What is the ruling on kissing the Noble Qur'an?

The questioner : The questioner brother says here: What is the ruling on kissing the Qur'an?

The Shaykh : This falls under our belief in the general scope of the previous hadiths, among which is: . Many people have a specific stance on such a detail, saying: What is the harm in it? It is nothing but showing reverence and magnification for this Noble Qur'an. We say to them: You are right, it is nothing but reverence and magnification for the Noble Qur'an. But do you think this reverence and magnification was hidden from the first generation, who were the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and their followers, and the followers of the followers after them? There is no doubt that the answer will be as the scholars of the Salaf said: "If it had been good, they would have preceded us to it." That is one point.
The other point is: Is the original ruling regarding kissing something permissibility or prohibition?
Here, it is necessary to cite the hadith narrated by the two Shaykhs in their "Sahihayn" so that whoever wishes to remember may remember, and to know the distance of Muslims today from their righteous Salaf, and from their jurisprudence and their handling of matters that may occur to them. That hadith is what Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrated that Umar ibn al-Khattab came to the Black Stone to kiss it, and he said: "I know that you are a stone that neither harms nor benefits, and were it not that I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) kissing you, I would not have kissed you." What is the meaning of this statement from this Faruq (Umar): "Were it not that I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) kissing you, I would not have kissed you"? So why did Umar kiss the Black Stone, when it is as stated in the authentic hadith: ? Did he kiss it with a philosophy originating from himself to say, as the one who answers the questioner's issue says, that this is the word of Allah and we kiss it? Does he say: Look, this is a stone, a sign of Paradise with which the righteous are promised, so I kiss it and I do not need a text from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to clarify to me the permissibility of kissing it? Or does he deal with this detailed issue as some people today wish to say, with the logic that we call for today and name the Salafi logic, which is sincerity in following the Messenger (peace be upon him) and whoever follows his Sunnah until the Day of Resurrection? This was Umar's stance; he says: "Were it not that I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) kissing you, I would not have kissed you." So the original ruling in such kissing is that we proceed according to a past Sunnah, not that we judge matters as we indicated earlier, saying, "By Allah, this is good, and what is the harm in it?"
Do you remember with me the stance of Zayd ibn Thabit? How was this stance regarding Abu Bakr and Umar presenting to him the collection of the Qur'an to preserve the Qur'an from being lost? How do you do something that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do?! Today, Muslims do not have this jurisprudence in religion at all. If one says to the one who kisses the Qur'an: How do you do something that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not do?! He confronts you with strange and very strange answers, among which is: My brother, what is the harm? It is magnifying the Qur'an. I say to you, my brother, this argument is repeated to you. Does the Messenger not magnify the Qur'an? He magnifies the Qur'an. Or they say: You are denying us kissing the Qur'an. Hey, you ride in a car and travel by plane, and are these things from religious innovation? The response to this is: Have you not heard that the innovation in religion, which is misguidance, is only that which is in religion, whereas in worldly matters, as we hinted at earlier, it may be permissible or forbidden, and so on. This is a known matter and does not need an example. The man who rides a plane to travel to the House of Allah for Hajj or 'Umrah; there is no doubt that it is permissible. And the man who rides a plane to travel to the West and perform Hajj there; there is no doubt that this is a sin. And so on. As for the acts of worship, when the questioner is asked: Why do you do this? I say: I draw near to Allah. There is no way to draw near to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) except by what Allah has prescribed!
This is a topic we have addressed more than once, and especially in this country, even if only once; so we will not return to it. Especially since we are in the process of answering questions. But I want to remind you of something, which I believe is very important for establishing and supporting this rule that every innovation is misguidance, and there is absolutely no room for rational preference (istihsan). The Salaf say: "No innovation is introduced except that a Sunnah is killed." And I feel the truth with my hand because of my tracking of newly invented matters, and how they contradict what came from the Messenger (peace be upon him) in many cases. Look now, as a general idea, if you have some people of knowledge and virtue, and you see him take the Qur'an to read, if they are truly people of knowledge and virtue, they do not kiss the Qur'an; because they know that it is a formal issue upon which nothing is built. But the general people who do not have restraints in their emotions... he tells you: There is nothing wrong with it. So we say: No innovation is introduced except that a Sunnah is killed.
Such an innovation is another innovation we have in the Levant, which may be in other lands. We see people, even the open sinners among them who still have a remnant of faith in their hearts, when they hear the mu'adhdhin from the mosque, they stand up. If you ask them what this standing is for, they say: It is magnification of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Good; go to the mosque, they do not go. They continue to play shatta, backgammon, chess, and the like. But they magnify their Lord with this standing. Where did this standing come from? It came, of course, from a fabricated hadith that has a basis. It may be useful to point it out: "When you hear the adhan, stand up." If this hadith had a basis, it was distorted by some of the weak or liars, and he said: Instead of "stand up," "say," and he shortened the hadith: to the end of the hadith.
So look at how Satan beautifies an innovation for a person, and makes him think in himself that he is, my brother, a believer who magnifies the symbols of Allah. The proof is that when he holds the mushaf, he kisses it, and when he hears the adhan, he stands for it. But does the first one act upon the Qur'an? He does not act upon the Qur'an. For example, he may pray, but does he not eat what is forbidden? Does he not eat riba (usury or interest)? Does he not feed riba? Does he not spread among people the means by which they increase in sin against Allah? Does he, does he, questions without end. Therefore, we stand in what Allah has prescribed for us of obedience and worship, and we do not add to it a single letter. Because, as he (peace be upon him) said, and I mentioned this in a previous session: . And this thing by which you draw near to Allah, bring a text from the Messenger (peace be upon him). If there is no text, is it an innovation? .
Let it not be difficult for anyone that the issue is to this degree of simplicity, and yet it is misguidance and its owner is in the Fire? The Imam al-Shatibi answered this issue by saying: Every innovation, no matter how small, is misguidance. In this ruling that it is misguidance, one does not look at the innovation itself, but rather one looks at the place where this innovation is placed. What is this place? The Shari'ah of Islam, which is completed and perfected. So there is no room for anyone to make a correction with a small or large innovation. From here comes the misguidance of the innovation, not merely for introducing it, but because it gives the meaning of making a correction upon our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) and our Prophet.
Other than that?