Ad-Dahhak said, reporting from Ibn ‘Abbas: “They used to say, ‘O Muhammad,’ or ‘O Abu Al-Qasim,’ but Allah forbade them to do that, as a sign of respect towards His Prophet, and told them to say, ‘O Prophet of Allah,’ ‘O Messenger of Allah.’ This was also the view of Mujahid and Said bin Jubayr. Qatadah said: “Allah commanded that His Prophet should be treated with respect and honor, and that he should be a leader.” Muqatil said concerning the Ayah:

“When you address him, do not say, ‘O Muhammad,’ or ‘O son of ‘Abdullah’; rather honor him and say, ‘O Prophet of Allah,’ or, ‘O Messenger of Allah.’

A second view concerning the meaning of the Ayah is that it means ‘do not think that if he prays against you it is like when anyone else prays against you, because his prayers will be answered; so beware lest he prays against you and you will be doomed.’ Ibn Abi Hatim recorded this from Ibn ‘Abbas, Al-Hasan Al-Basri and ‘Atiyyah Al-‘Awfi. And Allah knows best.

Muqatil bin Hayyan said, “This refers to the hypocrites who used to find it too difficult to listen to the Khutbah on Fridays, so they would hide behind some of the Companions of Muhammad and sneak out of the Masjid. It was not proper for a man to leave on Fridays once the Khutbah began, unless he had permission from the Prophet. If one of them wanted to leave, he would make a gesture to the Prophet with his finger, and the Prophet would give permission without the man speaking. This is because if the Prophet was giving the Khutbah and a man spoke, it would invalidate his Friday prayer.” As-Suddi said, “If they were with him for a congregational prayer, they would hide behind one another so that he could not see them.”

The Prohibition of going against the Messenger’s Commandment

This means going against the commandment of the Prophet, which is his way, methodology and Sunnah. All words and deeds will be measured against his words and deeds; those that are in accordance with his words and deeds will be accepted, and whatever does not match up will be rejected, no matter who the person is who said and did them. It was recorded in the Two Sahihs and elsewhere that the Messenger of Allah said:

«Whoever does a deed that is not in accordance with this matter of ours will have it rejected.»

meaning, let those beware who go against the Shari'ah of the Messenger, in secret and in the open,

{lest some Fitnah should befall them}, i.e., lest some disbelief or hypocrisy or innovation enter their hearts.