The Ruling on Bending and Bowing to the Living and the Dead
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
It may happen in some circumstances that a person bows or prostrates to a deceased person’s funeral procession, or bows to him. Does this bring people to the level of major shirk (associating partners with Allah)?
Answer:
It is not permissible to bow in submission to the living or to the dead, because this is bowing, and it is not permissible to bow to a created being. If this is considered a means of drawing near to him, it is major shirk. If it is considered a form of greeting, it is a bid'ah (religious innovation) and an abomination, and it is not permissible. If it is considered a form of greeting, it is an abomination and haram (forbidden), but it does not amount to leaving the religion. However, if it is considered a means of drawing near to him, it is considered major shirk because it is an act of worship. Yes.
It may happen in some circumstances that a person bows or prostrates to a deceased person’s funeral procession, or bows to him. Does this bring people to the level of major shirk (associating partners with Allah)?
Answer:
It is not permissible to bow in submission to the living or to the dead, because this is bowing, and it is not permissible to bow to a created being. If this is considered a means of drawing near to him, it is major shirk. If it is considered a form of greeting, it is a bid'ah (religious innovation) and an abomination, and it is not permissible. If it is considered a form of greeting, it is an abomination and haram (forbidden), but it does not amount to leaving the religion. However, if it is considered a means of drawing near to him, it is considered major shirk because it is an act of worship. Yes.
Source
شرح العقيدة الطحاوية [2] — alfawzan.live (24:27)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.