This Is Islam Uncovered

Muhammad the Untouchable: Why Islam Needs Its Founder More Than Its God

Introduction: A Prophet Above God?

In most major religions, God or the divine takes center stage. Prophets and messengers serve merely as conduits, whose primary purpose is to direct followers to the transcendent, not to themselves. Moses points to Yahweh. Jesus points to the Father. The Buddha points to enlightenment. But Islam breaks this mold in a profound and disturbing way.

In Islam, Muhammad eclipses even Allah. He is not just a messenger; he is the gatekeeper of God, the lens through which revelation must be viewed, and the infallible model whose every word, action, and even silence becomes sacred law. Over time, he has become more central to Islamic practice and identity than Allah Himself.

This is not just excessive reverence. It is theological inversion. Islam, despite its monotheistic claim, structurally depends not on divine attributes, but on the personality, behaviors, and interpretations of one man.

This article exposes the architecture of that dependency, showing how Islam has become less about divine submission and more about prophet obedience.

1. The Qur'an Is Incomprehensible Without Muhammad

The Qur’an claims to be a "clear book" (kitabun mubeen), a self-contained message for all mankind. Yet it reads like a cryptic, fragmented oracle, filled with disjointed references, unintroduced characters, and abrupt narrative shifts.

Why? Because the Qur’an requires external context to make any coherent sense—context that exists only through Muhammad’s life and the traditions about him.

Without the Hadith collections, the Qur'an offers no comprehensive explanation of how to pray, fast, or give charity.
Without the Sira literature (biographies of Muhammad), verses like 33:37 (Muhammad's marriage to his adopted son's wife) or 9:5 ("kill the polytheists wherever you find them") are not just confusing—they are dangerous.
Even basic Islamic pillars, such as the number of daily prayers or how to perform Hajj, are absent from the Qur’an and only exist in prophetic tradition.

Thus, Muhammad does not merely interpret revelation—he supplies the missing pieces that make revelation functional. The Qur’an is dependent, parasitic on extra-Qur’anic sources, and those sources orbit Muhammad alone.

2. Muhammad’s Behavior Defines Morality

In traditional Islamic thought, moral authority comes not from reason or natural law, but from precedent. Specifically, the precedent set by Muhammad.

The consequences are staggering:

Whatever Muhammad did is automatically good, regardless of time, context, or consequence.
Child marriage becomes defensible because Muhammad consummated a marriage with Aisha when she was nine.
Sex slavery becomes permissible because Muhammad took slave concubines.
Violence against critics becomes praiseworthy because Muhammad ordered assassinations of poets and opponents.

Islamic morality is thus frozen in 7th-century Arabia, fossilized by the actions of a single man. Reform becomes nearly impossible, because to question Muhammad is to question the very foundation of the faith.

Even trivial acts—how Muhammad brushed his teeth, which hand he used to eat—are transformed into moral imperatives. His life becomes a labyrinth of rules that devout Muslims must imitate.

This isn’t ethics. It’s ritualized mimicry masquerading as morality.

3. Blasphemy and Apostasy: Protecting Muhammad, Not God

In theory, blasphemy laws should exist to defend the sacredness of God. But in Islamic law and society, the most vicious punishments are reserved not for denying God—but for insulting Muhammad.

Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws have led to countless arrests and killings—almost all for alleged insults to the Prophet.
Salman Rushdie was nearly killed for writing fictional material about Muhammad. Cartoonists in Europe were murdered for drawing him.
Apostates who leave Islam are hunted and killed especially if they criticize Muhammad’s behavior—not just if they disbelieve in Allah.

This reveals the true focus of Islamic sacredness: not the divine, but the prophetic persona.

What kind of religion protects its founder more fiercely than it protects its God?

4. The Shahada Prioritizes Muhammad

The central Islamic creed, the Shahada, is often translated as:

“There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”

This is not a mere declaration of faith. It is a theological filter. One must not only acknowledge God's existence—but also affirm Muhammad’s exclusive authority. Denying Muhammad, even while affirming God, results in eternal damnation according to Islamic doctrine.

Thus, a Jewish monotheist, a Christian Trinitarian, or a philosophical Deist—none of whom deny God’s existence—is still condemned for rejecting Muhammad’s role.

This makes Muhammad the actual gatekeeper of salvation. He becomes the bottleneck of heaven, the criterion of divine approval.

5. Muhammad's Image Is Legally and Culturally Untouchable

Islamic law not only forbids insults against Muhammad—it prohibits depiction altogether. The Islamic world reacts with unparalleled ferocity to portrayals of Muhammad, even if benign:

The 2005 Danish cartoon crisis led to global riots and over 200 deaths.
The Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris targeted satirical cartoonists.
Countries like Iran and Pakistan issue official fatwas calling for the death of artists and critics.

Meanwhile, scholars—even Muslim ones—who raise historical or ethical concerns about Muhammad’s life often face threats, exile, or assassination.

This is not theological reverence. It is authoritarian censorship. Islam has created a legal and cultural forcefield around Muhammad, making him more invulnerable than any political dictator.

God is abstract. Muhammad is concrete. And that makes Muhammad more powerful.

6. The Hadith Eclipse the Qur'an

Although Muslims claim to revere the Qur’an as the final and perfect word of God, Islamic practice is dominated by Hadith—sayings and deeds attributed to Muhammad.

The five pillars of Islam, other than the Shahada, are derived almost entirely from Hadith.
Sharia law—covering criminal punishment, inheritance, contracts, family law, and jihad—is built almost exclusively from Hadith.
Doctrinal theology, including beliefs about the afterlife, paradise, hell, and intercession, are formed from Hadith, not the Qur’an.

This has two devastating consequences:

It elevates Muhammad’s posthumous voice above God’s literal words.
It opens Islamic law to fraudulent, contradictory, and politically motivated forgeries, which were rampant during the Abbasid era.

Islam is not driven by divine revelation. It is driven by how later Muslims remembered—or invented—Muhammad’s behavior.

7. Muhammad as Intercessor and Cosmic Authority

Islam officially rejects divine incarnation or saints. Yet in practice, Muhammad is exalted to a superhuman, almost divine level.

He is described as the first created being and the reason for creation itself in mystical texts.
His intercession is believed to be the final hope for Muslims on Judgment Day.
His relics—hairs, sandals, cloak—are revered in some traditions as sources of divine blessing.
In Sufi literature, he is sometimes described as the "perfect man" (al-insan al-kamil) who reflects the totality of divine attributes.

This is not the portrayal of a messenger. It is the crafting of a sacred icon, a messianic figure cloaked in mystery and veneration.

In effect, Muhammad becomes Islam’s unofficial deity.

Conclusion: A Cult of the Messenger

Islam markets itself as the religion of pure monotheism—tawhid, the oneness of God. But this is theological sleight of hand. In practice, Islam is structured around a single man, whose every word trumps reason, whose every act trumps conscience, and whose status trumps God Himself.

Take away Muhammad, and Islam collapses:

The Qur’an becomes incoherent
The rituals lose their reference point
The laws lose their basis
The ethics dissolve

Muhammad is not Islam’s prophet. He is its core engine. Without him, there is nothing.

This isn’t religion. It’s personal cultism on a global scale, masquerading as divine submission.