But they do not forbid honouring someone or according him...

But they do not forbid honouring someone or according him respect when it is done without elevating him to godhead. The discourse given above was from purely academic point of view. But the religious good taste, conditioned as it is by rituals of worship, has strictly reserved the prostration for divine worship; it should not be done for anyone other than Allâh; in Islam, one is forbidden to prostrate before others even as a mark of respect.

Apart from prostration, there is no proof - either from the Qur’ân and tradition or from reason and logic - against according respect and showing reverence to others than Allâh, especially when it is done as a part of the love of Allâh; examples may be given of revering and loving the good servants of Allâh and pay­ing respects to the graves of the friends of Allâh or to the things attributed to them. There is no reason whatsoever why such actions should be prohibited.

(We shall deal with this subject in a more appropriate place, God willing.) TRADITIONS Abû ‘Abdillâh (a.s.) said: "When Allâh created Adam and ordered the angels to prostrate before him, it came into the angels' mind: ‘We never thought that Allâh had created any creature more honourable than us; we are His neighbours, and we are the nearest of His creation to Him.' Thereupon Allâh said: ‘Did I not say to you that I know what you manifest and what you were hiding?'- (it was) a reference to what they had mentioned concerning the affairs of the jinn, and had con­cealed what was in their own minds.

So, the angels, who had said what they had said, took refuge with the Throne." (at-Tafsîr, al-‘Ayyâshî) Another tradition of the same theme is narrated in the same book from ‘Alî ibn al-Husayn (a.s.), the last part of which runs as follows: "When the angels realized that they had fallen into error, they took refuge with the Throne; and it was a group of the angels - and they were those who were around the Throne; it was not all the angels (who had thought so). . .

So, they have taken refuge with the Throne till the Day of Resurrection." The author says: The theme of the two traditions may be inferred from the talk of the angels: "We celebrate Thy praise and extol Thy holiness"; and "Glory be to Thee! we have no knowledge but that which Thou hast taught us; surely Thou, Thou (alone), art the Knowing, the Wise." It will be explained later that the Throne means the divine knowledge, as the traditions narrated from the Imâms of Ahlu 'l-bayt (a.s.) say.