If a man enters the mosque, does he begin with the greeting or with the greeting of the mosque? With some interjections.

The questioner : ... in the hadith of the one whose prayer was defective.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : ... from which it is derived that when one enters the mosque ... he greets him.

The Shaykh : ... what is derived—may Allah bless you—is not an absolute derivation, but rather it is necessary to distinguish; because the principle of the greeting, as mentioned in the hadith: , is that when the one entering the mosque, either we assume that meeting with at least one of the people sitting there has been realized, or we assume that he did not meet anyone; meaning we take two completely different scenarios: he entered the mosque and met someone, or he entered the mosque and did not meet anyone. In the first scenario, he initiates the greeting to realize these rights: . In the first scenario, if there is no meeting, there is no greeting.
After this, we say: the one who entered the mosque, and in the corner—for example, the right or left corner—there is a person who is far from him such that it does not appear that he met him. Naturally, he begins with the prayer; whether it is a greeting prayer or an obligatory one. If he goes to him, then it is realized that he met him, so he greets him. The hadith of the one whose prayer was defective does not state that he met the Messenger—peace be upon him—and despite that, he began with the prayer, and I do not say the greeting prayer, because it is not in the hadith that he began with the greeting prayer. Yes, that is right, but the important point is that it is not in the hadith that he met the Messenger—peace be upon him—yet he began with the prayer and then greeted him. On the contrary, the hadith suggests that the meeting was not realized; because the hadith says that after he prayed, he came to the Prophet—may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him. His saying “he came to the Prophet” is as if we said “he met the Prophet.” So when he met him—may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him—he initiated the greeting. Therefore, we can reconcile the rule: , with the incident of the one whose prayer was defective by distinguishing, and we say: if when he entered the mosque he met someone, he must initiate the greeting. And if he did not meet anyone, but there is a person far from his place of prayer, and he went to him and greeted him, that would be a complete reconciliation between the two hadiths. As for saying—yes, that is right: except in the mosque, you begin with the greeting prayer and then greet him, that is absolutely not valid. The hadith of the one whose prayer was defective does not specify that general principle for such an incident that does not have the clarity that can be applied to the general text to specify it by excluding this scenario...

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : ... without a doubt; and therefore we said in the hadith: “then he came to the Prophet”; we understood that the Messenger was present.

The questioner : ... so it remains that he will greet the mosque or the people present in the mosque, meaning he will pass by the one he meets—for example—the mosque or in front of it.

The Shaykh : In front of it, yes.

The questioner : ... he greets him, but is it prescribed for a person to greet the people present in the mosque?

The Shaykh : Without meeting? Without meeting?

The questioner : ... but perhaps one person is reading here, and one person is reading there, one person is praying there...

The Shaykh : In any case, I want to distinguish, and your question naturally implies this. I want to distinguish that the greeting when entering the mosque is not for the mosque, but rather for the worshippers one meets. For example, I entered and found a person sitting and reading, so I met him and I greet him. Or I entered—and peace be upon you—I entered and the people were in prayer, so I stood, and I met them, so I said: Peace be upon you. But I entered and there were some people in the qiblah direction of the mosque—for example—and I was at the back of the mosque, so I say: Peace be upon you; this has no basis in the Sunnah. So the greeting—and peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings—is for the meeting, not for the mosque. This is the decisive statement on the matter: for the meeting. So the one whose prayer was defective, when he came to the Messenger and met him, he greeted him. He did not greet when he entered the mosque, and this is not known in the Sunnah at all.

The questioner : There remains a second point.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : ... do you see in the texts that it is clarified that the Messenger was greeted in the mosque of Madinah... the mosque of Quba, for example...?

The Shaykh : No, there are no texts, but this means we think it is not possible to exclude such a thing; because we will find incidents indicating deliberation in the place of the incident, and that did not occur in another incident where the situation might differ somewhat. But as long as there is no obstacle first to the difference between the two scenarios, one from the other, beyond a formal difference, and as long as what is prescribed in the first incident—for example—is included under the legal rule—for example—which is here regarding the greeting, his saying—may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him—in more than one authentic hadith: , as long as among you included the worshipper in the incident of the mosque of Quba... the one I attributed to Muslim and Imam Ahmad, why does it not include the worshipper in the mosque of the Messenger—may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him? And the principle is working: , so spreading the greeting means, as you know, even if a stone and trees separate them, so we entered the mosque; why do we not greet for the meeting, not for the mosque? And this point must be clarified.

