My Response:

This is very poor understanding of Scripture. The verse is not saying that hypocrites are the ones who bear witness that Muhammad is a Messenger. It is saying that those specific hypocrites are lying when they say that they bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God. They say it, but don't mean it inside. The verse would not make sense. How can God accus[sic] them of lying when they say Muhammad is a Messenger of God and it is there in the Quran that Muhammad is a Messenger of God? God is saying that they are lying because they don't mean what they say.

RESPONSE:

What truly shows poor understanding is Zawadi’s distortion of the point being made by the submitters. As we just saw above, their point wasn’t that Allah was accusing the hypocrites for lying when they testified that Muhammad was his messenger. Their point was that the only group that felt the need to publicly testify that Muhammad was a messenger were the liars and hypocrites as a way of covering up their disbelief. Basically, they are trying to show that the Quran doesn’t require believers to publicly profess Muhammad’s apostleship since by obeying and following the Quran they will be proving their belief in him.

Zawadi says regarding the assertion that placing Muhammad’s name in the shahadah violates Islamic monotheism:

My Response:

Who said that by putting Muhammad's name in the shahada means that we are not keeping the religion absolutely to God alone? Putting Muhammad's name in the same sentence as God does not mean they are equal. If I say that "John and his dog were taking a walk in the park." Am I showing equality between the two? If I say that "The employer and his employee are doing a great job running the company." Am I implying that they both have the same authority?

RESPONSE:

It is quite obvious that Zawadi hasn’t spent time studying what Muslims have said regarding the implication of adding Muhammad’s name next to Allah’s. For instance, a renowned Muslim scholar named Qadi Iyad Ibn Musa al-Yahsubi noted regarding Islam’s creed:

Qatada said, "Allah exalted his fame in this world and the Next. There is no speaker, witness nor anyone doing the prayer who fails to say, ‘There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.’"

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri related that the Prophet said, "Jibril, peace be upon him, came to me and said, ‘My Lord and your Lord says, ‘Do you know how I have exalted your fame?"’ I said, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said, 'When I am mentioned you are mentioned with Me.’"

Ibn ‘Ata quoted a hadith qudsi saying, "I completed belief with your being mentioned with Me." And another one which says, "I have made your mention part of My mention so whoever mentions Me, mentions you."

Ja'far ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq, "No one mentions you as the Messenger but that he mentions Me as the Lord."

The fact that mention of the Prophet is directly connected to mention of Allah also shows that obedience to the Prophet is connected to obedience to Allah and his name to Allah's name. Allah says, "Obey Allah and His Messenger" (2:32) and "Believe in Allah and His Messenger." (4:136) Allah joins them together using the conjunction wa WHICH IS THE CONJUNCTION OF PARTNERSHIP. IT IS NOT PERMITTED TO USE THIS CONJUNCTION IN CONNECTION WITH ALLAH IN THE CASE OF ANYONE EXCEPT THE PROPHET.

Hudhayfa said that the Prophet said, "None of you should say, ‘What Allah wills and (wa) so-and-so wills.’ Rather say, ‘What Allah wills.’ Then stop and say, ‘So-and-so wills.’"

Al-Khattabi said, "The Prophet has guided you to correct behaviour in putting the will of Allah before the will of others. He chose ‘then’ (thumma) which implies sequence and deference as opposed to ‘and’ (wa) WHICH IMPLIES PARTNERSHIP."

Something similar is mentioned in another hadith. Someone was speaking in the presence of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said, "Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has been rightly guided, and whoever rebels against them both (joining them together by using the dual form) …" The Prophet said to him, "What a bad speaker you are! Get up! [Or he said: Get out!]"

Abu Sulayman said, "He disliked the two names being joined together in that way BECAUSE IT IMPLIES EQUALITY." … (Iyad, Kitab Ash-shifa bi ta'rif huquq al-Mustafa (Healing by the recognition of the Rights of the Chosen One), translated by Aisha Abdarrahman Bewley [Madinah Press, Inverness, Scotland, U.K., third reprint 1991, paperback], pp. 7-8; bold and capital emphasis ours)

"… He coupled his name with His own name, and his pleasure with His pleasure. He made him one of the two pillars of tawhid." (Ibid., p. 27)

Ibn ‘Abbas said, "Written on the door of the Garden is: I am Allah. There is no god but Me. Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. I will not punish anyone who says that." (Ibid., p. 90)

