The Shaykh explains the impact of the environment on people's upbringing and education.

The Shaykh: On the occasion of two of our brothers entering and greeting us with a complete greeting, something occurred that is not of the Sunnah in any way. As for the complete greeting, it is the well-known Islamic greeting, "Peace be upon you," and its completion is the handshake. As for the third thing, it is kissing, specifically kissing one of those being greeted. What I want to say is not this, but rather, in connection with that upheaval that some malicious, hateful, and envious people stirred up against us regarding our repeated statement of the obligation for Muslims to emigrate from a land where they are subjected to severe torment—and this is not all, nor is this my intention in speaking—the second point is that people are influenced by the atmosphere in which they live and reside, morally. They are influenced by the prevailing atmosphere that has settled in some Islamic lands. So we say that emigration is obligatory, whether to escape torment, or to escape falling into religious fitnah, or to escape being influenced by the corruption surrounding that land or those lands. Now, I do not want to say that in the phenomenon I mentioned earlier there is something of that corruption, but I want to mention how the atmosphere, whether it is good, bad, or in between, affects those who—welcome, this is the problem—affects the people who live in that atmosphere. Whether that atmosphere is influenced by customs different from those of other lands, all of which are Islamic lands, or whether they are influenced by customs that may be disliked or may be forbidden. In every land, and perhaps if we want to be cautious, in every region, there are its customs and traditions, as it is said. If I forget, I will not forget when I was a teacher at the Islamic University, and some of those present now, especially those who graduated from the Islamic University with a doctorate, know that the Islamic University had people from various Islamic nations, including Pakistanis, Muslim Indians, and Africans from different regions. You would find that each of these peoples had its own customs and traditions. I remember, and here is the point, that some of the students, truly, when we would sit with them and discuss with them, were among the strongest students we had seen at the university. They had come for only two things: the first was to strengthen themselves in the Arabic language, and the second was to strengthen themselves in the Prophetic Sunnah. Despite this, they had a broad understanding of the rulings of Islamic jurisprudence. However, some non-Shari'ah customs prevailed over them, even those that contradicted the school of jurisprudence they had studied in their books. So one of them, and here is the point, when he came to greet a supposed Shaykh like me, would bow to him like this. This bowing is not prescribed by the consensus of scholars, and it is explicitly mentioned in the hadith narrated by al-Tirmidhi and others from Anas ibn Malik: "A man said: O Messenger of Allah, when one of us meets his brother, should he bow to him? He said: to the end of the hadith. Despite this, these students, who were among the strongest in jurisprudence and knowledge, and the most steadfast in Islamic manners and the etiquette of respecting scholars, because the prevailing custom in their lands was to respect scholars by bowing to them, they came to the Hijaz where this custom is not known, but they were influenced by the custom of their land. So they would greet the Shuyukh with this greeting that contradicts Islam in general and their jurisprudence in particular. This is an example of how the atmosphere affects things in both cases: if it is good, it is good; if it is bad, it is bad. And between good and bad, there are levels and degrees. Now, let us return to what we were discussing. Two men from the same region entered earlier, but one of them had lived in a new region and was influenced by the custom. So when he entered and saw the Shaykh standing or sitting, he had to greet him with a special greeting, which is kissing. I am not investigating the ruling on this kissing now, because it is not the main point of my speech. But the other was content with the handshake, and this is the Shari'ah. Why did they differ when they are from the same region? Because one of them changed his region and lived in another, so he adapted to it. Glory be to Allah, if this region were a sinful region, would it not affect its inhabitant? The answer is: yes. And from here came the hadiths in succession to say: , the hadith came: , the hadith came: from the chapter of . So take this as a lesson that the environment affects either for good or for bad. Therefore, the exegetes said in their interpretation of His saying—Exalted is He—: , they said: "If there is a land in which there are sins, and another land in which those sins do not exist, emigration from that land is obligatory." Not to escape disbelief, atheism, and heresy, but to escape the land in which those sins exist and do not exist in another land. Those who cause fitnah and corruption in the land did not consider all these meanings. What did they consider? Clinging to the land. And this is another contradiction; because Allah—Mighty and Majestic—says: and says, and this is more explicit regarding what we are discussing now, . So clinging to the infected land is not of Islam in any way. And this is a reminder, and the reminder benefits the believers. And now, return to what you were doing...

The questioner: On the same topic.

The Shaykh: No, I do not want to delve into emigration...

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh: Because there are many, many tapes...

The questioner: May Allah reward you with good, and may Allah bless you.

Another questioner: It is spread in the newspapers that...

The Shaykh: Leave the newspapers alone, my brother. You did not know that newspapers are a group of merchants who want to fill pages and fill the gaps, and so on...

The questioner: Yes, the topic of emigration. We mentioned that our brothers in Afghanistan, a few years ago, were issued a fatwa of the obligation to emigrate from Afghanistan to Kashmir, knowing that disbelievers had not entered Afghanistan; they were all Afghan Muslims. And they issued a fatwa of the obligation to emigrate, and this is five million people, to Kashmir, but to Pakistan, Kashmir. I seek forgiveness from Allah, Peshawar. I seek forgiveness from Allah, Peshawar. Yes, this means we mentioned it two days ago, we spoke, yes.

Another questioner: And yesterday, yesterday, my Shaykh.

Another questioner: I wanted to tell you that the Afghans emigrated, and the entire Muslim world helped them and saw them as a righteous people because they fled with their religion from the communists, knowing that the communists were with their tanks and their camps and did not mix with them.

The Shaykh: Yes.