Sajdah to Syedna is not an act of shirk
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:
I think you are making too much of this. No Bohra ever thinks
that Sayedna is Allah and that kadambosi is an act of 'sajda'. It is kissing of
feet and bowing in respect.
You may wish to interpret this act of Bohras as shirk,
but that is only your opinion.
(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:
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 think you are making too much of this. No Bohra ever thinks that Sayedna is Allah and that kadambosi is an act of 'sajda'. It is kissing of feet and bowing in respect. You may wish to interpret this act of Bohras as shirk, but that is only your opinion.
Glory be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds!!! Believing everything and anything without any doubts or questions
in your leader, always, at present and in the future, is exactly what the
disbelievers said when they were invited to the Truth. Allah relates their various stories in the
Holy Quran, and Subhan Allah, the reply they gave is so similar to the one you
have just given: ‘Our fathers, our
forefathers, etc. have always believed in the Syedna, therefore, we will always
believe in them, no matter, whether they are preaching from the Quran or not!’ Subhan Allah, one would think that after all
the education and intelligence which this world claims to have acquired, the
mentality when it comes to religion, is exactly the same as the pagans and
disbelievers thousands of years ago!
Glory be to Allah Subhanah, the All Wise, All Knowing!
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse
170-171: When it is said to them, “Follow the Commands that Allah has sent
down”, they reply, “We will follow only what we found our forefathers
practicing.” Well, will they go on
following their forefathers even though they did not use common sense and did
not find the Right Way! The mental
condition of those who rejected the way of Allah may be likened to that of the
cattle whom the shepherd calls but they hear nothing except the sound of shouts
and cries. They are deaf, they are
dumb, they are blind; therefore they do not understand anything.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 21 Surah Anbiyaa verse
52-54: Recall to mind the occasion when Ibrahim said to his father and his
people, “What are these images to which you are so devoted?” They replied, “We found our forefathers
worshipping them.” Ibrahim said, “You
have gone astray and so had your forefathers manifestly deviated from the Right
Way.”
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 31 Surah Luqman verse
21: And when it is said to them, “Follow what Allah has sent down”, they say,
“We shall only follow that upon which we found our forefathers.” What!
Will they still be following them even if Shaitaan had been calling them
to the raging Fire?
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 34 Surah Saba verse 43:
When Our clear Revelations are recited to these people, they say, “This person only wants to turn you away
from those deities whom your forefathers have been worshipping.”
Allah
says in the Holy Quran Chapter 26 Surah Shuaraa verse 69-82: And tell them the
story of Ibrahim, when he asked his father and his people: “What are these
things that you worship?” They
answered, “These are idols which we worship and we serve them devotedly.” Ibrahim asked, “Do they hear you when you
call on them? Or do they bring any good
or harm to you?” They replied, “No, but
we have found our elders doing the same.”
At this, Ibrahim said, “Have you ever seen with open eyes the things
which you and your elders have been worshipping? They are all enemies to me, except the One Lord of the Worlds,
Who created me, then He it is Who guides me, Who gives me food and drink, and
Who gives me health when I am ill, Who will cause me to die and then will give
me life again, and of Whom I expect that He will forgive me my errors on the
Day of Judgment.”
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 43 Surah Zukhruf verse
22-25: Nay! But they say, “We found our
forefathers on a way and we are only walking in their footsteps.” Even so, whenever before you We sent a
warner to a habitation, its people of means said, “We have found our
forefathers on a way and we are only following in their footsteps.” Every Prophet asked them, “Will you still
go on following the same old way even if I guide you to a more right way than
that you found your forefathers following?”
They replied, “We disbelieve the religion with which you have been
sent.” Consequently, We took vengeance
on them. Just consider what was the end
of those who denied.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 7 Surah Al Aaraf
verse172-173: This We did lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, “We
were unaware of this thing.” Or lest
you should say, “Our forefathers started the practice of ‘shirk’ before us and
we were born after them to their descendants.
Do You, then, punish us for the sin that was committed by the
wrong-doers?” Behold, this is how We
make Our Signs clear, so that these people may return to Us.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 9 Surah Taubah verse
23-24: O believers, do not take your fathers and your brothers as allies, if
they choose disbelief in preference to Faith.
For whoever of you will take them as allies shall surely be the workers
of iniquity. O Prophet, tell them
plainly, “If your fathers and your sons, and your brothers and your wives, and
your near and dear ones, and the wealth which you have acquired, and the trade
you fear may decline and the home which delight you: if all these things are
dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and the struggle in His Way, then
wait till Allah passes His Judgement on you.
For Allah does not guide the wicked people.”
The truth is brother that although the Bohras do not claim that the
Syedna is their god, they do worship him!
They call on the Syedna when they are in need! They invoke him when they are in distress! They thank him when something good happens
to them! They call on him when some
calamity happens to them! They think
everything they have, their health, their wealth, their children are because of
his ‘barakaats’! They stand with their
hands folded (like the hindus do to their idols) in his presence! They bow down in ‘rukooh’ to him in ‘tasleem’! They bow in prostration (sajdah) to
him! They kiss his feet! They kiss his shoes! They kiss the ground he walks on! Whatever he says ‘haraam’ is haraam! And whatever he says ‘halaal’ is ‘halaal’! Then when he dies, they will make a tomb
over his grave and start the process of ‘urs’ and ‘minnat’ and ‘chaadars’ and
‘niyaaz’ … and will again bow down in prostration (sajdah) in grave worship!
What is this other than worship?
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,