Another source asserts that Muhammad didn’t like it when people used the conjunction wa (and) when associating him with Allah:

Further, a man once said to the Prophet … "What Allah and what you will." He … said, … Do not say, 'What Allah and what Muhammad will.' Rather say, 'What Allah wills and then what Muhammad wills.' (Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziyyah, Zad-ul Ma'ad fi Hadyi Khairi-l 'Ibad [Provisions for the Hereafter Taken From the Guidance of Allah's Best Worshipper], translated by Jalal Abualrub, edited by Alaa Mencke & Shaheed M. Ali [Madinah Publishers & Distributors, Orlando Florida; First edition, October 2001], Volume 4, p. 285)

Thus, Muslim sources, not Christians or Orientalists, emphatically affirm that Muhammad’s name being combined with Allah through the use of the Arabic conjunction wa implies partnership, that Muhammad is a partner with Allah! This is especially true when we realize that according to Sunni Islam the recitation of the Islamic creed is a necessary first step in attaining salvation. In other words, Muslim salvation is dependent on reciting that Allah is god alone and Muhammad is his messenger, which means that Muhammad is just as much a necessary object of salvation as is Allah!

In order to help Christians understand the significance and implicit idolatry associated with this conjoining of Allah and Muhammad it will be helpful to cite the following biblical passage:

"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, AND (kai) Jesus Christ whom you have sent." John 17:3

The Lord Jesus, by using the Greek conjunction kai in his prayer, makes himself the necessary object of the knowledge that leads to eternal life. In other words, Jesus makes himself a coequal partner with God by claiming that eternal life is dependent on knowing both the Father and the Son. As one commentary noted:

and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent--This is the only place where our Lord gives Himself this compound name, afterwards so current in apostolic preaching and writing. Here the terms are used in their strict signification--"JESUS," because He "saves His people from their sins"; "CHRIST," as anointed with the measureless fulness of the Holy Ghost for the exercise of His saving offices "WHOM THOU HAST SENT," in the plenitude of Divine Authority and Power, to save. "The very juxtaposition here of Jesus Christ with the Father is a proof, by implication, of our Lord's Godhead. The knowledge of God and a creature could not be eternal life, and such an association of the one with the other would be inconceivable" [ALFORD]. (Jamieson & Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; online source; bold and underline emphasis ours)

The late renowned Bible expositor John Gill stated:

… The Arians and Unitarians urge this text, against the true and proper deity of our Lord Jesus, and his equality with the Father, but without success; since the Father is called the only true God, in opposition to the many false gods of the Heathens, but not to the exclusion of the Son or Spirit; for Christ is also styled the one Lord, and only Lord God, but not to the exclusion of the Father; yea the true God and eternal life; was he not, he would never, as here, join himself with the only true God; and besides, eternal life is made to depend as much upon the knowledge of him, as of the Father. The reason of this different mode of expression, is owing to the character of Christ as Mediator, who is said to be sent by the only true God, about the business of man's salvation. Nor is it of any moment what the Jew objects, that Jesus here confesses, that the true God is only one God; nor does he call himself God, only the Messiah sent by God; and that the Apostle Paul also asserts the unity of God, (1 Timothy 1:17); and therefore Jesus cannot be God: for Christ and his Father, the only true God, are one; and that he is the one true God with his Father, he tacitly suggests here by joining himself with him; and what the Apostle Paul says of the one and only wise God, may as well be understood of Christ, the Son of God, as of the Father; since all the characters in the text agree with him, and of him he had been speaking in the context. (online source; bold emphasis ours)

The grouping of the Father and the Lord Jesus as the necessary objects of salvation makes perfect sense in light of the Gospel’s teaching that Christ is God the Son (cf. John 1:1-4, 10, 14, 18; 17:1-2, 4-5; 20:28-31).

Interestingly, even the unbelievers saw that Muhammad’s statements were similar to what Christians were professing about Jesus!

It is related that ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said to the Prophet, "Part of your excellence with Allah is that He has made obedience to you obedience to Him. Allah says, ‘Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah’ (4:80) and ‘If you love Allah, then follow me and Allah will love you.’" (3:31) It is related that when this ayat was sent down, people said, ‘Muhammad wants us to take him as a mercy IN THE WAY CHRISTIANS DID WITH ‘ISA,’ so Allah revealed, ‘Say: Obey Allah, and the Messenger.’" (3:32) (Iyad, p. 9; bold and capital emphasis ours)

Thus, Islamic tradition has basically turned Muhammad into a god by grouping him with Allah in its official creed as an object of salvation. It has done the inconceivable (in the words of Alford) by associating God with a creature.

