How to Shake Hands and Greet When Entering a Gathering?

The Shaykh : I want to speak about this young man. There is a custom that has occurred in the present age for which I have not found a basis in the Sunnah. When a person enters, the Sunnah—as is not hidden from any of you, if Allah wills—is that he should greet those present. Then, completing this greeting, if he is able to shake hands with each one of them, that is light upon light. However, if the gathering is large and there is some crowding or difficulty, then as he (peace be upon him) said, the one who ... ends up where the gathering ends. As for what happens today, naturally this is not the case with the general public, but with some of them; when he enters, he greets each individual with a greeting: "Peace be upon you," "Peace be upon you," "Peace be upon you," for example, here about ten or more ... exactly the number of those seated. I have not found a basis for this in the Sunnah. So I wanted to clarify that if you enter—may Allah bless you—you say "Peace be upon you" to everyone, and that is complete ... you have done it. If it is easy for you to shake hands with those present, that is good; due to his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: . This is from the virtue of shaking hands. As for the greeting, it is one greeting: "Peace be upon you," and then he sits where the gathering ends. This is what I wanted to remind ... the blessed one, if Allah wills.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: Go ahead.

The questioner : Greet and offer the greeting as you mentioned to the guests... there is no need for shaking hands. He wants to shake hands, meaning... he wants to shake hands? Shake hands.

The Shaykh : Shake hands.

The questioner : ... is there a need to give a new greeting, meaning shaking hands without a greeting?

The Shaykh : No, this is without a greeting, may Allah bless you; meaning, if we assume now that a person entered and said: "Peace be upon you" and sat down, did he sit down without a greeting?

The questioner : ... in the case you mentioned, Your Eminence, that if there is a type of...

The Shaykh : He is not compelled to shake hands. I want to demonstrate...

The questioner : ... and when I want to shake hands with this one and that one, it means...

The Shaykh : This is something that pleases me, but I wanted to say: this person who entered and said: "Peace be upon you" and sat down; did he not greet everyone? Good; so the last one entered and said: "Peace be upon you" and greeted everyone, then followed up by shaking hands with each of the people present =
-- Another questioner: Peace be upon you.The Shaykh : Welcome, welcome, and peace be upon you.Another questioner : How are you?The Shaykh : ... --
The Shaykh: = ... may Allah bless you, that this person when he entered and offered the greeting, his greeting included all those present. Then, if it occurred to him to shake hands with those present, as we mentioned from the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): . And this is better than the one who entered and gave one greeting to everyone and then sat down. So this one who greeted everyone and then followed up each of them with a handshake; it is beautiful; because he brought the second hadith. And when I said what I said, it was only... for the Sunnah, because we know that Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "We never met the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) except that we shook hands with him." So when the Messenger met his Companions, he shook hands with them one by one, but it did not... ever reach me that he gave each person he shook hands with a specific greeting. This is what my knowledge has reached.