Is Bending in Front of Someone For Tying Hairs Considered Shirk?

Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi

Question

I had bent my head down because I wanted to tie my hair and my cousin was in front of me and I got a shirk thought because I had bent down to tie my hair. I didn’t carry on with that thought, but on something else. I’m not sure if I had that thought before I bent down or during or after I bent down. Did I commit shirk because of this thought, or are they only whisperings of satan?

Answer

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

I pray this finds you in the best of states.

Blasphemous thoughts do not entail disbelief. The proof for this is found in numerous hadiths.

1. The sahaba came to the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him and his family) and said, “sometimes terrible thoughts occur to us and we fear that we have left Islam!” He replied, “this is pure faith!” [Muslim]

Imam Nawawi explains that the fact that one is so troubled by these thoughts is a sure sign of one’s faith.

2. The Prophet (peace and blessings upon him and his family) also said, “Allah has overlooked for my community the [sinful] whisperings of their hearts, so long as they do not act upon them or give them voice [believing in them].” [Muslim]

Real Apostasy (May Allah Preserve Us From It)

No one leaves Islam except by willingly and actively rejecting Islam. Imam al-Tahawi tells us, “And nothing takes a slave out of faith except rejecting that which brought him into it.” [Al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya]

This is clearly not your case.

Please also see: A Reader on Waswasa (Baseless Misgivings).

And Allah knows best.

Wassalam,
[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh Sufyan Qufi is an advanced seeker of knowledge, originally from Algeria, who grew up in France. He began searching far and wide for answers to the fundamental questions of life and was disappointed at the answers he found. Then he connected with various traditional teachers and gradually connected with SeekersGuidance. He embarked on his journey of learning through the various teachers at SeekersGuidance, including his mentor Shaykh Faraz Rabbani. He studied numerous texts in Islamic Law, Theology, Hadith, and other areas with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and other teachers, including Shaykh Abdurrahman al-Sha‘ar, Shaykh Ali Hani, and others. He is an active instructor at SeekersGuidance and answers questions through the SeekersGuidance Answers Service.