The Ruling on Expressions of Love and Bowing to Parents
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
A young man says: Some of the youth who love their mother or father send messages via mobile phone. We pause at certain phrases, for example: “My mother, I bow to you out of love, not disbelief, and I kiss your hands out of passion, not humiliation.” What is the validity of these phrases, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh:
As for bowing to her, we seek refuge in Allah. Bowing is not done for anyone but Allah the Exalted. Bowing and prostration are not done for anyone but Allah the Exalted. No one prostrates to another; rather, this is for Allah the Exalted alone. It is an act of worship. It is not permissible to bend as a form of greeting, for this is an act of worship and is not permissible. Nor is prostration to a person as a form of greeting permissible, for it is an act of worship and constitutes shirk (associating partners with Allah) if done intentionally. As for the rest of the question:
The questioner:
Yes, these phrases: “I kiss your hands out of passion, not humiliation.”
The Shaykh:
Kissing the hand of the one in authority, kissing the hand of a scholar, kissing the hand of a father—there is nothing wrong with that. But there is no need for this phrase. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
A young man says: Some of the youth who love their mother or father send messages via mobile phone. We pause at certain phrases, for example: “My mother, I bow to you out of love, not disbelief, and I kiss your hands out of passion, not humiliation.” What is the validity of these phrases, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh:
As for bowing to her, we seek refuge in Allah. Bowing is not done for anyone but Allah the Exalted. Bowing and prostration are not done for anyone but Allah the Exalted. No one prostrates to another; rather, this is for Allah the Exalted alone. It is an act of worship. It is not permissible to bend as a form of greeting, for this is an act of worship and is not permissible. Nor is prostration to a person as a form of greeting permissible, for it is an act of worship and constitutes shirk (associating partners with Allah) if done intentionally. As for the rest of the question:
The questioner:
Yes, these phrases: “I kiss your hands out of passion, not humiliation.”
The Shaykh:
Kissing the hand of the one in authority, kissing the hand of a scholar, kissing the hand of a father—there is nothing wrong with that. But there is no need for this phrase. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 02/292 — archive.org (10:14)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.