Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear Mr. Burhan Bhai,

This refers to the missing questions & answers that you recently sent me and specially about the Sajdah which is only due to Allah alone and the prohibition of Aarti which is idol worship.

I need some clarifications, when in Mecca we do Sajdah to the Ka'aba (Black Stone) is not same as what Hindus do idol worship? The 7 tawaaf that we do going round the Ka'aba is similarly the same Aarti type the Hindus do the "Saath Phera"

I am little confused and since I am not very much learned in Islam I have to ask this question to clear my conscious and hope Allah will forgive me because I am comparing the sacred Ka'aba with the Hindus.

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

ANSWER:

Sajdah to Ka’aba

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and who-ever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your Comment: I am little confused and since I am not very much learned in Islam I have to ask this question to clear my conscious and hope Allah will forgive me because I am comparing the sacred Ka'aba with the Hindus.

The Prophet (saws) said: “There is hesitation in everything except in the actions of the next world.”

And Allah knows that you ask these questions only to increase your knowledge about Islam and become a better believer and worshipper of Allah Subhanah. Brother, there should be absolutely no hesitation and no shame in asking any scholar about Islam, if the intention is indeed to increase your knowledge about Islam, and become a better believer. May Allah reward you for your quest in the knowledge of Islam, and may Allah increase this quest in every true believer.

Your Comment: when in Mecca we do Sajdah to the Ka'aba (Black Stone) is not same as what Hindus do idol worship?

The act of ‘sajdah’ or prostration, whereby we touch our foreheads and knees on the ground in submission, is due to none other than Allah Alone! This is the exclusive Right of Allah Subhanah Alone. If done to anybody or anything else, it will be an open and manifest act of ‘shirk’, which is the absolute biggest sin in Islam! And the punishment for one who dies in ‘shirk’ is the confirmed eternal fire of Hell.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 41 Surah Fusselat verse 37: Do not do ‘sajdah’ to the sun and the moon, but do ‘sajdah’ to that Allah, Who Created them, if you really are indeed His worshippers.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 72: Whoever commits ‘shirk’ (invoking anything with Allah), Allah shall forbid for him Paradise, and Hell shall be his abode. And for such wrong doers there will be no one to help.

Allah says in the Quran: Chapter 4 Surah An-Nisa Verse 48: Shirk (associating other deities with Allah) is the only sin that Allah does not forgive, and He forgives, whomsoever He pleases, sins other than this. For whosoever associates any other partner with Allah, does indeed forge a big lie and commits the most heinous sin.

The truth is that we muslims do not do ‘sajdah’ to neither the Kaabah nor the Black Stone! We do ‘sajdah’ only to our Lord and Creator, Allah Alone. Allah has commanded us in the Holy Quran to make His Sacred House, the Kaabah, the direction for our prayers.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 148: Everyone has a direction towards which he turns in Prayer. So try to excel one another in good works. Allah will find you wherever you may be, for nothing is out of Allah’s reach.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 144: We have seen you, (O Mohamed), turning your face over and over again towards the heaven! Now, therefore, We turn you towards the Qiblah that you like best. So turn your face towards the Masjid-e-Haraam! Henceforth, wheresoever you may be, turn your face at prayer towards it.

And when Allah and His Messenger (saws) command us to do anything, we must consider it our duty as true believers to follow their commandments. If anybody other than Allah and His Messenger (saws) command us to do anything in Islam, without evidence from the Quran and Sunnah, we are not to obey them! We are commanded to obey only Allah and His Messenger (saws) explicitly in the Holy Quran!

We only turn our direction towards the Masjid-e-Haraam as commanded by Allah directly in the Holy Quran. We do not worship the Masjid-e-Haraam, we do not worship the Kaabah, nor do we worship the Black Stone! We worship none but Allah, the Lord of the Worlds!

The Hindus on the other hand, worship their gods, and bow down to their idols in prostration, etc. Similarly, some ignorant muslims also bow down in prostration to human beings who are alive, and also to those who are buried in the graves. If you realize, each of these idols or graves have a ‘personality’ behind them! The idols are fashioned in the names of Ram or Shiva or Jesus or Mary or whatever. And similarly, these graves are also over the buried body of some personality! These people thus, in fact, worship these ‘personalities’ and invoke them to do them favors in this world and the next. Some ignorant muslims even invoke those dead in the graves to help them in the hereafter by becoming their ‘intercessors’ with Allah! All these above are nothing but different manifestations of the heinous crime of ‘Shirk’!

There is no personality behind the Kaabah… It is only a cubicle, built as a direction for every muslim to turn his face in prayer. We worship and invoke none but the Lord of the Worlds, Allah Subhanah Alone! We do not ask the Kaabah or the Black Stone for any favors or anything else… They are nothing but a direction of prayers as commanded by Allah clearly in the Holy Quran!

The Prophet (saws) used to kiss the Black Stone when he did his ‘tawaaf’ or circumambulating of the Kaabah. After his death, one of the closest friends and companions of the Messenger of Allah (saws) came near the Black Stone and said this before kissing it: “You cannot harm me, nor profit me in anything. And I swear by Allah, if I had not seen the Messenger of Allah (saws) kissing you (The Black Stone), I would never kiss you.”

