The Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) being sent as a perfect guide

Question:
When making dua, I stated, “thank you Allah for sending the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) as a perfect mercy and perfect guide”. I then got thoughts of “should I say the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) is a perfect mercy? Is this shirk? Am I saying that he is equal to Allah, as Allah is Most Merciful and perfectly Merciful?”. Am I still a Muslim? How can I stay away from blasphemy when I’m scared of feeling something is kufr and then end up committing another kufr to repel it

Answer:
Assalamu alaykum

Thank you for writing to us.

You are not guilty of disbelief or blasphemy.  These were only thoughts that came to your mind, and we are generally not taken to task for our thoughts. Even if what you thought was expressed verbally, you would still not be guilty of the above as these are simple questions that you may have.

To answer this question, know that our Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) is a perfect human being. He is perfect in his character, speaking, interactions, showing mercy, love, and compassion. This is established in several narrations and verses of the Quran. His perfection, however, is relative to all creation and not the Creator. None of the creation compares to him (Allah bless him and give him peace), but he is created and cannot be compared to the Creator.

And Allah knows best.
[Shaykh] Abdurragmaan Khan

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Abdurragmaan received ijazah ’ammah from various luminaries, including but not restricted to: Habib Umar ibn Hafiz—a personality who affected him greatly and who has changed his relationship with Allah, Maulana Yusuf Karaan—the former Mufti of Cape Town; Habib ‘Ali al-Mashhur—the current Mufti of Tarim; Habib ‘Umar al-Jaylani—the Shafi‘i Mufti of Makkah; Sayyid Ahmad bin Abi Bakr al-Hibshi; Habib Kadhim as-Saqqaf; Shaykh Mahmud Sa’id Mamduh; Maulana Abdul Hafiz al-Makki; Shaykh Ala ad-Din al-Afghani; Maulana Fazlur Rahman al-Azami and Shaykh Yahya al-Gawthani amongst others.