The Places of Worship Belong to God Alone
Quran Talk Blog · Article · July 10, 2020
One of the clear commandments in the Quran is to never associate any partners with God.
4:36 You shall worship GOD alone—do not associate anything with Him…
وَاعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَلَا تُشْرِكُوا بِهِ شَيْئًا
Sadly such a simple commandment is at odds with most people who self identify as Muslims. Proof of this is that in almost every masjid in the world a person cannot enter without seeing the prophets name propped up right next to the name of God.
God informs us that the places of worship belong to God alone and not to call on the name of anyone else next to the name of God.
72:18 The places of worship belong to GOD; do not call on anyone else beside GOD.
وَأَنَّ الْمَسَاجِدَ لِلَّهِ فَلَا تَدْعُوا مَعَ اللَّهِ أَحَدًا
It doesn’t matter if a masjid has 99 names of God and a single mention of Muhammad next to the name of God, this is still idol worship and prohibited. A true believer of God should be 100% satisfied with mentioning only the name of God at every place of worship and in their declaration of faith (Shahadah).
The declaration of faith in the Quran is mentioned 19 times, and it always only mentions God alone. In Sura 47, entitled Muhammad we see the Shahadah clearly stated for us.