Mentioning the story of Ibn Battah regarding the one who stood up for him while he disliked it.

The Shaykh : I conclude this talk with a story that contains knowledge, novelty, and benefit. The historians mention in the biography of "Abu 'Abdullah Ibn Battah" — one of the great scholars of hadith and the Hanbali school — that he disliked this standing up, which people have become accustomed to today and for hundreds of years before today, with the strongest dislike. One day he went out to the market with a friend of his who was a poet. They passed by a scholar sitting in his place, and this was the etiquette of scholars in the past; they relied on the labor of their hands and the sweat of their brows to earn their livelihood. They passed by this scholar greeting him, so this scholar stood up for Ibn Battah. Ibn Battah said to his poet friend, "Earlier, the scholar stood up while knowing that Ibn Battah dislikes this standing up, just as you hear now." So he excused himself to him with two lines of poetry, saying to him:
Do not blame me for standing up, for my right *** when you appear is that I not tire of standing.
You are the most noble of creation to me, *** and it is the truth that I honor the noble ones.
The scholar's words are partly correct; it is his right to honor the noble ones. We mentioned a hadith, or rather two hadiths, just now; it is the right of a Muslim to honor an elderly man. But is honoring done by other than the Sunnah? By contradicting the Sunnah? For example, is honoring done by prostration? No.
All the people, all the shaykhs say: No, prostration to other than Allah is not permissible. Pardon me, I said: All the shaykhs say that prostration to other than Allah is not permissible. I wished that I had been successful in being correct when I said: All the shaykhs. But I am sorry and compelled to say: Not all of them say so. In some of the paths, among their traditions, is that the aspirant, when he wants to take permission from the shaykh to circulate in the gathering, prostrates to the shaykh. And they say: This prostration is for exaltation, not prostration of worship. We have read this in many treatises. Is the Muslim exalted by prostration? The answer is: Praise be to Allah, no, at least according to the majority. As for those, they are deviants.
We have the hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal when he came to this land before its conquest by Islam and returned to al-Madinah. The first thing his eyes fell upon was the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he was about to prostrate to him. He said to him: . He said: O Messenger of Allah, I came to Sham and saw the Christians prostrating to their priests and their great ones, and I saw that you are more deserving of prostration than they are. This is correct speech; if prostration to other than Allah were permissible, he is more deserving of being prostrated to than the priests and monks prostrating to their scholars. He (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) said: . In other hadiths: . So it is not permissible to exalt a Muslim by prostration, because this exclusivity is for Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
Now, is it part of honoring a Muslim that we bow to him? The answer is also: No, except in some Sufi orders; those who permitted prostration are even more likely to permit bowing.
It came in a hadith of Anas ibn Malik — also — in "Sunan al-Tirmidhi" and others. The questioner said: O Messenger of Allah, when one of us meets his brother, should he embrace him? He said: . He said: . He said: . He said: Should he shake his hand? He said: . So bending down — also — is a foreign greeting that is not valid from a Muslim to a Muslim. So when that scholar said: "And it is right that I honor the noble ones," this is correct speech, but his action is not correct; because it is not a prescribed means to exalt the learned man. Therefore "Ibn Battah" said to his poet friend, and it seems that this friend knew Ibn Battah's opinion precisely, and he seemed — also — to be a poet by nature and instinct, so immediately and in rhyme he answered him by saying:
"If you are one whom I do not lack, you tend *** To my right and display great respect.
You have the merit in precedence and knowledge, *** But we do not seek from you restraint."
- The point here is -
"So forgive me now from standing up first, *** For I will repay you with standing, standing.
And I hate that greatly, *** For in it is flattery and sin.
Do not burden your brother to receive you *** With what he thereby makes permissible the forbidden.
We are all confident in the affection of our brother, *** So why our agitation and for what?"
Therefore, it is obligatory for the sincere Muslim callers to return this vast Muslim community to the first era in everything; not only in creed, not only in worship, not and not, but Islam as a whole, including customs and traditions, we preserve them as we inherited them from our righteous predecessors.
And this is very clear if the Muslim community today had been raised on what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) raised his Companions on, this standing would have no place in grammar, as they say; why? This learned poet, the one who is well-versed in jurisprudence from the learned jurist, said:
"And if our hearts are sound, *** We are content not to tire our bodies.
We are all confident in the affection of our brother, *** So why our agitation and for what?"
Therefore we strive with what we have of knowledge and cooperate with all our Muslim brothers to return to the guidance of the Messenger (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him), for he is, as you heard just now and as you hear before every word we say: .