A Note on the Issue of Standing for the One Who Enters

The Shaykh : So I said that it is difficult for you that if I enter upon you, you do not stand. Your emotion and your love for this disabled person, this emotion is what drives you to stand.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : And I asked you to imagine that the Messenger (peace be upon him) entered upon you; what would you do? I did not like to tell you that you would stand for him a fortiori, but I wanted to kill two birds with one stone. You will say, even if only in your heart and not with your tongue.
-- And upon you be peace, please, take a seat, how are you? May Allah bless you, how is your health? ... --

The Shaykh : So my answer to this question: you might say that out of your love for the Messenger you would jump up, not just jump up, but you would say like that other man, "I would stand for him on my head, not on my feet." The Messenger of Allah entered upon me, I would stand... for him on my head, if that were possible, not on my feet. This answer is the language of emotions, not the language of reason combined with the Shari'ah.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : And we, as Muslims following the Noble Book and the hadith of the Prophet (may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him), must have our answer be following, as He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said: . This verse is a decisive text that the proof of the Muslim's love for Allah is following the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); because loving the Messenger is loving Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). So your love for the Messenger will not be sincere except when you follow him. If you separate this proof from your life, your concepts will be overturned. You will say like that crazy man, "If he raised his hand, I would stand for him, what? On my head." O Muslim, you are reading the saying of He (Mighty and Majestic): . Your answer must be, instead of saying that, "By Allah, I will do what the Messenger (may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him) orders me to do." If he says to me, "Stand on your feet," I will stand for him on my feet. If he says to me, "Stand on four," I will stand on four. If he says to me, "Stand on your head," and he raises his hand, I will stand on my head. This is the answer of the believer who is not bound by surging emotion.
Look, for example, at the well-known authentic hadith, of course, from Mu'adh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him), that he came from the city of Madinah to the Levant and then returned. The first thing he saw was the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he swooned down wanting to prostrate to him. He said to him: . What is this? He said to him: O Messenger of Allah, I came to the Levant and saw the Christians prostrating to their priests and their great ones, and I saw that you are more deserving of prostration than they are. This is correct emotional speech, but look at what the Shari'ah said to him? He said to him: . In this hadith, or in another, he said: . So Mu'adh swooned down prostrating out of love for the Messenger; there is no problem with that, but did the Messenger (peace be upon him) approve of that from him? No. By this standard, we must treat our actions, our movements, and our stillness.
After the introduction, we return to the original issue; I told you: imagine that the Messenger (peace be upon him) entered upon you, what would you do? You would stand for him a fortiori, but what would you do if you knew that he disliked that from you? Would you respond to your desire and emotion and continue to stand while knowing that he dislikes this standing from you for him?

The questioner : No.

The Shaykh : No, okay; so we are deficient in knowledge of the Sunnah, then.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : And therefore the Sunnah is the bridle, meaning the material for the human being to launch blindly in all his actions in this worldly life. The Sunnah is the regulator. So when you hear the saying of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who served the Messenger for ten years, he said: "No one was more beloved to him than the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and they did not stand for him because of what they knew of his dislike of that." What is left to say here? I entered upon you, what am I? If... now here we have two positions, a Shari'ah position and an emotional position. The Shari'ah position: I am older than you, the one who entered upon you is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The Shari'ah position: you do not stand. The emotional position: you stand on your feet and on your head, and so on. But will the Muslim follow his emotion in contradiction to the Shari'ah? Do you imagine that Mu'adh ibn Jabal, after the advice the Messenger directed to him, would it occur to him to prostrate to the Messenger? Far be it from Allah!
Likewise, it is recommended for the Muslim, if he hears that the Messenger (peace be upon him) dislikes standing for him, and he is the best of people; so does he not dislike standing from you for me and from me for you? A fortiori. Therefore, we must accustom ourselves to this life which is full of understanding and affection that has settled in the heart, not social hypocrisy. It is possible that I stand and you stand for a person you wish would die, not live. So let our life be a Salafi life as well. I enter, I exit, we do not want to do like that wise man of ours, may Allah have mercy on him, he passed away, his name is Hamdi 'Ubayd. He has a small booklet on authentic hadiths, from the Hashemite Arab Library.

The questioner : Yes, we have it.

The Shaykh : Hamdi, he passed away a number of years ago. The point is.

The questioner : Yes, his brother...

The Shaykh : His brother is present, Muhammad. He told me once, I visit him like this, I used to every...

The questioner : Professor, if you would honor us by going outside, in the parlor is better...

The Shaykh : As you wish, let's go.

Another questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
...

The Shaykh : So he mentioned to me once Hamdi 'Ubayd.
O Abu Hamdi.

Another questioner : "Abu Hamdi": Yes.

The Shaykh : Look at our time, you are now, when will you give us a sign?

The questioner : ... May Allah bless you, I mean.

The Shaykh : My master, in any case, the Shari'ah aspect requires entering the Levant before the sunset, because at night it is not permissible for us to enter the town and knock on the family's door at night. The Messenger (peace be upon him) forbade that. So we try to combine the two benefits, the benefit of gathering with you and the benefit of hastening to go to the town before the sunset.
He mentioned to me once, Hamdi 'Ubayd (may Allah have mercy on him), that he attended a large one of the official ceremonies with sofas and chairs, and the tiered chairs, the large chairs are for the front rows, and so on. He said: So we seated us in the first rows. He said: We stayed a little, then news spread in the hall that now such-and-such Pasha is entering. He said: Indeed, such-and-such Pasha entered, so we stood, like that until he sat in the front of the place, we sat. He said: We had not yet sat... the second rumor spread that such-and-such Bey, yes, the rumor was not finished but the second Bey had entered, we stood, like that until he sat, we sat. The summary, without a long story as they say, he said: I did not see myself except standing and sitting, standing and sitting like...

The questioner : Exercise, exercise, one person...

The Shaykh : He said: Then I remembered you and... I mean, he said: You have no choice but to follow the school of such-and-such, rumors spread that kill what? In my land; this matter does not end, they are coming, we sit and stand and sit and stand. He said: I did not settle in my place and we left and we remained.
The point is: all of this is affectation and pretense, as it is clearly and obviously embodied.

The questioner : You are not...

The Shaykh : Yes, and it is not good what was mentioned in the biography of one of the great scholars of hadith...