The questioner : ... everyone who enters and sees it obligatory upon him to greet the people present in the mosque, and the people know they delay, one behind the other, and this one greets and the people are bowing, and these people are sitting... all with the response to him, it is possible... frankly, it is not just being occupied with something—for example—incidental that may happen sometimes, like the departure of al-Hasan and al-Husayn from the Messenger, or...—for example—Ummah, but it will remain...

The Shaykh : If we apply the Sunnah first with the people of the Sunnah, as we said before they came regarding standing for the one entering, I said a long word, the summary of which is that this standing was disliked by him—may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him—and his Companions did not honor him with it; because it is not a means of honor in the Sunnah. So we at least do this thing among ourselves, and if we can expand the circle a little like this, that is better. But with people who do not know this Sunnah or do not recognize it if they knew it, then we stand and our inner state at least says: There is no power and no strength except with Allah. I said this recently with elaboration and detail.
So now, regarding the greeting, if we enter a mosque of the people of the Sunnah, and they have understood that greeting the worshipper is a recommended practice; that is one thing. Second, we do not raise our voices as if we were in the open or in the desert or in the house or in any place, but only to the extent that we realize this Islamic ritual: . So if I stand next to Abu Khalid—for example—and he is the last man in the row, and I say: Peace be upon you; he and the second and the third will hear me, and that is the end of it. I say this if we are in a mosque of the people of the Sunnah, or in a place where there are people of the Sunnah and they are praying; there is no obstacle to this. But if we are in a mosque with a different character; then the wisdom in calling to Islam comes into play. The wisdom in calling to Islam does not carry us to change our opinion and belief in the matter. We remain holding to the matter, even if we are not able to apply it due to circumstances and incidents that befall a person. So I, for example, personally do not exonerate myself; I may stand for some people, but this does not make me forget that it is contrary to the Sunnah. Where I was able to apply it, I applied it, and where I found an excuse for myself, I left it. Let the greeting be of this nature, meaning.

The questioner : ... the usul rule.

The Shaykh : ... what?

The questioner : The usul rule is that if the saying of the Messenger conflicts with his action, his saying is given priority; does this rule have conditions, or is it taken in its absolute sense?

The Shaykh : Are these always taken in their general sense when there is a contradiction, except in cases where there are necessarily exceptions? For example, if it is established that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed an act that contradicted his statement in front of people, and it is fully established that he did so after saying it, then in this situation the rule is not applied; rather, the verbal text is interpreted in light of the actual practice. This is if the act came after the statement, and the act after the statement occurred in the presence of people. Is this clear? This is a condition for the rule, and it is certainly rare; such a scenario seldom occurs. For example, there is an authentic hadith that it was seen of him (peace and blessings be upon him) that he was relieving himself with his back to the qiblah. Some scholars went to the permissibility of turning one’s back to the qiblah when relieving oneself in a building, because the Messenger (peace be upon him) did so. But as you see, it is assumed that he was relieving himself and no one was seeing him, so one person’s gaze slipped and he saw him. In such a case, it is never permissible. We come to his statement (peace be upon him) as a general rule: We say: except in a building; because we do not know whether this incident occurred before or after the hadith, and secondly, this incident occurred when no one was watching; it was by chance that this man saw him. The one who actually saw him was Abdullah ibn Umar, who mentioned that he climbed onto the roof of the house of Hafsa, who was the wife of the Messenger (peace be upon him), for some reason, and his gaze slipped and he saw him. It is not conceivable that the Prophet was sitting in that position for people to see him and to derive a legal ruling from him, and that it is permissible to face or turn one’s back to the qiblah while relieving oneself.
Therefore, this rule is consistent in ninety-nine percent of cases. In a specific circumstance, as we described earlier, the issue can be explained differently. For example, if he prohibited something and then did it in the presence of people, perhaps you have felt what I mean by “in the presence of people”; because when people see the Messenger (peace be upon him) doing this act, they understand its permissibility without doubt. This is unlike if he did it in his leisure, in his seclusion. In that case, it is said: if this act contradicts a prohibition, the prohibition is interpreted as being for discouragement (tanzihi), and if it contradicts a command, the command is interpreted as being for recommendation (mustahabb) and not for obligation. Such things should be noted. As for the rule, the statement takes precedence over the act.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : It is not sufficient...