Pointing with the left hand to greet someone at a distance
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: What is the ruling on gesturing with the left hand to greet someone at a distance, other than during prayer?
Answer:
No, the left hand is not used for greeting; the right hand is used for greeting. And the gesture of greeting must be accompanied by speech; one must speak and say, "As-salamu alaykum." But if he fears that the other person will not hear him, he points to him with his hand so that he will be aware. However, limiting it to just the hand gesture is not a greeting; that is the greeting of the Jews. One does not limit it to just the hand gesture, but the gesture is accompanied by the verbal greeting. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: What is the ruling on gesturing with the left hand to greet someone at a distance, other than during prayer?
Answer:
No, the left hand is not used for greeting; the right hand is used for greeting. And the gesture of greeting must be accompanied by speech; one must speak and say, "As-salamu alaykum." But if he fears that the other person will not hear him, he points to him with his hand so that he will be aware. However, limiting it to just the hand gesture is not a greeting; that is the greeting of the Jews. One does not limit it to just the hand gesture, but the gesture is accompanied by the verbal greeting. Yes.
Source
شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم، بداية من باب الإشارة في الصلاة لرد السلام أو حاجة تعرض — islamhouse.com (50:49)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.