The Ruling on Prostrating to an Idol and Considering the Intention
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Allah sent you, Honorable Shaykh, this questioner who asks about prostrating to an idol: is it among the matters that are possible?
The Shaykh:
As for the complete [prostration].
The presenter:
Yes.
The Shaykh:
My brother, we have only the apparent [evidence]. The one who prostrates to an idol is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah); we treat him as we treat the mushrikin, and we do not ask, "What is his intention?" Where did this distinction come from? We say that the one who prostrates to other than Allah, whether to an idol or something else, is a mushrik, and we apply the rulings of the mushrikin to him. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh,
Allah sent you, Honorable Shaykh, this questioner who asks about prostrating to an idol: is it among the matters that are possible?
The Shaykh:
As for the complete [prostration].
The presenter:
Yes.
The Shaykh:
My brother, we have only the apparent [evidence]. The one who prostrates to an idol is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah); we treat him as we treat the mushrikin, and we do not ask, "What is his intention?" Where did this distinction come from? We say that the one who prostrates to other than Allah, whether to an idol or something else, is a mushrik, and we apply the rulings of the mushrikin to him. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh,
Source
شرح كتاب فتح المجيد في شرح كتاب التوحيد [ صالح الفوزان ]، باب : تفسير التوحيد وشهادة أن لا إله إلا الله — islamhouse.com (55:29)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.