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:

Thanks, but no thanks for your answer. I would still say you are a lost individual????    I need not emphasize on it.  It is a sajada to Khuda of shukhran for having a guide, here in this world.

(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 of Shukr

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.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah Hajj verse 77: O you who believe, do ‘rukoo’ and ‘sajdah’ to Allah Alone, worship Allah Alone, and do righteous deeds. It may be that you attain true success.

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.

The Quran and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws) just do not allow that this act of ‘sajdah tus shukr’ be done to anyone, other than Allah Subhanah Alone! Whatever name or pretext one may wish to give, to do sajdah to another being, be it a human or a grave or an image… it is completely un-Islamic and is a manifestation of the heinous crime of ‘shirk’! All of the Ummah of Islam (except one small sect) is unanimous in this decision, that no one other than Allah, deserves this act of prostration! The Islamic form of sajdah, where one bows down in submission with the knees, toes, hands, and forehead touching the ground, is an act due to Allah Alone … in all respects.. be it ‘tahdeem’, be it ‘shukr’ or be it ‘worship’. Sajdah is due to Allah Subhanah Alone!

What I fail to comprehend is when you say that you do the sajdah to the holy men, it is actually the sajdah of shukr done to Allah!!! Then how come you only do it in the presence and towards the direction of the holy man! Why don’t you do the sajdah in solitude, or towards the direction of the Sacred Mosque to the Lord of the Worlds, if indeed you are really doing the sajdah to Allah Subhanah in ‘shukr’? Why do you do the sajdah every time you are in the presence of this holy man? Then why do you sing qaseedas in the praise of the ‘holy man’ and say, “sajdo tane waajib che….”? Then why do you finish every letter to the ‘holy man’ with the Arabic words, “ma-a sajdah-tul-ubudiyya” (with the sajdah of worship)? Then why do you call yourselves ‘Abde-Syedna’ (slaves of Syedna), when you should be calling yourselves Abd-Allah?

NO! Brother, the truth is that the act of sajdah is due only to our Creator Alone, if in reality we are indeed His Worshippers!

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 has given man freedom in this world to choose the path he wants to follow. And there are only two ways: one is the obedience and worship of Allah, and the other is the obedience of Shaitaan! And both these paths have their own set of inviters! One set invites to the Path of Allah, through the guidance and teachings of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws). And every other way or Path that is not from the Quran and Sunnah, is termed the Path of Shaitaan!

Allah has given man the intelligence to choose which path he wants to take to His Creator. The results and destinations of both these paths are absolutely and diagonally opposed to each other: One Path leads to the Mercy and Forgiveness of Allah Subhanah, and the other leads to the Wrath and Anger of Allah.

Allah says in the Holy Quran: Chapter 16, Surah An-Nahl Ayaah 125: Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and excellent admonition and argue with people in the best manner. Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Way and who is Rightly guided.

We can only try to invite you and explain to you the Truth from the Holy Quran. If you don’t want to believe in the clear guidance and teachings of the Holy Quran, and wish to interpret Allah’s Commands differently, we have but fulfilled our duty as your brothers in faith.

The Truth is that we shall all be gathered on an Inevitable Day in the Court of Allah Subhanah to give a full accounting of our deeds. And when Allah asks us whom did we worship, and whom did we obey and follow, we will reply that it was Allah Alone that we worshipped, and we only followed His Book and His Messenger (saws). And when Allah asks you whom did you worship and whom did you follow… you can try to tell Him that you worshipped Him, but did the sajdah-tus-shukr to some ‘holy men’, and you obeyed whatever these ‘holy men’ said, and followed whatever these ‘holy men’ commanded, and whatever you found your forefathers doing; without ever taking guidance from the Quran and Sunnah.

If you think Allah will accept your this excuse and ‘daleel’, Fine!: carry on doing ‘sajdah-tus-shukr’ to every human being and his grave, carry on kissing the knees and soles of ‘holy men’, carry on invoking these human beings and their ancestors in their graves, carry on celebrating their ‘milaads’, and ‘urs’, carry on taking ‘minnat’ on their graves, carry on with whatever you are doing … without ever confirming if these acts are according to the clear guidance and teachings of the Quran and Sunnah!

And bear witness, that we warned you that all these acts were against the guidance of the Quran and the practice of the Messenger of Allah (saws)!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 7 Surah Aaraf verse 190-196: They associate with Allah partners who do not create anything, but are themselves created! Who cannot help them nor have the power to help themselves! If you invite them to follow the Right Way, they will not follow you! It will be all the same for you whether you call them or keep silent. Those whom you invoke with Allah are MERE SERVANTS OF ALLAH LIKE YOU! Just invoke them, and if what you say of them be true, they will answer your prayers! Have they feet that they should walk with them? Or have they hands that they should hold with them? Or have they eyes that they should see with them? Or have they ears that they should hear with them? Tell them, O Mohammed, “Call up the partners you have set up, and then all of you sit down together and plot against me, and give me no respite. My Protector and Helper is Allah, Who has sent down this Book (Al Quran), and, it is He who protects the righteous people.”

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 16 Surah Nahl verse 20-21: All the other beings, whom the people invoke with Allah, create nothing! Nay, they are themselves created. They are DEAD, not living, and they do not at all know themselves when they shall again be raised to life!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah Hajj verse 71-72: They worship besides Allah those for whom Allah has sent down NO AUTHORITY! Nor they themselves have any knowledge about them. Such transgressors have no helper! And when our CLEAR REVELATIONS are recited to them, you perceive signs of disdain on the faces of the disbelievers, as though they were going to ASSUALT those who recite our Revelations to them!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 33 Surah Ahzab verse 66-68: On the Day their faces are rolled about on the Fire, they will say, “Would that we had obeyed Allah and His Messenger!” And they will say, “O our Lord, we obeyed our CHIEFS and our GREAT MEN, and they led us astray from the Right Path. O our Lord, give them a double chastisement and curse them severely”.

May Allah have Mercy on you and us all, and guide us to the Straight Path of Islam. May Allah take us out of the invocation and worship of man, and guide us to the invocation and worship of Allah Subhanah Alone.

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.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

 Burhan