Is the handshake after prayer established, as people do today?

The questioner: ... ... on the side of ... regarding the topic.

The Shaykh: Regarding the topic, please go ahead.

The questioner: If, Shaykh, the handshake in gatherings of knowledge, as you mentioned ... what about the handshake after the obligatory prayer, as is the custom now in some mosques ... the imam ... peace be upon you, peace be upon you ... .

The Shaykh: My view is that it is an innovation (bid'ah) that has been introduced, and it is not of the type we are discussing now. This handshake, as you mention, is a handshake related to exiting the prayer. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed thousands of prayers out of necessity, and he did not shake hands with any of them, nor did any of them shake hands with him. This handshake occurs when two men enter the mosque, they meet and shake hands, and they are filled with handshaking. Then, when one of them finishes the prayer, he returns and shakes hands with the other. This handshake is not for the meeting that can be inferred from the previous hadith: "We did not meet but he shook hands with us"; because the two men had met and shaken hands and entered the mosque together, and each prayed beside the other. So when the imam finished the prayer, they shook hands again. This is undoubtedly an innovation (bid'ah), and the jurists spoke about it with good words. Even if, as is the case with many innovations, someone said: "This is a good innovation," the matter is as 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "Every innovation is misguidance, even if people see it as good."