Is Prostration before a human being an act of worship?

 

Dajjal (Anti-Christ), the Qur’an and the Beginning of History

Is Prostration before a human being an act of worship?

 

We have described the prostration (Sijdah) of the Angels before Nabi Adam ʿalayhi as-salām as an act of respect and honor, but the claim can be made that it was an act of worship. Indeed the Qur’an has ordered that prostration be made only to Allah Most High:  

 

(Qur’an, Fussilat, 41:37)

Among Allah’s signs are the night and the day, as well as the sun and the moon: do not prostrate before the sun, neither the moon, but prostrate yourselves in worship (only) before Allah, who has created them—if it is Him and only Him, whom you (really) worship.

 

The above verse of the Qur’an has very clearly prohibited prostration before any but Allah Most High. How then, could Allah command the Angels to prostrate before Nabi Adam ʿalayhi as-salām? And how could Nabi Yaqub, i.e., Jacob ʿalayhi as-salām, bow down in prostration before his own son Nabi Yusuf, i.e., Joseph ʿalayhi as-salām?

 

The answer is that bowing and prostrating, at that early stage in the historical process, was an act through which one showed reverence, respect and honor for someone. It was not necessarily an act of adoration or worship. It was in this context that the Angels were ordered to prostrate before Nabi Adam ʿalayhi as-salām, and in this context as well that Nabi Yaqub ʿalayhi as-salām prostrated before his son, Nabi Yusuf ʿalayhi as-salām.

 

However, when the Qur’an was revealed, the previous law permitting bowing and prostration before a human being as an act of respect and honor, was cancelled or abrogated for all those who accepted the Qur’an as the (revealed) Word of the One God. 

 

It was for this reason that when the Prophet’s cousin, Ja’far, and the refugee Muslim slaves or semi-slaves whom he accompanied to Abyssinia, were brought before the Orthodox Christian King (the Negus of Abyssinia), and the entire court bowed down before the King in respect, Ja’far and the rest of the Muslims did not bow down. While it was still permissible for the Christians to bow down or prostrate to honor their King, it was no longer permissible for Muslims to do so. The Muslims meant no disrespect to the King in restraining themselves from bowing down before a King in accordance with court protocol. Rather, they conducted themselves with fidelity to the religion of Islam as it had come from Nabi Muhammad ʿalayhi as-salām.

 

The Christian King was gifted with such amazing spiritual insight that he was able to both understand and appreciate that there was something sacred in the scene before his eyes, and he not only took no action against the Muslims for this highly visible breach of court protocol, but went on to refuse the Makkan request that the runaway slaves be repatriated to Makkah. 

 

One can only imagine how Queen Victoria of Britain would have responded if a Muslim had refused to bend on one knee before the Queen, in accordance with British court protocol, when he presented himself to be honored with the highest honor bestowed by Britain, in consequence of which he was knighted and became, for example, a Sir Muhammad Iqbal. If Jeremy Corbyn, a British politician who is the leader of Britain’s Labour Party, today finds it beneath his dignity to bend his knee before the Queen of England, it defies understanding that so many Muslims bent their knees to receive Britain’s highest national award. 

 

One of the objections that Protestants had to Roman Catholic Christianity was the obligation which western Christianity had imposed on those who were to receive the Holy Communion that they had to kneel to receive it. Some Protestants considered such an act to be idolatrous. The Roman Catholics countered with the argument that kneeling in Holy Communion was an act of reverence rather than adoration.

 

Hinduism, also, has preserved this act of prostration as a form of humility, reverence and respect (rather than adoration or worship) since, to this day, a Hindu wife bends down and touches her husband’s feet in order to show her humility, reverence and respect.

 

It is now time for us to turn to the most famous act of defiance in all of history, when Iblis, or Satan, defied Allah Most High, and arrogantly refused to prostrate himself before Nabi Adam ʿalayhi as-salām. Iblis was not akin to the Protestant in the sense of arguing that prostration is due only to Allah. Rather Iblis suffered from the deadly disease of ‘arrogance’ since he believed that he was born (or created) superior to Adam pbuh. He believed that he had a birth-right of superiority. Those who claim that they are the chosen people of the Lord-God with a birth-right of superiority over the rest of mankind, suffer from the same deadly disease. As a consequence Allah Most High created and fashioned Dajjal, and then let him loose, so that they might be taught a lesson in humility in Akhir al-Zaman. This subject is addressed in the next chapter.

 

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