Also please note that the Kaabah is only in Makkah. When we pray away from Makkah, in our mosques, in our homes, in our countries, there is no Kaabah. We only face the direction of the Kaabah when we perform our prayers. But the Hindus and ignorant Muslims who worship their ‘personalities’ only bow down and perform their religious rites, when they go to their idols and the graves! Worshipping other deities or personalities is called ‘shirk’, but the true muslims worship none but Allah Alone, and that is termed ‘Tawheed’.

Your Comment: The 7 tawaaf that we do going round the Ka'aba is similarly the same Aarti type the Hindus do the "Saath Phera"

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 125: And remember We made this House (The Kaabah) the center and sanctuary for mankind and enjoined the people to dedicate to worship the place where Ibrahim used to strand for prayer, and We urged Ibrahim and Ismael to keep My House (The Kaabah) pure for those who would go around it, and those who would retire to it for devotion and prayer, and for those who would bow down and prostrate themselves there in worship (to Me).

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah Hajj verse 26: Recall to mind the time when We assigned the site of this House (the Kaabah) to Ibrahim, saying, “Do not associate anything as a partner to Me; keep My House (the Kaabah) clean and pure for those who go around it, and for those who stand and bow down and prostrate (in worship to Me).

Again, this commandment of going round the Kaabah is given by Allah Himself, and the Messenger of Allah (saws) himself did so, and commanded the true believers to go round the Kaabah seven times as an act of worship to Allah Subhanah!

Please note that this commandment of going round the Kaabah, only applies to the Kaabah at the Masjid-e-Haraam in Makkah. One cannot go round any other cubicle built like the Kaabah, or a photo of the Kaabah, or anything else, anywhere in the world! This rite of worship of going around the Kaabah is only at the Masjid-e-Haraam in Makkah, and not valid anywhere else in the world!

The Hindus on the other hand, go around the fire at their ceremonies anywhere, and some ignorant muslims also go around the graves and tombs of their holy men, wherever they may be! This is an absolute form of shirk!

Every religion has its religious rites. Hindus have theirs, the Christians have theirs, and the Muslims have theirs. They may look similar in some ways, but the main difference between the rites are that the pagans and disbelievers in Allah, perform their rites over the names of their several personalities, with the intention that these personalities might be pleased with them.

All the muslim religious rites and rituals are for the sole intention of Allah Subhanah Alone. If a muslim does any of his religious rites to please any being other than Allah, then it will become ‘shirk’, which is the single biggest sin in Islam, and unforgivable in the Court of Allah.

In Islam, all the religious rites and rituals are commandments of Allah from the Glorious Quran, and the actual and practical performance of them by the Messenger of Allah (saws). We cannot create our own rites and rituals in Islam, and must strictly follow each rite exactly as followed by the Messenger of Allah (saws). We are not allowed to change any of the rites in the least! This is the form of worship that was ordained by Allah Subhanah and this is the form of worship practiced and taught by the Messenger of Allah (saws). And please do bear in mind, that each of these rites of worship in Islam are absolutely all dedicated to our Lord and Creator, Allah Alone.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 3 Surah Ale Imran verse 31-32: Prophet, tell the people, “If you sincerely love Allah, follow me. Then Allah will love you and forgive you your sins, for He is All Forgiving, All Merciful.” Also say to them, “Obey Allah and His Messenger.” And if, in spite of this, they do not accept your invitation, warn them that Allah does not love those, who refuse to obey Him and His Messenger.

If we duplicate any of those rites to anybody else, it will be considered ‘shirk’. Allah Alone is our Creator and Sustainer and Cherisher, and He Alone deserves all our rites of worship! If we were to bow down (rukooh), or to prostrate (sajdah) to anybody other than Allah, it will be considered as ‘shirk”. If we or go around (tawaaf) any tomb or grave or anything else, it will be considered ‘shirk’.

Everything a true believer does, every rite, every ritual, every prayer, every fast, every penny spent in the Way of Allah, every ‘rukooh’, every ‘sajdah’, every sacrifice, everything…. Must be for the sole Pleasure of Allah Alone.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 6 Surah Anam verse 161-163: (O Mohamed) say, “As for me, my Lord has most certainly guided me on the Siraat al Mustaqeem, the ever True Faith, Ibrahim’s Way, which he had adopted exclusively and whole-heartedly and he was not of those who associated anything with Allah.” And declare, “My ‘salaat’, and my rites of worship, and my life, and my death, are all for Allah Alone, the Lord of the Universe, Who has no partner with Him. This is what I have been enjoined, and I am the first to surrender to Him.”

May Allah help us, guide us, and forgive us our sins. May Allah guide you and us all to the Straight Path of Islam.

May Allah guide you and us to read and understand the simple and plain words of the Glorious Quran. May Allah increase our knowledge from the Holy Quran. May Allah guide us to the Siraat al Mustaqeem.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan