinful yet that in the words of that that but i feel that you know when a time inshallah in life at some point that it will go full circle that i will go back to the prophet's mass because my journey the religious journey ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment b1OOltqtPTw/s/11. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/b1ooltqtptw/s/11/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.