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

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : What is derived, may Allah bless you, is not an absolute benefit, 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 a meeting has occurred between him and at least one of the people sitting there, 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 the principle of rights, which is in the first scenario where there is a meeting, there is a greeting. After this, we say that the one entering the mosque, and in a corner, for example, on the right or left, 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 the greeting prayer or an obligatory prayer. When he goes to him, it is realized at that time 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. I do not say the greeting prayer because it is not in the hadith that he began with the greeting prayer. Yes, but the important thing is that it is not in the hadith that he met the Messenger, peace be upon him, and yet he began with the prayer and then greeted him. On the contrary, in the hadith... the meeting did not occur, because the hadith says that after he prayed, he came to the Prophet, peace be upon him. His saying "came to the Prophet" is as if we said "met the Prophet." So when he met him, may his prayers and peace be upon him, he initiated the greeting to him. Therefore, we can reconcile the rule "if you meet him, greet him" with the incident of the one whose prayer was defective by distinguishing: if when he entered the mosque he met someone, he must initiate the greeting to him. 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 of the two hadiths. As for saying except in the mosque, so he began with the greeting prayer and then greeted 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... that clarity which 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," so the Messenger was present.

The questioner : ... he greets ... or the people sitting in the mosque ... or in front of him ... he greets him. But is it prescribed for a person to greet ...

The Shaykh : Without a meeting? Without a meeting?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : In any case, I want to distinguish, and your question implies this naturally. I want to distinguish that the prayer ... when he enters the mosque is not for the mosque, but rather for the people he meets among the worshippers. For example, I entered and found a person sitting and reading, so I met him and I greet him. Or I entered and the people were in prayer, so I stood and I met them and I said "As-salamu alaykum." But I entered and there were some people in the qiblah direction of the mosque, and I was in the back of the mosque, and I said "As-salamu alaykum." This is not valid in the Sunnah. So the greeting ... the greeting is for the meeting, not for the mosque. This is the decisive opinion on the matter. 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 : ... he greeted the Messenger in the mosque of Madinah ...

The Shaykh : No, there are no texts, but this means ... it is not possible to raise such a question because we will find incidents indicating hesitation 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 to the difference between the two scenarios, one over the other ... formally, and as long as what is prescribed in the first incident, for example, falls under the legal rule, for example, which is here regarding the greeting, his saying "may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him" in more than one authentic hadith , as long as "spread the greeting among you" included the worshipper in ... the mosque of Quba ... the following, which I attributed to Muslim and Imam Ahmad, why does it not include the worshipper in the mosque of the Messenger, peace be upon him? And the principle is working , so spreading the greeting means, as you know, even if there is a separation between them ... so we entered the mosque, why do we not greet for the meeting, not for the mosque? And this ...

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : If we apply the Sunnah first ... the Sunnah, as we said before ... regarding standing up for the one entering, I said a long word, the summary of which is that this standing was disliked by the Messenger, peace be upon him, and his Companions did not stand up for him, because it is not a means of honor in the Sunnah. So we at least do this thing among ourselves. We were able to expand the circle a little, and that would be better. But with people who do not know this Sunnah or do not recognize it, if they knew it, then we say, or at least our demeanor says "There is no power and no strength except with Allah." I said this earlier 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, this is first. Second, we do not raise our voices as if we were in the open desert or in the wilderness 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, who is the last man in the row, and I say "As-salamu alaykum," and he hears me, and the second and third, 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 realm of wisdom in calling to Islam comes in. The wisdom in calling to Islam does not carry us to change our opinion and belief in the matter. We remain holding onto the matter, even if we are not able to apply it due to circumstances and conditions that befall a person. For example, personally, I do not exonerate myself; I may stand up for some people, but this does not make me forget that it is against the Sunnah. Where I was able to apply it, I applied it, and where ... I excused myself and left it. Let the greeting be of this nature, meaning ...

The questioner : ... or is it taken in its absolute sense?

The Shaykh : ... it is always taken in its absolute sense where there is a contradiction, except in a question, of course ... for example, if it is established that the Prophet, peace be upon him, did that action contrary to his saying in front of people ... that he did it after his saying, then in this case, the rule is not applied, but the verbal text is interpreted in light of the actual application. This is if the action after the saying, with the presence of people, is clear? This is a restriction on the rule, and this does not require ... he greets him in such a scenario. For example, there is an authentic hadith that it was seen, peace be upon him, relieving himself with his back to the qiblah. So 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 that. But this, as you see, it is supposed that he was relieving himself and no one was seeing him, so one person's gaze slipped and he saw him. So in such a case, it is absolutely not permissible. And we come to his saying, peace be upon him, as a general rule ... except in a building, because we do not know this incident first, and second, this incident occurred when no one was seeing him, by chance this man saw him, and the one who actually saw him was Abdullah ibn Umar, who mentioned that he climbed onto the roof of the house of Hafsa, who is the wife of the Messenger, peace be upon him, for some matter, and his gaze wandered and went ... It is not conceivable that the Prophet was sitting in this position for people to see him and ... a legal ruling that it is permissible to face or turn one's back to the qiblah ... Therefore, this rule ... a special chapter, as I described earlier, can explain the matter a second time, for example, it can be said that if he prohibited something and then did it in the presence of people, and perhaps you felt what I mean, in the presence of people ... when they see the Messenger, peace be upon him, doing this action, they understand its permissibility, this is without a doubt. And unlike the fact that he did it in seclusion, in his privacy, then it is said that this action, if it contradicts a prohibition, the prohibition is interpreted as being disliked (makruh), if it contradicts a command, the command is interpreted as being recommended (mustahabb) and not obligatory. But these things should be observed. As for the rule, the saying takes precedence over the action ...

The questioner : ... .