What is the meaning of the angels prostrating to Adam and Yoosuf’s brothers prostrating to him?

 

Why did Allah tell the angels
to bow to Adam? I thought boing was only allowed for Allah alone. The same
goes for Prophet Yusuf, why did his brothers bow to him?

Praise be to Allaah. 

Prostrating
is of two kinds:

 It
may an act of veneration and drawing closer to the one to whom one
prostrates. This kind of prostration is worship, and should only be done
for Allaah, according to the laws of the Prophets.

 The
second type is a kind of greeting and honouring a person. This is the kind
of prostration which Allaah commanded the angels to do in the case of
Adam, so they prostrated to him as an act of honouring him. It was an act
of worship towards Allaah on their part, because they were obeying His
command to prostrate to Adam.

 The
prostration of Yoosuf’s parents and brothers was also a prostration of
greeting and honouring, which was permissible according to the law (of
Allaah) at that time. But according to the sharee’ah brought by the Seal
of the Prophets, Muhammad
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him), it is not permissible to prostrate to anyone at all except Allaah.
Hence the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“If I were to have commanded anyone to prostrate to anyone else, I would
have commanded women to prostrate to their husbands.” The Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade Mu’aadh to prostrate
to him when he (Mu’aadh) said that the People of the Book prostrated to
the great ones among them, and he mentioned the hadeeth quoted above. The
prohibition in this sharee’ah against prostrating to anyone at all
except Allaah is an aspect of its perfection in achieving true Tawheed. It
is the perfect sharee’ah whose perfection is manifested in all its
rulings. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“This
day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favour upon you,
and have chosen for you Islam as your religion”
[al-Maa’idah 5:3]