Refutation of those who say that before Prophethood the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was just like other people
Question

                How should we react to people who say that the Prophet (Peace be upon Him) was just an ordinary man before Jibreel AS came to him when he was forty years old.
Praise be to Allah.
	Firstly: 

	The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was 
	human, but Allah, may He be exalted, bestowed His favour upon him and 
	blessed him, and chose him as He chose other Messengers (peace be upon them) 
	before him. Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):

	“And nothing 
	prevented men from believing when the guidance came to them, except that 
	they said: ‘Has Allah sent a man as (His) Messenger?’”

	[al-Isra’ 17:94]

	“Say (O 
	Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)): ‘I am only a man like 
	you. It has been inspired to me that your Ilah (God) is One Ilah (God i.e. 
	Allah)’”

	[al-Kahf 18:110]. 

	Al-Bukhaari (401) and Muslim (572) narrated from Ibn Mas‘ood 
	(may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (blessings and peace of 
	Allah be upon him) that he said: “I am only human like you; I forget as you 
	forget.” 

	Abu Dawood (4659) narrated from Salmaan from the Prophet 
	(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that he said: “I am one of the 
	sons of Adam; I get angry as you get angry.” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani 
	in Saheeh Abi Dawood. 

	To sum up, this similarity in terms of being human means that 
	the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was a man, one of the 
	sons of Adam, and was not an angel, let alone being a god or having any 
	attributes or characteristics of divinity, or anything that is unique to 
	divinity. Exalted be Allah far above having any partner, peer, rival or 
	equal. Rather he (the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is 
	one of the creations of Allah, a human from among the sons of Adam, whom 
	Allah honoured with Prophethood and with that high status. 

	Secondly: 

	However before Prophethood, the Prophet (blessings and peace 
	of Allah be upon him) was not like other people; rather he was distinct from 
	them in many things in which Allah favoured him and for which He singled him 
	out. Al-Haafiz Salaah ad-Deen al-‘Alaa’i (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

	How could it be otherwise, when Allah, may He be exalted, 
	protected him before his Prophethood began from many permissible things that 
	would detract from the status of anyone who indulged in them? 

	End quote from Fataawa al-‘Alaa’i (76) 

	Examples of this include the following: 

	·Before his mission began, 
	Allah, may He be exalted, protected him from prostrating to idols and 
	worshipping them, as his people used to do. 

	·Allah, may He be glorified 
	and exalted, also protected him from drinking alcohol even before 
	Prophethood. Al-Haafiz al-‘Alaa’i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: What 
	should be noted definitively is that the Prophet (blessings and peace of 
	Allah be upon him) did not drink any intoxicating fermented drinks at the 
	time when they were permissible, and this is not found in any report 
	whatsoever, whether with a saheeh or da‘eef isnaad.

	End quote from Fataawa al-‘Alaa’i 
	(75) 

	·A rock used to greet him 
	(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) with salaam before his mission 
	began. Muslim (2277) narrated that Jaabir ibn Samurah said: The Messenger of 
	Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “I know a rock in 
	Makkah that used to greet me before I was sent. I would recognize it even 
	now.” 

	·Jibreel (peace be upon him) 
	opened his chest when he (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was 
	small, and took out (from his heart) the share of the Shaytaan. 

	·It was narrated from Anas 
	ibn Maalik (may Allah be pleased with him) that Jibreel came to the 
	Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) when he was 
	playing with the other boys. He took hold of him and threw him to the 
	ground, then he opened his chest and took out his heart, from which he took 
	a clot of blood and said: “This was the Shaytaan’s share of you.” Then he 
	washed it in a vessel of gold that was filled with Zamzam. Then he put it 
	back together and returned it to its place. The boys went running to his 
	mother – meaning his nurse – and said: Muhammad has been killed! They went 
	to him and his colour had changed. Anas said: I used to see the mark of that 
	stitching on his chest. Narrated by Muslim (162). 

	·Al-Bukhaari (364) and Muslim 
	narrated from Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullah that the Messenger of Allah (blessings 
	and peace of Allah be upon him) carried stones with them to the Ka‘bah, 
	wearing his izaar. His paternal uncle al-‘Abbaas said to him: O son of my 
	brother, why don’t you undo your izaar and put it on your shoulders for 
	protection (against the roughness) of the stones? So he undid his izaar and 
	put it on his shoulders, but then he fell unconscious, and he was never seen 
	unclothed again after that (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). 

	·Ahmad (23800) narrated from 
	Abu’t-Tufayl – and he mentioned the reconstruction of the Ka‘bah during the 
	Jaahiliyyah, and said: Quraysh demolished it and started to rebuild it with 
	the stones of the valley, which Quraysh carried on their shoulders and built 
	it up, twenty cubits high. Whilst the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah 
	be upon him) was carrying stones, going back and forth, wearing a striped 
	izaar, the izaar became tight so he went to put it on his shoulder, but his 
	‘awrah would have become visible because the izaar was too small. So a voice 
	called out: “O Muhammad, cover your ‘awrah.” And he was never seen unclothed 
	after that.

	The commentators on al-Musnad said: Its isnaad is 
	qawiy. 

	·At-Tayaalisi narrated in his
	Musnad (2781) that Ibn ‘Abbaas said: The Messenger of Allah 
	(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: I have been forbidden to be 
	unclothed – and that was before Prophethood came down to him.

	Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami‘ 
	(6783)

	·It was narrated by at-Tirmidhi 
	(3620) – who classed it as hasan – and by al-Bayhaqi in Dalaa’il an-Nubuwwah 
	(2/24) that Abu Moosa said: Abu Taalib set out for Syria, and the Messenger 
	of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) set out with him, along 
	with some elders from Quraysh. When they drew near to the monk they 
	dismounted and unloaded their baggage. The monk came out to them, but before 
	that when they passed by him he did not come out to them or pay any 
	attention to them. As they were unloading their baggage and he went to them 
	and walked among them until he came and took the hand of the Messenger of 
	Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and said: This is the 
	leader of the worlds; this is the Messenger of the Lord of the Worlds; Allah 
	has sent him as a mercy to the worlds. The elders of Quraysh said to him: 
	How do you know? He said: When you came from al-‘Aqabah, he did not pass any 
	tree or rock but it fell down in prostration, and they do not prostrate 
	except for a Prophet. I recognised him; the Seal of Prophethood is below his 
	shoulder-blade, like an apple. Then he went back and made some food for 
	them, and when he came, [the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon 
	him)] was tending the camels, so he said: Send for him. He came, with a 
	cloud shading him, and [the monk] said: Look at him; there is a cloud 
	shading him. When he came to the people, he found that they had already 
	taken up the shaded area beneath the tree, but when he sat down, the shadow 
	of the tree moved to cover him. [The monk] said: Look at how the shadow of 
	the tree has moved to cover him.

	Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in 
	Saheeh at-Tirmidhi

	Before his mission began, he (blessings and peace of Allah be 
	upon him) never saw any dream but it came true like the light of dawn. Al-Bukhaari 
	(3) and Muslim (160) narrated that ‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) 
	said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did 
	not see any dream but it came true like the light of dawn.

	After all this, how can it be said that he was an ordinary 
	man like all other people?

	For more information, please see the answer to question no.
	121839

	And Allah knows best.