Difference Between Prostration & Kissing

Q) Is there any difference between kissing the feet of elders, graves of pious as compared to prostration of worship to Allah. If the kissing or touching was practiced by bending over with no intention of worship or any kind of prostration, is this still shirk/haram or major sin?*

******************************************************************** A) Bending over for kissing and prostration are 2 different things.

Firstly, the prostration are of two types 1) Prostration of Worship (Sajdah-e-Ibadaah): Is done by way of expressing submission and worship, and cannot be done for anyone except Allah. Whoever prostrates to anyone other than Allah by way of worship has committed an act of major shirk, it is act of desbilief and will be out of folds of Islam. 2) Prostration of Honor (Sajdah-e-Tazeem): Prostration with the intention of respect, which was practiced from the time of creation of Adam عليه السلام to earlier nations (ummah). This is not shirk but it has been prohibited (made haram) in our sharia.

e.g. Prostration of angels to Prophet Adam عليه السلام, Prostration of Prophet (Yaqoob) & Sons to Prophet Yusuf عليه السلام, prostration of animals/trees etc to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

If merely prostrating was shirk without classification, Allah would not have commanded Angels & Prophets to do that. We cannot say that this was part of the religious teachings of those who came before us, because shirk has never been permitted in the teachings of any of the Prophets at all, and tauheed has never changed from Prophet Adam عليه السلام to Prophet Muhammadﷺ , but Sajda-e-Tazeem was regarded as symbol of respect and honor and was like custom in previous ummah, and neither prophets nor the trees/animals ever worshiped the Ambia عليه السلام.

It was narrated that ‘Abdullah ibn Abi Awfa said: when Mu‘aaz’ ibn Jabal came from Syria, he prostrated to the Prophet ﷺ, who said, “What is this, O Mu‘aaz’” He said, I went to Syria and saw them prostrating to their bishops and patriarchs (headmen), and I wanted to do that for you. The Messenger of Allahﷺ said, “Do not do that. If I were to command anyone to prostrate to anyone other than Allah, I would have commanded women to prostrate to their husbands. By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Muhammadﷺ, no woman can fulfil her duty towards Allah until she fulfils her duty towards her husband.” [Ibn Maajah 1853]. Here neither intention of Companion of beloved Prophet ﷺ was to worship him nor Prophet ﷺ has considered it as Prostration of worship. If it were shirk, the Prophet ﷺ would have explained that to him, but the most that happened in that regard was that he explained to him that it was not permissible to prostrate to him.

On the other hand Kissing hands, feet of Pious out of respect is permissible in Islam and does not fall in either of above category. Looking in to narrations and customs the kisses are of many types e.g. a) kiss of affection & love (like parents) b) Kiss of mulaqat/greeting c) Kiss of sensual love d) kiss of religious reverence like kissing Hajre Aswad, Quran etc. Not going into detail of each, we will discuss the issue where kissing as falsely correlated with prostration and straightaway labelled as shirk.

1) Some Jews came and inquired about prophet Moses عليه السلام to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, when things clarified, they gave shahada and kissed hand and feet of Prophetﷺ [ Gist Tirmidhi 280] 2) Companions kissed hands of Prophet ﷺ out of respect [Gist Abudawood 3855, ibn majah 3436, al hakim 4:399] 3) When few Companions came to Madina, they hurried from their camels, caravan and started kissing hands & feet of prophet ﷺ [Gist Abudawood, book of Adab 4:357] 4) Hazrath Ali (RA) kissed hand and feet of Hazrath Abbas (RA) [Gist Al Adab al Mufrad 445/976, Imam Bukhari] 5) Few companions kissed Anas (RA) hand because he touched Prophet ﷺ with his hand [Gist Al Adab al Mufrad 445/974, Imam Bukhari] 6) Imam Muslim (rh) kissed forehead of Imam Bukhari (rh), & asked permission to kiss the feet [Gist Al Bidayah wan Nihayah (11/33)]

The above shows kissing hands and feet or Pious or relics in general, now lets see Ahadith where kissing someone after passing away from the world is also evident.

1) Prophet ﷺ kissed Usman bin Mazun (ra) after his death [Fiqh us Sunnah] 2) Abu Bakr (ra) kissed the forehead of the prophet ﷺ when he passed away. [Sahih Bukhari, Tirmidi] 3) The governor of Madina, Marwan [ibn al-Hakam] one day saw a man placing his face on top of the grave of the Prophetﷺ. He said: "Do you know what you are doing?" When he came near him, he realized it was Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (ra). The latter said: "Yes; I came to the Prophet ﷺ, not to a stone., [Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, Al Tabrani in Majmua al Kabeer, Al Hakim in Al Mustadrak, Al Subki in Shifa al Siqam, Ibn Taymia in al Muntaqa 2:261f)

It is difficult to imagine anyone kissing another’s foot without bending down or other than in a posture seeming to resemble like prostration to some, and it would be only misconception and wrong understanding to say that imitating the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ and the great Companions & Muslims from Golden era could be among the major sins. If it was shirk or haram neither Prophet ﷺ would had done that nor the companions. Where sajda-e-tazeemi is made haram in Ummah, kissing out of love and respect was always permitted and practiced, whether to living of to dead.

To summarize, mere bending down does not mean prostration and constitutes shirk/haram unless there is a intention to do so. If mere bending over is considered as sign of worship, then no one is saved, starting from our day by bending over to grab some water/serve food/wearing shoe/use of toilet/pickup anythings from floor/exercise/interacting with kids/sweeping floors/gardening/spending sensual time with husband/wife etc, bending is involved everywhere. On the other hand, there are many religions like Christians who won’t bendover or make sujood for worship, but still they are disbelievers because of their intention to worship someone besides Allah. Similarly, though we physically prostrate towards Kaba but we dont worship Kaba but Allah alone the Kaba is only direction of prostration. The measuring tool should not be bending or what we think but the intention of the one who is doing it.

And Alhamdullilah no Muslim in the world irrespective of any sect, worships any one besides Allah. If we see a Muslim, bending over to kiss someone’s (parents/pious) feet or a Mazaar of a Wali Allah, before judging by our self we should ask him about his reason or intention for bending over. If he says he is making prostration of worship or honor (which no one does), then only he should be judge according to his intention and made aware of what is correct. If he says that he was not prostrating, rather he was kissing the feet of parents/pious, Grave of Wali Allah, or kissing the entrance or threshold of the Dargah out of love & respect, it will be concluded that he was acting upon Sunnah and the widespread practice of Sahaba.

If someone wrongly compares kissing with prostration considering kissing involves bowing and bowing to anyone apart from Allah is impermissible & shirk, then it is poor reasoning and their own misunderstanding. Know that the beloved Prophet and peace of our hearts ﷺ said “If a man says to his brother, ‘O kafir,’ then it returns to one of them.” [Bukhari]

Abu Hamzah Biabani