The Ruling on Kissing the Hand

The Shaykh: I mean, I said it once and I repeat it: I say that when the Wise Lawgiver legislates a matter, it is for a wisdom. So we see—and knowledge is with Allah—that kissing the hand of a learned man is permissible, but it is a weaker form of permissibility. We take the permissibility from some incidents in which it is established that the hand of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was kissed by some of his Companions. Likewise, this permissibility is established after the Messenger (peace be upon him) among the Companions, some of them with others. So we say: We cannot say that kissing the hand is not permissible, as is narrated from some of the preservers of hadith that he said: "Kissing the hand is the small prostration." But this statement has validity in some cases when the one kissing bends down so much that he is almost bowing, in which case such a statement is accurate.
So what I want to say is: Since the origin of kissing the hand is established from some of the Companions to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and He approved them for it, and then some of the Companions did it with one another; it is not possible for us but to say: It is permissible. But I qualify the permissibility by saying it is a weaker form of permissibility; meaning it is not preferred. Why? Because this kissing narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or from his Companions is very little. Then, what is narrated from the Messenger (peace be upon him) is that he did not do this with the great Companions who knew his virtue (peace be upon him) and that he is the master of mankind, such as Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and the rest of the ten promised Paradise. They did not go beyond shaking hands when they met the Messenger (peace be upon him) or when he met them. So, permitting the shaking of hands; excuse me, kissing the hand does not entail, first, what is entailed by shaking hands. And secondly: This permissibility is from the category of what we say in the Levant: "It is a display of character," meaning a Bedouin shows his love for the second person by kissing his hand. We do not target him or rebuke him, but we gently advise him not to do it and not to make it a habit for him, because when kissing is made a habit, we have departed from the Sunnah that the Messenger and the Companions were upon. So if it is done occasionally, we have benefited from these few hadiths that established the permissibility of kissing the hand.

The questioner : Please, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.

The questioner: Who is the one who kissed the hand of Ka'b ibn Malik?

The Shaykh: The Messenger? The hand of the Messenger?

The questioner: No, I memorized it for him, when the good news of repentance came.

The Shaykh: Talhah, to whom Ka'b ibn Malik was granted repentance.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: Ka'b ibn Malik stood up to him, there was no kissing, but with Zayd ibn Thabit, Ibn 'Abbas kissed his hand, yes, this is established in "Al-Mustadrak" by al-Hakim.

Another questioner: "Thus we were commanded to do with our scholars."

The Shaykh : Yes, indeed, it is this.

The questioner: Our Shaykh, "Abu Bakr al-Muqri'"; as is not hidden from you, he has a specific treatise on kissing the hand.

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student: In it, he transmitted the reports regarding that.

The Shaykh: Yes, it is a useful and comprehensive treatise.