Sujood of Respect vs. Sujood of Worship

[Sam Ahmad AlFarsi]

Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh Shaykh,

Was doing some reading and came across a statement in an explanation of Aqeedah at-Tahawiyyah that seemed strange to me. It is reproduced below (this is not the matn, just sharh taken from a certain website...)

20) Shirk in Sujood

Sujood means to prostrate. Committing shirk in sujood means to make sujood to other than Allah (azza wajal). For example, the Sufis are known to prostrate before their mureed, sheikh. They claim it is respecting the scholar. But we, ahlul Sunnah wal jama'ah, say that it does not matter because the actions show actions that are only for Allah (azza wajal).

There are many more ways to show respect to someone besides prostrating to them. For this reason, the act of sujood itself carries the meaning of worshipping and is a worship directed to the one that is prostrated to.

Scholars say that making sujood to other than Allah is shirk and takes one out of Islam. Those who make sujood and and those that sujood is made for are all mushrikeen. The one who made sujood committed shirk and the ones who accepted the sujood accepted that they were worshipped like Allah (azza wajal).

From what I remember from LOG class was that there are 2 types of sujood: sujood of respect and sujood of worship. Sujood of respect (to other than Allaah) has been made haraam for our ummah (the ummah of the Prophet Muhammad sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) but it is not shirk. The angels and iblees were commanded to make sujood to Aadam alayhi as-salaam, and this sujood was sujood of respect.

Sujood of worship, however, entails the saajid placing his love, hope, and fear in the object of sujood. This type of sujood when done to other than Allaah is shirk in Uloohiyyah.


Is my understanding of sujood correct? Can sujood to other than Allaah be only haraam and not shirk if it is only meant for respect (so it is then a sujood of respect)?


Finally, it seems that the line separating "highly esteemed respect" and "worship" can be a blurry one. If someone respects a king, he may also love him, fear him, even hope that the king will pardon him for a crime... Where does the sujood of respect reach the level of worship? Is there a clear way to draw this line? Sorry if this sounds confusing.

Jazaakumullaahu khayran Shaykh! I realize I asked a lot .

Wassalaam,
Ahmad

[Barakah]

good question.

then is touching the parents feet 'out of respect' be considered sujood of respect or sujood of worship. even though no actual 'sujood' is made but just touching the parents feet.

[Abu Ammaar]

Originally Posted by Sam Ahmad AlFarsi

Finally, it seems that the line separating "highly esteemed respect" and "worship" can be a blurry one. If someone respects a king, he may also love him, fear him, even hope that the king will pardon him for a crime... Where does the sujood of respect reach the level of worship? Is there a clear way to draw this line? Sorry if this sounds confusing.

Jazaakumullaahu khayran Shaykh! I realize I asked a lot .

Wassalaam,
Ahmad

Salaam Alaikum

You hit the nail on the head here. Basically the 'shaarih' (the one who explained the matn) is stating that - in his opinion - doing such sajdah is blatant shirk because it is done with that feeling of devotion (love, fear and hope) which constitutes ibaadah.

While I would agree that the general rule is that one who does sajdah to a religious figure or icon would have such feelings, I would be more hesitant to categorically and unequivocally label all such people as committing shirk!

With regards to a king, the opposite is true. For the majority of people, they seek to come close to such figures and please them for wordly benefits; it is not done out of genuine love (yes there is fear and hope, but not love). But there are exceptions, as you pointed out.

So, basically, yes you're right in some instances there will be a fine line. But for most cases its pretty clear cut. Also realize we are talking about the perfection of these three emotions, simaltaneously being present in the individual. This type of perfection does not exist for one's parents, even though the core of those three emotions might be present. (Of course this doesn't mean that its ok to do sajdah to them, but it means that such sajdah would be one of respect, therefore haram, and not one of worship, which would be haram and shirk).

Wa Allahu alam...

Yasir