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

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.