Erasing the Accusation of Shirk

Ali: My shaykh also told me that when the Ahl al-Sunnah Wa al-Jama’a visit
the graves of the pious they prostrate before them as they would in prayer
and that you also sacrifice animals and make vows in the names of the
deceased pious. (I seek shelter in Allah!)
Qadhi: Your shaykh has only told you that which he has heard from other
people. I do not think that he has ever even visited the grave of the pious
himself, nor has he ever read any Ahl al-Sunnah Wa al-Jama’a books and it
is due to his ignorance that he has said this. When one goes to the graves of
the pious, no one prostrates before the graves. It is extremely unlikely,
although if someone who is ignorant of the teachings of Islam prostrates to
the grave, this is only due to their ignorance. Anyone who observes another
Muslim doing this, will stop him from doing it and the Ahl al-Sunnah Wa al-
Jama’a do not tell anyone to do such an act.
The Khawarij think that if someone who is uneducated prostrates before a
grave of the pious, he has immediately become a polytheist, but we, the Ahl
al-Sunnah Wa al-Jama’a believe that person to be someone who has sinned.
There are two types of prostrations: one is in the form of worship and the
other is in the form of respect. No Muslim prostrates in the form of worship
before anyone or anything else other than Allah. If they did, they cannot be
said to be a Muslim as Allah Ta’la says in the Qur’an:
041.037 And of His portents are the night and the day and the sun and the
moon. Do not prostrate to the sun or the moon; but prostrate to Allah Who
created them, if it is in truth Him Whom ye worship.
It is impossible that a Muslim would prostrate before other than Allah in the
form of worship! If an ignorant Muslim goes to the grave of a pious person
and prostrates before the grave he is not prostrating in the form of worship,
but only in the form of respect. Even though this sort of prostration is also
unlawful, it does not make him a mushrik (polytheist) or kafir (disbeliever),
though it is a major sin. The reason for this is during previous nations Allah
made prostrating to others in the form of respect permissible, as Allah
Almighty says in the Qur’an:
002.034 And when We said unto the angels: Prostrate yourselves before
Adam, they fell prostrate, all save Iblis. He demurred through pride, and so
became a disbeliever.
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