Taking Part in an Idolatrous Rite at the Digging of a Well

Question

A Muslim began to have a well dug. The inauguration was carried out by the hands of two religious scholars and one qadi-imam, but in this manner: since the diggers were non-Muslims, they designated a stone as “Bhairav” (a fierce form of Shiva, venerated as a local guardian), smeared it with vermilion, performed a puja (Hindu ritual worship)

Answer

The ugliness and reprehensibility of shirk is no hidden matter — everyone knows it. In the case asked about, however, the one who committed shirk is indeed an idolater; the Muslims did not do this. But the Muslim who permitted the shirk, or approved of it, or went along with it, has likewise done a sinful thing. If he knew it to be shirk, that is more dangerous still.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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