Is the prostration of some Buddhist sects to their idols - with the intention of honoring Buddha’s teachings and not deification - considered idol worship, and does the ruling of takfir (declaring someone an infidel) for prostrating to an idol apply absolutely to them, or does it fall under the category of forbidden but non-takfiri prostration of greeting? And does the same detailed ruling apply to a Muslim who prostrates to a symbol of the Prophet’s grave (peace be upon him) with the intention of honoring it, taking into consideration the permissibility of prostration of greeting in previous nations?

Buddhism is a positivist philosophy that assumed a religious guise. It emerged in India, and after the death of its founder, it transformed into false beliefs of an idolatrous nature. Its followers exaggerated the status of its founder to the point of deifying him and worshipping him instead of Allah.

Prostration to an idol is an act of disbelief (kufr) by consensus, because it only occurs with deification. The matter becomes an even greater act of disbelief if a person takes a symbol or a statue of something sacred and prostrates to it, claiming it is a prostration of greeting. In doing so, he is lying, because it is a prostration of deification. Such an act was the beginning of shirk (definition) (polytheism) and idol worship, which originally involved images of righteous people that were later worshipped.