For more on John 17:3 we recommend these articles:

http://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/q_john17_3.htm
http://answer-islam.org/OnetrueGod.html

Zawadi continues:

My Response:

The hadith regarding the Shahadah that includes Jesus' name in it has a reason for it. 

Qurtubi said that the point of this hadith is to show the Christian how they went astray regarding their portrayal and belief regarding Jesus and his mother. And that a Christian can benefit from this saying if he said it in his testimony if he converted to Islam. 

Nawawi said that this hadith is great in the sense that it talks about doctrine which is so abused by other religions. For example, the Jews did not believe in Jesus and they insulted his mother. This hadith shows honor to Jesus and his mother. 

(Note: I only paraphrased Qurtubi's and Nawawi's interpretations. Check the link for the exact wording at http://hadith.al-islam.com/Display/Display.asp?Doc=0&Rec=5299)

RESPONSE:

Several responses to these erroneous assertions are in order. In the first place none of the hadiths that include Jesus within Islam’s creedal confession is directed to Christians or Jews. The narrations are directed to all individuals:

Narrated ‘Ubada:
The Prophet said, "IF ANYONE TESTIFIES that None has the right to be worshipped but Allah Alone Who has no partners, and that Muhammad is His Slave and His Apostle, and that Jesus is Allah's Slave and His Apostle and His Word which He bestowed on Mary and a Spirit from Him, and that Paradise is true, and Hell is true, Allah will admit him into Paradise with the deeds which he had done even if those deeds were few." (Junada, the sub-narrator said, "‘Ubada added, ‘Such a person can enter Paradise through any of its eight gates he likes.’") (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 55, Number 644)

It is narrated on the authority of Ubadah b. Samit that the messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed: HE WHO SAID: "There is no god but Allah, He is One and there is no associate with Him, that Muhammad is his servant and His messenger, that Christ is servant and the son of His slave-girl and he (Christ) His word which He communicated to Mary and is His Spirit, that Paradise is a fact and Hell is a fact," Allah would make him (he who affirms these truths enter Paradise through any one of its eight doors which he would like. (Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Number 0043)

Thus, everyone is required to publicly confess Christ as part of his or her testimony of faith.

Second, if the inclusion of Jesus within the creed was intended to help the Christians get their Christology right then by the same token Muhammad should have also included Ezra (Uzayr) whom the Jews believed was God’s son — according to the Quran at least:

And the Jews say, ‘Ezra is the son of ALLAH,’ and the Christians say, ‘the Messiah is the son of ALLAH;’ that is what they say with their mouths. They only imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before them. ALLAH's curse be on them! How they are turned away. S. 9:30 Sher Ali

Narrated Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri:
We said, "O Allah's Apostle! Shall we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?" He said, "Do you have any difficulty in seeing the sun and the moon when the sky is clear?" We said, "No." He said, "So you will have no difficulty in seeing your Lord on that Day as you have no difficulty in seeing the sun and the moon (in a clear sky)." The Prophet then said, "Somebody will then announce, ‘Let every nation follow what they used to worship.’ So the companions of the cross will go with their cross, and the idolators (will go) with their idols, and the companions of every god (false deities) (will go) with their god, till there remain those who used to worship Allah, both the obedient ones and the mischievous ones, and some of the people of the Scripture. Then Hell will be presented to them as if it were a mirage. Then it will be said to the Jews, "What did you use to worship?" They will reply, "We used to worship Ezra, the son of Allah." It will be said to them, "You are liars, for Allah has neither a wife nor a son. What do you want (now)?" They will reply, "We want You to provide us with water." Then it will be said to them "Drink," and they will fall down in Hell (instead). Then it will be said to the Christians, "What did you use to worship?" They will reply, "We used to worship Messiah, the son of Allah." It will be said, "You are liars, for Allah has neither a wife nor a son." … (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 93, Number 532s)

Using Qurtubi’s and Zawadi’s logic we would therefore expect Muhammad to have demanded that the Jews publicly profess Ezra as the slave and apostle of Allah so as to help cure them of their bad theology as well.